Military Issues in the Middle East
In his farewell message to India issued on his departure for Egypt General Auchinleck insisted that the best defence is attack ; and that if the enemy is attacked at a distance, wherever he is, the safer India will be. The argument had reference to the use of the growing Indian Army in East Africa, in Iraq, and in Syria ; and it is a reminder that the Middle East is the principal zone for the operations of our land forces and may at any time become more important still. The commands in India and in Egypt, held by General Wavell and General Auchinleck are complementary. Old dreams of an invasion of India from Russian territory have ceased to seem fantastic., though the strong resistance of the Russians has made the danger less immediate than it would have been if Germany had won a quick success. The building-up of great military strength in the region of which Suez is the centre, stretching into Africa in one direction, and into Syria, Iraq and towards Iran in the East, is absolutely necessary in the defence of an Empire which stretches from Britain to Australia and embraces India. If India is made safer by securing our hold on that middle region so also is Great Britain. If Germans threaten attack there, or fear it from us, they are being effectively engaged or contained at a distance from Britain and India, and in a region where our troops can be reinforced and partly supplied from India and remote parts of the Empire.,
