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Documents Relating to New Zealand's Participation in the Second World War 1939–45: Volume III
148 — The Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs3 to the Prime Minister of New Zealand
148
The Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs3 to the Prime Minister of New Zealand
25 February 1942
It has now been decided that General Wavell's headquarters should be dissolved and that the command of the ABDA area should be transferred to the Dutch.4
page 158General Wavell has been instructed accordingly by the Combined Chiefs of Staff at Washington and informed that he is to [group mutilated – leave?] sufficient personnel and material to enable the Dutch to exercise this command.
The above conclusion was endorsed by the Pacific War Council at its meeting yesterday. It was also agreed that a public announcement as to Wavell's departure should be postponed for the present.
3 The Rt. Hon. C. R. Attlee had succeeded Viscount Cranborne as Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs on 19 Feb 1942.
4 See p. 114, note 1.