All the Moscow newspapers this morning prominently publish messages from London and New York in which their correspondents describe the popular movements in England and America in favour of the early opening of a second front. This is the first time since the middle of June that the subject of the second front has been mentioned in the Press, although it is, of course, much discussed by the public, and recently with increasing anxiety. There is no doubt that the tide of disappointment and suspicion is rising rapidly, especially in an army on whose nerves the Germans are trying to play by dropping millions of small leaflets bearing only the words: “And the second front?”

When M. Molotov returned from the west in June it was popularly felt that the war had entered a new phase in which, although a great German offensive might come, Germany’s commanders would be inhibited by the mounting danger in the west and consequently handicapped in the speed and weight of their attack. But of such inhibition there is no sign. On the contrary, since about the time the Anglo-Soviet Treaty was signed, 16 German divisions, including two Panzer divisions, are believed, in Russian circles, to have been transferred east from France and the Low Countries, where only nine now remain – a garrison smaller than that held in Norway. Lately the Russians have been told that the Germans are sending aeroplanes here from Egypt.

Nor does it appear that Germany’s allies have been prevented from sending considerable aid in the war against Russia by any fear of a second front.

Marianne-Maquis
1942
Oskar Kokoschka