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I believe the general concensus of opinion is
to accept the leadership of the Goverrnment and sup-
port it, believing that if an invasion of the Con-
tinent is possible, it will be undertaken.
The visit of General Arnold and General Somervell,
with others, has again centred interest on this
subject, and has increased active consideration of
the problem, it is my opinion, however, that action
and success will depend on what General Somervell
described to me as a "sustained excitement" on the
part of the Prime Minister and the higher British
military officers, it will take great determination
and singleness of purpose to organize an invasion
force large enough to divert German ground forces
from the Eastern Front, or to occupy the mainland
in sufficient depth to be in a position to compel
a major diversion of the German Air Force from the
Eastern to the Western Front. I believe a great
deal more could be done than is now being done, but
only with your personal intervention and vigorous
support. I liked your message of June first to the
Prime Minister. I felt the lift of it, as I am sure
he did. At the same time, I thought your estimate
of the Russian situation made it clear that it was of
concern to us and called for action on our part.
I wired you this evening, asking for information
as to the position you had taken in relation to the
Russian demand for a Second Front, as I felt it would
help me in working out your wishes with the British.
I have seen something of General De Gaulle lately,
partly because Eden felt that I could help keep him
in line, and also because I respect him as a fighting
man. The Prime Minister this last week has had a
more friendly attitude toward him, because of the
gallant behaviour of the Free French unit fighting in
Lybia. He asked Tommy Thompson to put on all his gold
braid and deliver a message of congratulations to
De Gaulle, because of the effective part they have
played in the desert battle. I spent three hours with
De Gaulle and with Eden, convincing De Gaulle of the
stupidity of his press conference which appeared last
week, and explained to him that to be friendly one
minute and critical the next was not good enough. He
told me he understood. Eden said afterwards that he had
never/