The Canadian journalists who visited London last month have taken
home some interesting impressions. One of them, inspired in part by General McNaughton, Commander of the Canadian forces in Great Britain, is that there will have to be an invasion of the Continent before the war can be ended. That may or may not be. There are too many unknown factors to make long-term predictions possible. It is hard to see how Germany can be finally defeated except by invasion, but we have not seen yet—owing to abnormally unfavourable weather—what the effect of intensive bombing may be, and it may be that the decision which will mean victory will be achieved, in conjunction with Russia, in what is comprehensively called the Middle East. What is perfectly clear is that no such prediction has any bearing on the demand for an offensive on the Western Front now. Our business is to provide all the shipping needed to carry to Russia all the tanks and aeroplanes and munitions she needs. With their help she will go on exhausting Germany further while our own army is being trained to increasing preparedness for whatever task may ultimately fall to it. Russia, no doubt, would like a military diversion in the West, but she would like less the deflection to France or Belgium of the supplies she was promised at the Moscow Conference.
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