NEWS OF THE WEEK
NO more than the first official bulletin on what will surely be known as the Cunningham campaign in North Africa is available as these words are written. But that is enough to make it clear that the opening moves, in spite of the evidently unex- pected break in the weather, have achieved all the success that could have been hoped of them, though the absence of opposition, and the fact that few prisoners appear to have been taken on the opening day, indicate that heavy fighting has not yet begun. But the co-operation of the Navy and the achievements of the Royal Air Force may legitimately be regarded as making these initial opera- tions a foretaste of victories to come. The importance of a success in Libya can hardly be overestimated, particularly at a moment when General Weygand seems to have been definitely retired from his _command in French Northern Africa. That, and many other factors, make it necessary that the goal of the new offensive shall be Tripoli and the French colonial frontier. Failure now would darken the sky as much as success would lighten it. For success, apart from dealing one further blow at the almost prostrate Italy, would , encourage Russia with the spectacle of the second front which she has so reasonably been desiring to see constituted, while the effect on neutrals like Turkey and Spain would be decisive. What the effect would be on Tunis and Morocco cannot confidently be predicted till it is seen what regime is to succeed General Weygand's there. What is quite certain is that those colonies are predominantly anti-German and would show them- selves so the moment any prospect of material support from out- side became imminent.
