35. Meanwhile the Germans had other plans. The failure of the first assault on Britain decided them to turn their attention to the Soviet Union, whose frontiers had been advanced in 1939 and 1940 to include the Baltic States and the Eastern provinces of Poland. The supplies which Germany had hoped to obtain from neutral Russia were forthcoming only in exceedingly small quantities, while the amount of force which she was obliged to dispose along the eastern border of the new territories was a serious embarrassment.
With Russia eliminated, and the oil, raw material, food supplies and industrial resources of the great Russian territories at her disposal, Germany no doubt hoped to be able to turn once more, and more confidently, to the destruction of Great Britain.