Plan W: Difference between revisions

The first meeting on establishing a joint action plan in the event of a German invasion was on 24 May 1940.<ref>A phoney war had been waged through public statements prior to this by Churchill hinting at possible invasion of Britain and Ireland.</ref> The meeting was held in London and had been convened to explore every conceivable way in which the German forces may attempt an invasion of Ireland. At the meeting were [[Joseph Walshe]], Irish secretary of External Affairs, Colonel [[Liam Archer]] of [[Directorate of Intelligence (Ireland)|Irish Military Intelligence]] (G2), and officers from the BritishRoyal Navy, British Army, and the Royal Air Force. The British [[War Office]] wanted direct liaisons between the Irish military authorities in Dublin and the British General Officer Commanding in [[Belfast]]. Walshe and Archer therefore agreed to fly in secret to Belfast with Lieutenant Colonel [[Dudley Clarke]].<ref>Dudley was a British staff officer who had practical experience of the failed British attempt to [[Allied campaign in Norway|conquer Norway]] and the subsequent evacuation [[Operation Alphabet]].</ref> In Belfast, two British Army staff officers were collected and the group travelled back to [[Dublin]] by rail. This meeting was held underneath Government buildings in [[Kildare Street]] and included a number of [[Irish Army]] officers. The meeting was informed that General Sir [[Hubert Huddleston]], the General Officer Commanding (GOC.) Northern Ireland, was already under orders to take a mobile column south of the border to help the Irish Army if the Germans invaded.<ref>Huddleston was awaiting the command from London.</ref>