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would be, if the U.S. were not prepared to take Australia under her wing. There’s some reason, too, to believe that the Jap effort down in that direction is petering out. The United States Navy made them pay a very heavy price for their landings in New Guinea; and Australia is too big a mouthful for them to try to swallow. That is, unless they’re prepared to go over to the defensive on all their other fronts.’
    ‘The Australians don’t seem to see things that way.’
    ‘They would if it wasn’t for that Socialist feller Curtin that they’ve saddled themselves with as Prime Minister. He’s usin’ the crisis as a political weapon—telling them all that Churchill and his Tory pals would rather not risk the skin off a little finger than raise a hand to save Australia from the Japs. It’s a thunderin’ lie, of course. All their troops have been released from the Middle East; and when Churchill was in Washington he secured a positive assurance from the President that, if need be, American troops should be sent to Australia instead of to Europe, and would defend the country to the last ditch. The lies that are being put out are Australian Labour’s cover-up for their party’s criminal negligence in having refused to introduce National Service, although it was clear that the Japs might enter the war against us at any time.’
    Gregory nodded. ‘It’s good to think that our folk down under are in no real danger. Now; what’s the latest low-down about Russia?’
    ‘Oh, they never stop yellin’ that they’ll have to chuck their hand in unless we can take the pressure off them by openin’ a Second Front.’
    ‘Our new commitments against the Japs must have ruled that out for the time being.’
    ‘Lord, yes. Having to make good the gaps left in the Middle East by the withdrawal of the Australian divisions, and putting some teeth into the defence of India, forced us to scrape the bottom of the bucket.’
    ‘Still, the Russians must know that American troops have been arriving in Northern Ireland for the past two months; so it’s very understandable that they should be calling for anAnglo-American landing on the Continent. And I suppose the build-up might become big enough to justify that some time this summer?’
    ‘Not a hope. It takes more than a lot of bodies to launch a great amphibious operation. You ought to know that. They’ve got to be specially trained. Then there’s the Q side. Think of all the millions of tons of ammunition and stores required.’
    ‘Now the huge industrial plants in the United States are fully geared for war, surely they can take care of all material requirements?’
    ‘Ah, that’s what the public think. Fact is we’ve more headaches about equipment and supplies than we had last year. Before the Yanks came in they were giving us everything they’d got. Now they are having to think of themselves as well, and the war they’re fightin’ in the Pacific. It’s meant that we’ll not have anything like the numbers of aircraft and tanks we had hoped to have by the summer. Then there’s the question of all these new-fangled landin’-craft. Hundreds would be required, and as yet we’ve got ’em only in dozens. That and shipping are the worst snags. Even if the Yanks could let us have the goods it’s doubtful now if we could get them over.’
    ‘Is the shipping situation really all that desperate?’
    ‘Desperate’s the word—or will be if sinkings continue at their present rate.’
    ‘I thought the convoy system had taken the worst sting out of the U-boats.’
    ‘So it has, in British controlled waters. But we haven’t yet persuaded our friends on the other side of the wisdom of adopting it. Doenitz is cashin’ in on that. Since Christmas his U-boat packs have been operating almost within sight of New York harbour. In January he was getting three ships a day; now it’s up to nine. This month he’s made a record killing. Eight hundred thousand tons sunk already. If he