SECOND FRONT LONDON DEMONSTRATORS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 28 July 1942, Page 5

SECOND FRONT

LONDON DEMONSTRATORS

REBUKE BY MINISTER London, July 26. Sixty thousand people demonstrated in Trafalgar Square this evening in favour of the immediate opening of a second front. Mr D. N. Pritt, K.C., the Labour member of Parliament, said: *’We cannot afford to waste more time. Ships can be found, and if necessary we will put up with shorter rations. Fainthearts must be vanquished.” The following declaration was put to the assembly and approved amid scenes of enthusiasm: ‘‘Assembled at a most critical moment in the war. when the fate of Britain is at stake, we solemnly pledge to work with might and main for the immediate opening of a second front in Europe and to accept with a stern spirit all sacrifices which this mighty task demands, to redouble our efforts to produce weapons of victory, and not to rest

till the final triumph of our righteous case. Expressing the British people’s ardent will to victory, and inspired by the heroic deeds of our Soviet ally, we address ourselves to the Prime Minister with a demand that the second front agreement be carried out audacity and dispatch. Hitler’s desperation is Britain’s opportunity to strike now in the West.”

The Minister, of Labour, Mr Ernest Bevin, in a speech in Wales, said: “Those who are fighting for a second front are feeding Hitler and Goebbels. Our friends of the Left who are shouting this slogan are creating a condition we want to avoid by causing division within the country. I believe General Auchinleck will retrieve the position and hold Egypt. Russia might be driven back and lose territory, but I am confident Hitler will not break the Russian armies. No one is a better friend of Russia than I. and I beg those who claim to be her special friends not to try to force a reply on one issue, which might be a great contributing issue but is not the only one. and not the only way to win the war.” THE NEXT THREE MONTHS The “Daily Mail,” in a leading article, says: “The clamourers for a second front should bear in mind that, whatever plans the Government may have for helping our hard-pressed ally, it is hardly likely to broadcast them to the world at this stage.”