World War, STRATEGY: Defensive Offensives

Paradoxically the British, who are engaged in desperate defense of the Suez Canal, were this week also engaged in offensives away from the Suez Canal in both directions. The campaign in Syria sputtered in a confusion of amity and murder (see below). From Egypt the British staged an attack on Axis forces in Libya which had a look of desperate deadliness (see p. 31). But these were both defensive offensives. They were both blows struck in haste to ward off blows. The Syrian campaign was being fought because of a rumble of enmity to the north; the North African attack was made because of a roar of preparations to the west.