THE OFFENSIVE IN RUSSIA

HOUGH the Battle of the Atlantic, continuing day and night, is a decisive factor in the war, and the issue of the fighting

in Egypt touches the whole Allied strategy at a key-point, it is in

Russia that the .enemy is now making his supreme effort and staking

the bulk of his force in an offensive which has reached the highest

point of intensity. He has drawn in fresh troops from all parts of Europe and those of his allies so far as he could get them, adhering

to the fundamental Prussian maxim that no part of the force

available should be withheld from the grand attack, and nothing used on inessential side-shows. It follows, of course, that in pro-

, portion as his aim is to make victory a certainty in his main campaign, to that extent anything short of victory would amount to a disaster. This fact, so far as crumbs of comfort may be drawn from it, should be borne in mind as we watch the course of the terrific blows he is raining upon the Russians, regardless of cost, and as we watch our allies falling back over territory which they cannot afford to lose beyond a certain point. The key-point of Voronezh, at the moment, still holds—the scene of incredible carnage—and it remains to be seen how far the Russians will be oble to stem the offensive towards Rostov in the south. Between these two points the German advance on important sectors has pene- trated deeply. On another page " Strategicus " discusses the alterna- tive objectives which the enemy may have set himself. But the Russians, too, have their plan of campaign, and there will come a stage in their defensive when their reserves will come in to take some of the strain from the troops now in the battle. The pace is doubtless telling upon the enemy as well as upon the Russians, and their resources are not infinite. •

The Middle East

In Egypt the fighting shows signs offlaring up into a major battle at any moment. The initiative during the last week has by no means been mainly with the enemy. Our local attack in the northern sea coast sector was gallantly carried out, pushing the enemy back a few miles ; and it resulted in the capture of 2,000 prisoners and guns and vehicles. The counter-attacks have so far failed. There has been much activity on the part of our mobile troops, and the guns of both sides have kept up harassing bombard- ments. We have had the advantage of continuous superiority In the air. It is probable that that side which is able to reinforce itself most quickly. and effectually will be the first to take the offensive—the full offensive, as opposed to local attacks with limited objectives. We know that the British have very large forces in the Middle East taken as a whole, but we are compelled to keep powerful forces in other areas. It is one of the advantages the Germans possess from their central position that they can threaten us in many directions—we must be prepared for action against Cyprus and Syria. Then, again, we have an army in Persia which has a very important part to play. One of its tasks at the moment is to protect the developing lines of communications which are playing so vital a part in supplying Russia from the Persian Gulf and from India ; and it has the oilfields to protect. Though our troops are not in contact with the enemy in all parts of the Middle East, they are performing indispensable tasks in the intereas of Russia as well as ourselves.

Mr. Gandhi's Move

The Working Committee of the Indian Congress party has passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of British rule from India, and threatening that in the alternative it will use all its non-violent strength to secure its ends under the leadership of Mr. Gandhi. This is a victory for Mr. Gandhi's militant policy, the practical consequences of which will be little affected by face-saving clauses to the effect that Congress does not desire to -embarrass Great Britain or the Allied Powers in the prosecution of the war, or to encourage aggression against India or China. The resolution has to come before the plenary meeting of Congress on August 7th ; and, if then adopted, will in fact, of course, greatly and immediately encourage the aggressor Powers. There does not seem much that the British Government can do, except to maintain its unshaken adherence to the Cripps policy. That is, the war must first be won, and when it is won, Great Britain is prepared to place the destiny of India entirely in Indian hands, as soon as those hands have framed a constitution or constitutions capable of supporting it. What is now needed to bring an independent India about, is not any change of heart on the side of the British Government, but an agreement among Indians themselves settling the conflicts between the Indian communities, and above all, the outstanding problem between Hindus and Mohammedans. A renewed campaign of civil disobedience on Mr. Gandhi's lines mould do nothing to hasten that but almost certainly a good deal to delay it ; and it is difficult not to think sometimes that Mr. Gandhi and his friends must care more for•the process than for the results of agitation, in order to blind themselves to a situation so obvious. The acceptance of his

resolution by the Working Committee suggests that its leaders are no longer apprehensive of Japanese invasion. This was not the case at the time of the Cripps Mission, when many of them (and not least Mr. Gandhi himself) were influenced by the definite expectation that their country would be conquered by the Japanese.

Bombing Dantzig by Day

The daylight raid on Dantzig would seem to rank among the R.A.F.'s most successful operations. It was in some respects similar to the Augsburg raid, but the distance was greater, being the greatest at which any important raid has yet been made. On the other hand, for a large part of it the aircraft could fly over the sea, more or less immune from flak or fighter interference ; and hence the lower rate of loss, only three machines failing to return out of a much larger force than was sent against Augsburg. Daylight bombing, if its cost can be kept down, is very much more effective than night bombing, especially for the destruction of special limited targets, where any considerable precision is required. To these advantages there was added in the case of Dantzig the important factor of surprise. The Germans had developed their submarine- building there in the faith that it lay secure beyond the R.A.F.'s flying-range. Not only did they offer in consequence a more paying and a less defended target, but the corresponding shock to morale must have been serious. While we should seek to render living and working impossible in the nearer towns of Germany, we should also show that even the mIst remote can expect no immunity from destruction. Bombing is still perhaps our best available offensive weapon towards beating the Germans.

'• Fighting France"

On Tuesday, July 14th, the 153rd anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, the people of unoccupied France were called upon to celebrate the day in the traditional manner, in spite of the ban imposed by the Government of Laval. On the same day, the Free French movement, in full agreement with the British Government, changed its name and became Fighting France (La France Corn- battante). The new name is more comprehensive, and even more expressive than the old. From the first the forces commanded by General de Gaulle have consisted of fighting men, soldiers who escaped with the British from Dunkirk, sailors from the French fleet, men and also women who have managed to leave France in order to join Frenchmen fighting with the Allies. The movement also includes the Frenchmen who live in the territories from which war is still being waged against the Axis, that part of the French colonial Empire which refused to participate in the surrender, or which, as in the case of Syria, has been redeemed. But it also includes a growing army of Frenchmen within metropolitan France who are free in spirit, but not free from enemy repression or Vichy constraint—men and women all of whom eagerly look for an Allied victory, and who are already helping the cause by every means within their power. The new name is a symbol of the union of all French nationals who are working openly or in secret, outside and inside France. for the liberation of their country.

Primate on Church and State

The Archbishop of Canterbury in his first presidential address to the Canterbury diocesan conference said some interesting things about the relation of Church and State. Contrasting the German conception that the aim of the State is power with our own con- ception that its aim is human welfare, he pointed out that the latter implies its fostering liberty alongside its authority, and that means combining voluntary organisation with State enterprise. Here, he said, the Church has a supreme opportunity, for it is by far the greatest of the voluntary organisations and the one with the greatest number of activities. In one .case after another it was first in the field, and a problem arose when the State, arriving later, sought to cover similar ground. If in such cases the Church merely tried to hold what it had, it would fight a series of rearguard actions with certain defeat at the end of every one. The right course was

not to end all the State's action, but to claim the right to co-operate with it. "If we can welcome," he said, "the State's appreciation of our work as expressed in a decision to carry it forward on a wider scale, our co-operation will usually be welcomed, and we shall be able to influence the activity of the State from within." Dr. Temple, who is profoundly concerned with the place of religion in the schools, may primarily perhaps have been thinking of that issue. It is, at any rate, only too true that Churchmen who fought so pertinaciously for Church schools only too often allowed the larger interest—the religion of the bulk of the nation in the State- provided schools—to slip as it were through their fingers. And the lesson is still there to be learned.

Thirty. Years of National Insurance

Wednesday was the thirtieth anniversary of the coming into operation of the National Insurance Act, 1911. To the pre-war Britain of that era, which had just witnessed the great political dog- fights over the Lloyd George Budget and the passing of the Parliament Act, and was even then witnessing the 1911-12 series of gigantic strikes, this great and essentially constructive measure wore a strongly subversive air. It is curious to recall today how much it was resented, not only by many Conservatives, but also by some Liberals, and not only in the name of property, but also in that of liberty. Not less curious was the opposition to it of various occupations and interests ; especially that of the doctors, who came nearer to wrecking its operation than any other body, and in the sequel have derived from it such very marked benefits. It was the starting- point in this country of compulsory State insurance both against ill-health and against unemployment, and on both sides (but especially on the latter) its scope has since been greatly enlarged. Today nobody would suggest going back on it, and few would argue that, even with its enlargements, it as yet covers the need. The inquiry which the Government is having made under Sir William Beveridge's chairmanship into the adequacy of the social services, should before long supply something like an authoritative answer to the many questions which suggest themselves. Here we will mention only one—the extensitin of free medical service. At present it is avail- able for the insured person only, and not for dependants, and covers treatment by a general practitioner only, and not (save for "additional benefits," which go mainly to eyes and teeth) those specialised forms of treatment which have grown to such importance in an age of increasingly specialised medicine. There is no reason why a scheme filling all these gaps should not be developed on terms acceptable to the medical profession.

A Record Wheat Crop

Anyone travelling over the country by road or rail may see, if he opens his eyes, the greatest acreage of wheat crops visible here during the twentieth century. The effort made in the last war has now been left behind, and thanks to successive spells of dry weather (which is favourable to the wheat plant), the fine promise per acre is scarcely less noticeable than the acreage. People with memories long enough to recall the downfall of English arable farming, which began in 1877 and occupied the subsequent twenty years, will have observed with a sense of something like poetic justice the ploughing- up of innumerable grassfields on which the " balks " of the old ploughing were still visible under the turf. What, speaking politically and economically, is to be the post-war fate of these enormous reversions? Will they disappear again, as they did after 1920, or will the promises of statesmen prove this time to be less like piecrust? It is early to guess ; but meantime there is one minor matter which deserves to be put on record. Country-lovers, who witnessed the dis- appearance of so much old arable in those years after 1877, used to harp very much, not only on the material loss to the English country- ride, but on its loss of beauty. A later generation, grown accustomed to an overwhelming predominance of pasture, has been prone to doubt that. But surely our eyes' evidence today confirms it. Growing corn-crops are extraordinarily beautiful ; and July in England ha5. not for a long time past seemed so beautiful as it seems this year.