Many Battles, One Scheme

The battles of the world, both those being fought and those apparently about to be fought, fell into a single scheme. They were all attacks on, or defenses of, three of the Allies' strongholds: > The Allies gave ground in the battle of the China Sea for Singapore (see p. 13). > The British had their wind up last week about Gibraltar. They suspected Spain and were not sure of Portugal (see p. 22). But the actual disposition of Axis forces did not appear to substantiate British fear of an immediate assault on Gibraltar. > Suez was threatened because the Middle East seemed to be threatened. Increasing German troop concentrations in Bulgaria and the concentration of German air power in Greece, Crete, southern Italy and Sicily suggested an imminent blow, perhaps at Turkey (see p. 22). Such a blow, if successful, would have four advantages for the Axis:

1) It would largely nullify the British victory in Libya (see p. 19).

2) It could eventually close the Suez Canal to British use and keep the U.S. from establishing its projected base for African operations in Eritrea.

3) It might mean the acquisition of the oil of Iran and Iraq, the closing of the Persian Gulf, route of Allied aid to Russia.

4) It would pave the way to what the Axis hopes will be the final battle of World War II, the struggle for India.

But the Axis might have to wait for these advantages, because Russia, to which the Middle East has become a kind of life line, is doing all it can, by indirection, to protect Suez. The Russian winter drive (see p. 20) had perhaps assumed great enough proportions last week to make Adolf Hitler at least postpone a move to the south.

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