The clamour for a " second " front is inevitable
and (as the Prime Minister pointed out in his recent broadcast) in some ways salutary. But it does not proceed from any acute understanding of the strategic or transport position as it exists today. In the first place we are already fighting upon three fronts, in the Atlantic, in the Pacific and in the Middle East. In the second place the assistance given to Russia by the presence of our armies in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Iran is both useful and contiguous. And in the third place the public underestimates the substantial sacrifices being made in providing Russia with a stream of British war material across the northern or the southern routes. It is necessary also. to bear in mind that if Hitler fails to crush Russian resistance during the next three months he may well hesitate to commit his people to a second winter campaign in snow and ice. His reference to a second winter in his recent Reichstag speech had about it a flavour of insincerity. It is more probable that if he fails this summer to achieve a decisive victory over Russia, he will strive desperately to extricate himself from his difficulties by offering most lavish terms. He has always shown himself an extreme opportunist, nor would be hesitate, if he deemed it suitable, to reverse his whole anti-bolshevik crusade as he reversed it in August, 1939. We must remember that Hitler (who has small regard for the property or independence of others) is in the position if necessary to offer rich rewards to Russia in return for an eastern peace. He could promise to give her, if he wins, not the Straits only, but the Persian Gulf, and the whole Empire of India. What counter-offers could the United Nations oppose to such extreme generosity?
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