At first the British government reacted to the Finnish events with a frenzied press and radio campaign, as well as active participation in the expulsion of the USSR from the League of Nations. Next it supplied Mannerheim with weapons and aeroplanes. Now it is ready to send a ‘volunteer’ corps to Finland, on the Spanish model, supplying a justification for this à la Prytz.

Here are the details. Mannerheim is demanding 40,000 trained volunteers to hold the front. He does not expect all 40,000 to be British, of course, but Great Britain should send its share. It is expected that the British government will send not Brits but Canadians. To start with, they are more accustomed to the Finnish climate. Second, this is more convenient and legal from the political point of view, since there is no conscription in Canada, making it easier to pull off the ‘volunteers’ trick. It goes without saying that there will be a certain number of Brits among the Canadians. Not for nothing are skiers and men commanding Scandinavian languages being urgently sought in the mobilization effort. France will also send ‘volunteers’. The British government would also very much like to recruit some from the USA, but it’s hard to say if it will achieve this. But nothing is impossible here. Roosevelt has already let it be known that ‘there is no war in Finland’ and therefore American subjects would not be forbidden from fighting for Mannerheim. The British plan is to mass a sufficient quantity of ‘volunteers’ by spring.

The situation is becoming more and more complicated.