IMMEDIATE SECRET THE SECRETARY, J.I.C. I suggest that the J.I.C. should prepare as a matter of urgency a short appreciation of the importance of interrupting communications between the Ruhr and the rest of Germany. Since the loss of Silesia, the whole of the Reich has been virtually dependent on Ruhr coal. Intelligence shows that even before this loss took place coal shortage was imposing a more serious limitation on the German war effort than had been appreciated. I refer in particular to the evidence of shortage of bunkers and locomotive coal even for purposes of the highest priority.