Evening star., 1941-10-15
Token Intervention?

tionary force has landed at the
Russian Arctic port of Archangel still
is a mystery. The British govern
ment refuses to comment on the
rumor, which seems to have origi-
mated in Finland and been relayed
via Sweden. The nearest thing to
tacit admission comes from Ottawa,
where the Canadian official spokes-
man answered press questioning
with the statement that national
defense headquarters has no con-
firmation that any Canadians are in
cluded in the expedition to Arch
angel" So cryptic remark can be
variously interpreted. Moscow has
nothing to say on the subject, while
Berlin minimizes its Importance, If
true.
Under these circumstances, it is
impossible to say whether a sizable
British force actually has been
landed, or whether the rumor arose
because OF the presence of British
technical units accompanying the
equipment and supplies which are
known to have been unloaded at
Archangel in recent weeks. This
small city on the White Sea, however,
has become the one feasible port of
entry for aid to Russia, now that
Murmansk has been rendered useless
for this purpose by the cutting Of
the railroad leading southwark to
besieged Leningrad.
Assuming for the sake of argu-
ment that British expeditonary
force has been landed, it is not likely
to be major factor in the present
campaign, from a strictly military
point of view. Fifty thousand we'll
equipped troops probably would be
the maximum that could be sent
from Britain on such an enterprise,
because of the current shipping
shortage. Archangel is approx
mately 900 miles north of Moscow.
For the first half Of that distance,
the sole line of communication is a
second-rate railroad running through
marshy country as far as Vologda.
This belt of sub-Arctic marShland
at present protects the railroad from
Finnish or German attacks, but when
the tundra freezes deeply couple Of
months hence, motorized raids pre-
sumably could be made across the
intervening 200 miles. Furthermore,
by that time, the port Of Archangel
also will be frozen, and though it is
conceivable that a channel could be
kept open by powerful ice breakers,
the White Sea is so full of ice that
midwinter navigation is hazardous.
Thus, transportation and supply are
factors Of increasing difficulty, and
even though two or three divisions
of British troops did succeed in
reaching the Russo-German battle
front, they could not make much
military difference in a struggle in
volving millions of men on both sides.
However, the psychological effect
on Russian morale might be very
great. The government nt-controlled
Moscow press has been begging for
British diversion. What could be
more effective than the appearance
of British troops in Moscow and at
the front? Russian morale might be
boosted, and at the same time, Brit
ish public opinion presumably would
be relieved of much OF the sense of
Illustration which has caused criti-
cism Of the government and uneasi-
ness over the Russian situation.
Another possible by-product of
British expeditionary force to Arch
angel might be its influence upon
Finland Britain has warned the
Firms not to continue their war
against the Soviet Union, now that
they have regained their original
frontiers. The Firms themselves are
reluctant to 60 on fighting, and have
done little since their capture of
PetrozavodSk, on the Murmansk rail-
way, but they are under German
pressure. The nearby presence of
British army and the prospect of
having to fight it might give the
Firms both the incentive and the
occasion to drop quietly out of the
war.