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14.4.41 [George Orwell]

April 14, 2011 in Abyssinia, America, Benghazi, Cairo, China, Egypt, French West Africa, Germany, Indians, Japan, Negroes, Political, Red Sea, Russia, South Africa, Tobruk, War-time, non-aggression pact by orwelldiaries

The news today is appalling. The Germans are at the Egyptian frontier and a British force in Tobruk has the appearance of being cut off, though this is denied from Cairo. [1] Opinion is divided as to whether the Germans really have an overwhelming army in Libya, or whether they have only a comparatively small force while we have practically nothing, most of the troops and fighting vehicles having been withdrawn to other fronts as soon as we had taken Benghazi. In my opinion the latter is the likelier, and also the probability is that we sent only European troops to Greece and have chiefly Indians and Negroes in Egypt. D., speaking from a knowledge of South Africa, thinks that after Benghazi was taken the army was removed not so much for use in Greece as to polish off the Abyssinian campaign, and that the motive for this was political, to give the South Africans, who are more or less hostile to us, a victory to keep them in good temper. If we can hang on to Egypt the whole thing will have been worth while for the sake of clearing the Red Sea and opening that route to American ships. But the necessary complement to this is the French West African ports, which we could have seized a year ago almost without fighting.

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16.7.40 [George Orwell]

July 16, 2010 in British, Burma road, China, Government, Hong Kong, Japan, Political, Popular Front, Tosco Fyvel, War-time, intelligentsia, left by orwelldiaries

No real news for some days, except the British government’s semi-surrender to Japan, i.e. the agreement to stop sending war supplies along the Burma road for a stated period. This however is not so definite that it could not be revoked by a subsequent government. F.[1] thinks it is the British government’s last effort (i.e. the last effort of those with investments in Hong Kong, etc.) to appease Japan, after which they will be driven into definitely supporting China. It may be so. But what a way to do things – never to perform a decent action until you are kicked into it and the rest of the world has ceased to believe that your motives can possibly be honest.

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