Coll 7/44 'Arabia: supply of arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia from United Kingdom'

IOR/L/PS/12/2214

Coll 7/44 'Arabia: supply of arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia from United Kingdom'

17 Apr 1939-12 May 1941

The file opens with correspondence regarding enquiries by the Saudi Government into the purchase of cartridge-manufacturing equipment from the firm Greenwood and Batley Limited, and arms and ammunition from the War Office. The principal correspondents are the Foreign Office, the FO Export Credits Guarantee Deparment, the War Office, the Consul-General at Jedda, and Greenwood and Batley Limited. The correspondence discusses the possibility of providing support to Saudi Arabia under the Export Credits Guarantee Act, the quantities of plant and raw material to supply to Saudi Arabia, and repayment schemes. It includes the following items:. Memorandum by the Saudi Arabian Legation in London, titled 'Conditions required in connection with cartridge factory', ff 114-116; Quotation from Greenwood and Batley Limited, with details of their offer, ff 117-130; Copy correspondence between the importer Francis Kettaneh, and Najib Effendi Salha, Saudi representative, ff 132-136; The second half of the file concerns Saudi-German relations, and an offer by the German Government to supply arms and ammunition to the Saudi Government in return for a promise of neutrality in the event of war between Germany and Britain. The correspondence is principally between the Foreign Office, the Saudi Legation to London, and the India Office Political Department, and discusses the options available to Ibn Sa'ūd, the preferences of the British, and British concerns over German policy in the Gulf and the Middle East. A detailed memorandum issued by the Foreign Office, which describes the options available, is found at folios 60-74. The file also includes documents received from Khalid abul Walid Al-Hud, a Saudi Government representative who undertook a mission to Berlin to negotiate the arms deal. These papers include:. A report by Khalid to Ibn Sa'ūd regarding his interview with the Head of the Eastern Department, German Foreign Ministry, on 3 Rajab 1358 [18 August 1939], ff 12-14; A letter from the German Foreign Minister to Khalid regarding the deal (English translation from Arabic, which had been translated from French), f 15; A letter from Khalid to the German Government, accepting the offer in principle, f 16; A draft contract between the Saudi Government and Ferrostaal Aktiengesellschaft, Essen, ff 17-20; The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 2).

The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Coll 7/44

Public Record(s)

English

1 file (139 folios)

Unrestricted

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 140; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 96-136; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.