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Right - I'm working on a new version of my Comrade Cripps timeline (new POD, new direction, generally greater coherence) and I have found that my knowledge of the military side of Britain's war effort is generally lacking. This is causing me quite a few headaches and I thought, with nothing to lose, that I might ask the forum for help on the military side of things.

So, the POD is in early 1942 (just after the Fall of Singapore). What I know about Stafford Cripps on the running of the war is covered in these points:
  • Cripps advocated for a "second front" as soon as possible to alleviate the pressures upon the Soviet Union.
  • He wanted a "War Planning Directorate" to advise on broad strategy for the entire war and serve as a counterweight to the Chiefs of Staff.
  • He advocated for empowering the Ministry of Production and placing a new Ministry of Materials and Machine Tools under its oversight.
  • His plan was to streamline bodies concerned with scientific research and development necessary for the war effort.
  • And, finally, he wished to bring the United Kingdom into closer co-operation with the Soviet Union in actually fighting the war and in forging an alliance that would last beyond the final victory.

How would these policies and ideas have altered Britain's prosecution of the Second World War and what might have the effect of having someone like Sir Stafford Cripps (a radical socialist with a keen logical mind and an impressive record in organisation and administration) as Prime Minister during the war years been on Britain's conduct of the war?
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