THE FLOWING TIDE
THE flow of good news has slackened but not ceased. In Libya Rommel is still " disengaging his forces towards the west " at top- speed. Though the fall of Benghazi has not been announced as these lines are written, it seems likely that it has already taken place, and there seems to be some doubt whether the enemy will even make a stand at El Agheila, though it is the opinion of. General Alexander that he will. However that may be, the gap between the Allied force in Libya and the Allied force in French North Africa is being steadily closed from both ends, for General Anderson in his necessarily more massive and methodical advance is well- into Tunisia,. and may be heavily engaged with the not inconsiderable Axis forces there at any moment. Important as the seizure of Bizerta is, the decisive factor is likely to be the vast air-battle which seems inevitable between the Luftwaffe massing in Sardinia and Sicily and the British and American forces in Tunis and Algeria. The Allies are strong in bombers, but in defensive warfare (not that it will by any means be all defensive) it is fighters that count. It must be hopcd that the supply of these is equally satisfactory. How far Russia is already experiencing relief through the diversion of enemy aircraft to the west is not yet clear, but for whatever reason the position of our allies in the Caucasus has substantially improved, and Hitler's prospect of getting before winter the oil of which he is beginning to stand in serious need has approached the vanishing-point. At Stalingrad the Germans are still delivering fierce attacks on a narrow front, but there is no reason to believe that a defence which has held so long will give way now. One other development—the investiture of M. Laval with plenary powers by Marshal Petain—may properly be placed in the category of good news, for Laval is the most hated man in France, and his advancement is the best of all specifics for the generation of dis- content and hostility among the people generally. The partial mobilisation in Spain is neither good news nor bad news, but merely a natural precaution which need cause no misgivings.
