March. Manoeuvres at HGS. Horse dung. Gives you the horrors. Fred Andersen from the desert.
Monday, March 8th
At home we have had big manoeuvres, an attacking force running from South to North. They reached Henley on Friday and turned up at the school on Sunday morning just as I was having a morning in bed. They were engineers and quite decent people. They camouflaged their lorries, dug pits, and then lounged about while dinner was cooked. Hilary was enchanted and watched them all day, receiving a packet of army biscuits in exchange. They contained one bad hat who drank half a bottle of my sherry and pinched some soap, a towel, matches and some lettuces! However, on the whole we did not lose very much – no hens for instance.
Sunday, March 14th
Hilary was out very late last night, did not come back ill 8.15. When asked where he had been said, “Collecting horses’ business.”
Some very heavy raids on Essen with terrific explosions, acres of devastation. The accounts of the pilots give you the horrors. How any human beings can survive such hells I cannot imagine. The bomber pilots too go on for week after week and must, one would think, lose their nerve in the end. They do in many cases, and while still young become old.
Some very heavy raids on Essen with terrific explosions, acres of devastation. The accounts of the pilots give you the horrors. How any human beings can survive such hells I cannot imagine. The bomber pilots too go on for week after week and must, one would think, lose their nerve in the end. They do in many cases, and while still young become old.
Monday, March 22nd
Churchill and Hitler both spoke yesterday. Hitler made a short speech in a very subdued and colourless voice so unlike his usual style that some people said it was not him at all. Churchill spoke for nearly an hour with great emphasis and fire. He covered a lot of ground and spoke chiefly of post-war problems in international and home affairs. He was not able to go into any detail and was in some respects consequently rather vague. However he did say: “I can imagine that some time next year – but it may well be the year after – we might beat Hitler, by which I mean beat him and his powers of evil into death, dust and ashes.” Within some world body he suggested a community of Europe made into a really effective League with all the strongest forces concerned woven into its texture. All the main branches of the European family must some day be partners in it.
Sunday, March 28th
Just got a letter from Fred Anderson, sent out to N. Africa at four days notice. “So far I have not contracted malaria, cholera, jippy tummy, dhobi itch, typhus, venereal disease, bubonic plague or any of the other contagions of the East. There are lots of oranges and lemons, eggs, oceans of wine, with plenty of dates and figs.”
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