The Second Front

In November, 1943, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met together in Teheran, Iran, to discuss military strategy and post-war Europe. Ever since the Soviet Union had entered the war, Stalin had been demanding that the Allies open-up a second front in Europe. Churchill and Roosevelt argued that any attempt to land troops in Western Europe would result in heavy casualties.

Stalin believed that there were political, as well as military reasons for the Allies' failure to open up a second front in Europe. Stalin was still highly suspicious of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and was worried about them signing a peace agreement with Adolf Hitler. Stalin was fully aware that if Britain and the USA withdrew from the war, the Red Army would have great difficulty in dealing with Germany on its own.

At Teheran, Joseph Stalin reminded Churchill and Roosevelt of a previous promise of landing troops in Western Europe in 1942. Later they postponed it to the spring of 1943. Stalin complained that it was now November and there was still no sign of an allied invasion of France. After lengthy discussions it was agreed that the Allies would mount a major offensive in the spring of 1944.

From the memoirs published by those who took part in the negotiations in Teheran, it would appear that Stalin dominated the conference. Alan Brook, chief of the British General Staff, said that Stalin had a military brain of the very highest calibre. Never once in any of his statements he made any strategic error. In this respect he stood out compared with Roosevelt and Churchill.

The landings in June, 1944, created a second-front and took the pressure off the Red Army and from that date they made steady progress into territory held by Germany.

· GRAMMAR FOCUS

Perfect Continuous/Progressive

	Present	Past	Future
Time expressions	for — в течение (for a month, for a long time, for an hour). Либо же используется союз since — с тех пор, который служит отправной точкой действия, с которой все начиналось.	(for … hours/weeks/years – в течение … часов/недель/лет, since 10 o’clock – с 10 часов, sincemorning – с утра, since 2005 – с 2005 года)	by the time … - к тому моменту, времени, как …; by that time, by then - к этому времени, к тому времени; before – прежде, чем; after – после того, как.
Affirmative	Have/has+ been +V-ing My sisters have been watchingTV for 3 hours. (Мои сестры смотрят телевизор в течение 3 часов.)	Had been+V-ing He had been sleeping for half an hour when the phone rang. (Я (уже) спал пол часа, когда зазвонил телефон.)	Will+have been+V-ing You will have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives. (Ты прождешь свыше двух часов, прежде чем ее самолет, наконец, приземлится.)
Negative	Have/has+not+been+V-ing I haven’t been waiting for my brother for a long time. (Я не жду своего брата долго)	had+not+been+V-ing I have not been working since 10 o’clock, so I am not very tired now. (Я не работаю с 10 часов, поэтому я сейчас не очень уставший.)	Will+not+have been+V-ing You will not have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives. (Ты не прождешь свыше двух часов, прежде чем ее самолет, наконец, приземлится.)
Interrogative	Have/has+S+been+V-ing Has he been living in Minsk for 5 years? (Он живет в Минске в течение 5 лет.)	had+S+been+V-ing Hadhebeen working since 10 o’clock? (Он работал с 10 часов?)	Will-S+have been+V-ing Will you have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives? (Ты прождешь свыше двух часов, прежде чем ее самолет, наконец, приземлится?)
Формы Perfect Continuous (за исключением Future Perfect Continuous) имеют тенденцию ко все большему распространению в современном английском языке, хотя их употребление и ограничивается в некоторых случаях. Глаголы, которые не имеют формы Continuous, не употребляются и в Perfect Continuous. Это to be, to know, to see, to hear, to love и т.д. Вместо Perfect Continuous употребляется время группы Perfect.