First day of holidays. Sports yesterday; for the first time the weather was wet and it rained most of the afternoon, but no wind fortunately.
Virginia Woolf believed to have drowned herself in Sussex Ouse near Rodmell and obituary in Times today, but body not yet found.
Friday, April 4th
For some time we have had German mechanized forces in Tripoli, but imagined them weak. Today heard with something of as shock that Benghazi has been abandoned and “concentration” of forces taking pace. Clearly we have been unable to prevent the passage of a German army from Sicily to N. Africa. It is said to be about three divisions.
Both M. and Timothy report J. B. Priestley a bad tempered and aggressive man, in spite of his very popular broadcasts.
A sensible letter from Lady Astor in Times pointing out from her experiences in Plymouth the inadequacy of fire fighting arrangements under intense air attack. “It is impossible to the ordinary person to visualize a blitz unless one has lived through one. I never conceived it was like this, and I have a good imagination.” The government should have multiplied appliances to an extent that would seem extravagant to those who have not the experience of the attacks in Coventry, London, Bristol and Southampton and extended water supplies on a large scale. Theirs is the responsibility of more cities are burned down.
According to evacuee from Portsmouth, no attempts at fire fighting cold be made during the raid as the mains were put out of action and all the services had to stay under cover.
Here and in Reading it is very difficult to keep fire watching going; it is more and more thrust on fewer and fewer people simply because the majority do not see the use of it. In districts where every house is occupied and stirrup pumps and sandbags are thick on the ground, it does seem a waste of time and energy to patrol when there is no alert.
Saturday, April 5th
Went to Labour Exchange to register in 41 - 44 age group for industry. Not impressive. Only one other man there. Particulars taken from identity card and entered on another card. Went into Reading in afternoon, buses crowded and girl conductors not always very efficient.
Budget on one day next week not so far revealed. Cannot raise a great deal of interest. Must eat, sleep and wear clothes and this is about all one can do now. Money not much good if nothing to buy. Spend very little on amusements, unless you can count the car as one. Going into Reading about the limit of traveling. Spend a good deal of time talking about food.
Note that I wrote on Feb 20th that theatres as well as cinemas to be opened on Sundays. However, Parliament found time this week to debate the order and rejected it on such curious grounds as that the darkness of the cinema was a better place for lovers to hold hands. One of Parliament’s more ridiculous fits of morality.
The Germans asked the Czechs to fly flags celebrating the signing of the pact with Yugoslavia. A few appeared. Later it was know from the B.B.C. bulletins that the pro-Axis government had fallen; Prague defiantly flagged as never before.
Note that on Feb 14th I wrote that I thought advance into Tripoli was likely and even contact with the French forces in Tunisia. And on Feb 13th that Balkans as good as lost. It was not so. We decided to check our advance in N. Africa; withdraw forces from there to Greece, falling back if necessary towards Egypt (and this has been necessary); other forces to finish off Eritrea and so clear the Red Sea to shipping and make further transfers to Balkans possible… Clear that Balkans to be major theatre of war in early summer.
Diarist’s note inserted in 1964: Churchill was determined to open a Balkan front by landing an army in Greece. He made up his mind a few days after O’Connor’s victory. His advance was stopped and his army disbanded. The Greeks collapsed and the expeditionary force had to retreat immediately to its ships with losses of men and equipment. We neither helped the Greeks nor embarrassed the Germans. Rommel, who arrived in Tripoli on Feb 12th, said no resistance could have been mounted against O’Connor. This monumental strategic blunder lengthened the war in N. Africa by two years and probably prevented the French in N. Africa from joining de Gaulle, made necessary the landings in Algeria and sucked Egypt into our major effort. Rommel, ordered to prepare plans by April 20th, attacked on March 31st. O’Connor was captured in the dark on April 6th by a German detachment behind our lines and spent the rest of the war in a prison camp.
April 6th, Palm Sunday
The Germans have not waited as long as I thought they would, but have declared war (quite an old fashioned courtesy) on Greece and Yugoslavia. This evening reports are coming in of bombing of Belgrade and Salonika and heavy fighting in Struma valley.
Monday, April 7th
Quite wrong in entry yesterday. No ultimatum or declaration of war. The Germans simply began hostilities and at the same time notes announcing the attack were handed to the Greek and Yugoslav ministers in Berlin.
Times 3d today – price from 1861 – 1911 and 1918 – 1922! Owing to rationing of jam and marmalade, many people think they will keep bees. Most nit-witted man turned up yesterday to ask my advice, who did not know the first thing about them, but suppose I should be the same myself if it were goats or geese.
Income tax to be 10d in the £ and nearly everyone to pay it. But money paid in some cases to be credited for use after the war. Some hope!
Reading H. G. Wells’s autobiography and came across prophecy of European war in 1940 made at time of writing in 1933.
Looks as though invasion is off for the present, though government still continuing anti-gas propaganda.
Believed in Washington that Russo-German relations are deteriorating rapidly, and attack on Yugoslavia won’t help matters much. The German need of heavy oil is said to be acute and the road to Baku lies through the Ukraine. This is making the Russians think hard.
Tuesday, April 8th
Not a good day. Sweep came late; Hilary dug up plants; wind very cold [Ed. I dug up some plants not once but two or three times and was taken indoors and beaten, not very severely, but the episode made an impression, the only occasion on which I can remember being beaten by my father].
News not good either. Germans in Derna in Libya. Very little information from Balkans, but what there is suggests Greek left being outflanked by German thrust through Yugoslavia. Only news of our forces is of air battles where our fighters, as usual, seem to have taken on and beaten superior numbers.
Tremendous raid on Kiel last night. 30,000 incendiaries, hundreds of bombers, the place a mass of smoke and flame. Where do we go from here? Bomb and counter bomb, smash and counter smash, burn and burn again. … This is the war of attrition, which on land produced the Somme and Passchendaele in the last war, transferred to the air.
Wednesday, April 9th
Bitterly cold wind. Started for Stratford on Avon to meet Con for two days. Missed connection at Leamington as train late, so walked round town. Some bomb damage in the main street from raid the night before. Saw first public casualty list, a short one. Gardens rather shabby and uncared for. No meals to be obtained in cafés as all full, but took sandwiches and ate them in the station restaurant. Reached Stratford about 3.30. A very different atmosphere from Oxfordshire. Everyone talking of the raids on Coventry and Birmingham. Saw the converted motor bus ambulances in the streets and the American Red Cross. Local hospital full of injured from Coventry, which had another very bad raid. A feeling that we are nearing the front line, which was a short bus ride away. Funny how words acquire significance. Coventry now stands for so much; two years ago for motors, and a difficult town to drive through because of the bicycles on the streets.
Stratford itself full of air force recruits housed in three of the biggest hotels. They were doing P.T. on the grass by the theatre and squad drill on the side streets. Curious shapes and sizes, especially when stripped for P.T., and one black man.
House where I stayed contained a grain king, whose business had been taken over by the government, a funny little man who read newspapers most of the day, his German wife and wife’s mother. The latter a very charming well preserved lady from Hamburg. They had lived in London until the blitz and what the mother in her rather imperfect English called the bompfs. W.V.S. in Stratford work in Marie Corelli’s Hall and grain king’s wife makes bags to hold contaminated clothing in case of gas attacks.
Good Friday, April 11th
Further shocks today. Went over to Ilmington (Shipston on Stour) to have tea with Bennetts and told of capture of British generals in Libya, including O’Connor, the leader of the advance in January.
Good Friday not a holiday, but most of the restaurants shut. Greengrocers open.
Easter Day
Home via Oxford yesterday. P.M. yesterday conferred degrees on Mr. Winant and the P.M. of Australia in the ruined city of Bristol. He also visited Cardiff. “I see the damage done by the enemy’s attacks, but I also see, side by side with the devastation and among the ruins, glad, confident, bright smiling eyes, gleaming with the consciousness of being associated with a movement finer, higher, wider than any human or personal issues. I see the spirit of an unconquerable people, I see the spirit bred I freedom, nursed in tradition, which has come down to us through the centuries, and which will enable us most surely at this moment, at this turning point in the history of the world, to bear our part in such a way that none of our race who come after us will have any reason to cast reproach on their lives.”
He spoke to the civil defence workers, grimed with fire fighting. “God bless you all. We will give it to them back.”
Thursday, April 17th
Most severe raid of the war so far on London last night. Started about ten o-clock and went on till dawn. We had two warnings, one about 9.30 and another about 3.45 a.m. Standing of my flat roof, the school was outlined against colossal flashes like sheet lightning and the pin points of the barrages winked momentarily in the sky between the tree trunks. The papers did not arrive till midday, always a very bad sign. Nora left to go to a conference in Nottingham, traveling via London.
It is clear that the war is entering another critical phase. In the past four months we have had some successes – Libya, the Italian front, Abyssinia and East Africa. Now we are in for another four months when we must expect reverses. In Greece the withdrawal of our advance forces has been carried out and the Greeks have retreated from Albania without disaster. A furious attack is now being made on our main positions by the whole weight of the German army.
In the desert, fresh attacks on Tobruk repulsed with heavy losses…. The stakes very high indeed – each advance brings the Germans air force nearer Alexandria and the Canal. If the latter goes, our whole position in the Middle East will be compromised…. It is true that the German supply lines in the desert are very long, but the Germans are good at solving supply problems. Egypt is threatened all right.
Friday, April 18th
Yugoslavia capitulates. Belgrade, like Warsaw and Rotterdam, pitilessly bombed. 200 dead counted lying in one main street; no defences, no shelters, no adequate fire service; proclaimed an open city in the vain hope that it would be spared, but the gangsters do not forget. A furious attack with hundreds of dive bombers and thousands of tanks on our army in Greece. More withdrawals…. Preparing us for the fact that we cannot stand indefinitely, something must give somewhere.
Sunday, April 20th
Hunt, clever boy who won Balliol exhibition, arrived for tea yesterday, now subaltern at Oxford Depot of the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry. Very informative. Said intelligence reported one division at most in Tripoli, but three armoured divisions turned up. A tank goes 40 miles then refuels, so have been refueled 100 times. Mechanical overhauls are necessary every 400 – 500 miles and that accounts for the temporary halt in the advance. Full of stories of commandos, i.e., raiding parties – of men who landed on uninhabited island in the Channel Islands and had to be left there because they couldn’t swim! Of a party who landed in Boulogne and threw bombs into the officers’ mess, of parachute landings by anti-Nazis in disguise of Polish refugees and so on.
Has theory that Oxford not attacked as centre for German secret radio! German planes rendezvous there and then receive orders and directions. All night bombing down by directional wireless beams on both sides now. Scientists trying to discover ways of bending the beams.
Strong resistance by British in Greece but being forced back step by step. Mount Olympus now is hands of enemy.
In Atlantic Battle, enemy sprung a surprise on us in the use of huge Fokke-Wulf Condors against our convoys. Our Short Sunderlands and our Blenheims not powerful enough. At present they are having it all their own way.
Wednesday, April 23rd
The Greeks in very bad way. The army in the west, facing the Italians, was cut off by a German drive over the mountains and has surrendered to the Italians.
Friday, April 25th
Greek government now in island of Crete and evacuations mentioned yesterday. Germans claim it has already begun….. Only one army left in Europe now, the German army. Able to take on Spain and Turkey, and perhaps Russia, at the same time and invade (I think this off for present). Position similar to Napoleon’s move from Boulogne to Austerlitz. In our case the defeat of the Luftwaffe in August, September and October corresponds to Trafalgar, and hope that in the long run as decisive for victory.
Saturday, April 26th
Timothy Auty in tonight. Went home during raid of 16th – 17th dead tired at end of day. Went to bed. Far worse than anything so far in London. Only thing to do to commend your soul to your maker. Her brother did not come in till five o-clock in the morning and she was convinced he was killed. Very near the bomber that crashed in Camden Hill. Took a long time to come down, lost height as engine failed, would then pick up again and struggle on for a bit, then fail again, then make another frantic effort to go on. Had dropped bombs anyway. A friend of her brother’s is one of a handful of interrogation officers of German pilots. A big blond man with a German wife, he is used for sweetening them, i.e., getting them in a good humour and inclined to talk. Various methods used from gin and lime to solitary confinement, but, so he said, they usually get what they want.
Jan Masaryk saved from being blown up at a party by visiting the W.C., says this is conclusive proof of the disadvantages of teetotalism.
Man rushed out to sweep up a pile of horse droppings, but horse turned round and said, “Are you registered with me”!
Sunday, April, 27th
My remark on Feb 13th now true – Balkans finished. Next question is will we see a march of Alexander to Baghdad and the Gulf, or through the Ukraine to the Caucasus, or perhaps both, to the oil fields of Baku and Mosul…. The most unsatisfactory part of the whole tragic Balkan campaign is that it seems one more proof that the problem set by the Meuse break through has not yet been solved – how to check the German motorized advance once it is in full swing. Difficult country, as different as possible from the Flanders plain, no obstacle to German tanks….
We sat listening to Churchill tonight at nine o’clock – Nora making a blouse for Hilary, the Wilk knitting, me with a map of Europe open in front of me – a rather solemn occasion as we had expected an announcement about evacuation from Greece. Nothing however about this. He started by describing the high morale of the bombed areas. “The sublime but also terrible experience and emotions of the battlefield are now shared for good and ill by the entire population. All are proud to be under the fire of the enemy…. This is indeed a grand and heroic period of our history and the light of glory shines on us all….. It is in all things imperative that our policy and conduct should be on the highest level, that honour should be our guide.”
We may now expect the war in the Mediterranean to become very fierce, varied and widespread…. Spain and Morocco, the Ukraine, the Black Sea, the Caspian, the Caucasus may be involved. But to win this island must be conquered by invasion or its ocean lifeline cut.
The British empire and the U.S.A. number together nearly 200m, people in their homelands, they possess unchallengeable command of the ocean and will soon obtain decisive supremacy in the air. Nothing that is happening now is comparable with the gravity of the dangers through which we passed last year.
Monday, April 28th
Athens in German hands. The Swastika flying on the Acropolis, a cruel blow to our civilization. After 112 years of independence, Athens is again in the hands of tyrants and the enemies of liberty, the misologists of Plato, the haters of thought, the men with the lie in the soul.
Tuesday, April 29th
German communiqué says they are determined to prevent another “Glorious Dunkirk”. Our position is much worse than there, for Crete much further away.
Nora has some eggs under a broody and she hopes to get some bootlegged corn from the farm.
Thursday, May 1st
Announced by P.M. last night that 45,000 (now raised to 48,000) of force of 60,0000 evacuated from Greece.
Plymouth severely attacked three nights out of five. Mayoress, Lady Astor, angry with the B.B.C. for referring to a short, sharp raid without casualties. The raided people very angry to hear themselves so described. Should she ask for the Ministry of Information to be called Ministry of Inflammation.
Sunday, May 4th
Material originally intended for Greece and Yugoslavia is now arriving from U.S.A. at Suez, said to contain light tanks, A.A. and antitank guns. In 90 days, according to Col. Knox of the U.S.A., the States will be providing more war material than any other nation, including Germany. Four engined bombers are now arriving in service; the American Fortress is supposed to be very efficient, especially at high altitudes. They can operate best on dark nights with good cloud cover.
Moon is waxing again and almost half full. Attack on Merseyside, very bad they think, with a great number of casualties, but 16 bombers down.
Monday, May 5th
Direct hits on the battle cruisers this evening in Brest harbour. They have been there for five weeks now and one is still in the dry dock. Germans out to kill and choke the ports. Belfast and Liverpool again last night.
Friday, May 9th
Getting the bombers down now in the moonlight. Pilots given drops to dilate pupils, but detection done on the ground in first instance. Thursday night a record of 24 down and May has broken all records for seven days with 74 down against 90 for the whole of April.
General debate on policy of government. Churchill carried away by rhetoric… confident apparently that we can hold Egypt, said we had 500,000 men in Middle East.
Sunday, May 11th
Now that Greece has gone feel (like Pitt) that map of Europe not required for some time. Sinkings this month very heavy, up to 500,000 ton mark and 60 British ships lost.
Arthur Lane, now in Air Ministry Intelligence Service, came down for birds nesting yesterday. Poor results, weather too cold. Not certain whether to stay the night or to return to his bomb-proof, air conditioned dugout below ground in Whitehall. Finally decided to go back, and lucky he did, as very bad raid on London last night – 33 aircraft down, much damage and heavy casualties. Lane says P.M. reads a great deal in his bath and has invented a minute paper divided in half, the left-hand half where he can grasp when partially immersed and flip the pages over. Lane feels no desire to stay with aerodromes (he collects German aerodromes), but to return to the V & A Museum.
Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and British Museum among buildings of historic importance damaged last night. Fires in Victoria Tower, Westminster Hall and House of Commons and roof of Westminster Abbey, part of which fell to the ground. One side of House of Commons fell into the courtyard. At one moment such a heap of rubble fell that watchers thought Big Ben was down.
124 bombers destroyed since the month started.
Tuesday, May 13th
Sensational news tonight. Last Saturday, as it was getting dark, our patrols reported a German fighter crossing the Scottish coast. The report was first disbelieved, as no fighter would have enough fuel to get home from this point to German territory. Later however fighter crashed in the country near Glasgow. The farmer ran out and saw a parachute coming down. A little later he discovered the pilot lying on the ground with a broken ankle. He brought him into his cottage until the military arrived. He was clearly a person of consequence. He spoke excellent English, had a gold wrist watch and identity disc and wore very fine and expensive flying boots. Earlier in the day the German wireless had announced that Rudolph Hess, the third man in Germany and Hitler’s deputy, had,contrary to orders, obtained an aeroplane and probably crashed or committed suicide. He left behind an incoherent letter which proved his mind was affected. In fact the mysterious man in the unarmed German fighter was Hess himself…. More details about Hess at nine o’clock. He flew 900 miles in a machine that he had never flown before, he baled out for the first time on Saturday, so lucky he did not break his neck. He was offered some tea on landing, but wisely asked for water!
Sunday, May 18th
Admiral Darlan and his men of Vichy have surrendered to Hitler and the use of the Syrian air bases is the first concession to be claimed. 6000 killed in April raids. First four months casualties 28,178 against 52,315 for last four months of 1940.
Tuesday, May 20th
Nora brought home some chocolate tonight. The products of the tropics now greeted with as much enthusiasm as in the 18th century. Had some dried codfish today – stank rather badly, which put you off, but tasted very fair.
Wednesday, May 21st
A talk on cutting down milk supplies to ensure cheese and condensed milk for winter and an appeal to farmers to grow as much kale as possible and put down as much silage as possible to replace imported cattle cake and winter feed.
Thursday, May 22nd
Battle for Crete continues. A queer battle is going on. There are no adequate aerodromes in Crete, so we have had to withdraw fighters and leave the A.A. and the army to deal with air attack.
Saturday, May 24th
Our large cruiser Hood sunk off Greenland by an unlucky hit in the magazine when engaging the German battleship Bismarck. No survivors of a crew of 1,300.
Last night Dorothy Wade, now a dispenser and bacteriologist at en emergency hospital near Southampton, arrived for the night. Full of life and very cheerful; considering the experiences she has been through. Thinner though. No wonder. Lives in a converted motor launch moored in Southampton Water. All the rest there were burnt to the water edge and the boat yard burnt. An incendiary fell on the gang plank but did not go off. Said that one night the lake in the grounds of the hospital entirely surrounded by burning pine trees like a huge firework display. Could hardly believe her eyes at Reading, the crowds and the shops. No shops, no crowds in Southampton, a deserted city. Everyone treks out at night, some in coaches fitted with bunks in which they sleep. Heard people grumbling at buses in Reading. To her, height of luxury to have a ride in a bus with any glass in any the windows at all. Southampton A.R.P. made some bad mistakes, especially after a nasty accident in a basement shelter, where, owing to a bursting of the boilers, some people were boiled alive when they turned off the water during a raid. When the centre of the city was on fire the water not turned on until the fire quite uncontrollable. Her own job of keeping cultures in refrigerators and so on much hampered by failure of electricity supply. Has the satisfaction of finding sometimes that patients will die anyway, so saving them the bother of operations. In charge of blood transfusions and also evacuation officer (in case of invasion). Must be last to leave and has decided in that case to live in the woods for a bit, as she thinks she probably knows them better than the Germans. Going on to Oxford. Hilary and I going, too, by car and train, but as she was in uniform she decided to hitch hike.
Hilary and I arrived in Oxford rather late, about 12, and I went to see a specialist about my throat. Diagnosed a tonsil and advised removal. Had lunch with Hester (Armstrong). Venison sent from Scotland. Had never eaten it before, tasted like mutton and rather dark. Took Hilary to see stuffed animals in the university museum, more skeletons than animals. However, ostrich and ostrich eggs a distinct success. Many questions about why the animals were killed. Went into Blackwells and looked at children’s books.
Sunday, May 25.
Don’t like the news from Crete. Our air force seems to have been evacuated in face of German attack from the aerodromes of southern Greece….. Crete follows on other occasions when our forces have been left unsupported from the air.
Mustafa Kemal, once asked why he never played chess, replied, “Because there might come a moment in the course of the game when I might have to admit that I was defeated.”
Reading the diary of Mr. Dodd, the U.S.A. ambassador to Germany 1933 – 37. An outspoken critic of the Nazis (in the diary) and refused to attend party functions and give Hitler salute. His attitude to Nazi leaders caused comment at the time. A student in Germany as a young man and a distinguished historian with many contacts with leaders of German culture, he found himself in queer company with the Ribbentrops and the Goerings.
Tuesday, May 27th
Today at one o’clock Bismarck announced sunk! Bismarck and a new cruiser reported by air reconnaissance at Bergen and thought to be about to try to enter Atlantic. Later reported left and movements of the fleet made to intercept. Visual contact made by cruiser in Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland and an attack begun. At 13 miles range the Hood was sunk by a hit in the magazine and blew up. During the night in poor weather the Bismarck changed course and was lost. Later she was discovered by long-range Catalina, American made aircraft, and seen to be making for a French port. She was attacked by Fleet Air Arm from Ark Royal and her steering damaged by a torpedo in the stern. She now became out of control and steamed in a circles. The Prince of Wales, one of the new battleships, and George V and Rodney came up and the German was sunk by torpedoes. An eye for an eye! The Bismarck for the Hood.
Wednesday, May 28th
Today a year ago I began this Diary prompted to the effort by the news of the Belgian surrender in Reynaud’s broadcast. I have started diaries before but never kept them going for very long, so am pleased that this has survived as a fairly frequent, if not daily, record. Since I began to write a year ago, France, Bulgaria, Rumania, Yugoslavia and Greece have all been overrun, and Crete, the last of free Greece, is desperately threatened and laid in ruins.
But today is no less memorable than May 28th, 1940 for at 4.30 a.m. British summer time Roosevelt spoke: “No spurious arguments, no appeal to sentiment, no false pledges like those given by Hitler at Munich can deceive the American people….. If the Axis fails to gain control of the seas they are certainly defeated…. Both they and their people know this and they are afraid. Once they are limited to continuing the land war their cruel forces of occupation will be unable to keep their heel on the necks of millions of innocent and oppressed peoples on the continent of Europe and in the end their whole structure will break into little pieces…. Yes, all freedom depends on the freedom of the seas…. The blunt truth is this: the present rate of Nazi sinkings is more than twice the combined output of British and American ships today….” If Hitler wants war with the U.S.A. he can have it. “We have pledged material support to the other democracies of the world, and we will fulfil that pledge…. We are placing our armed forces in a strategic military position. We will not hesitate to use our armed forces to repel attack”.
This is the kind of language Hitler understands.
Wednesday, June 4
Rationing of all clothing announced on Sunday. Secret well kept and Whitsun weekend chosen for purpose.
Marlborough for the weekend at Castle & Ball with M. War weapons week in Marlborough and very nasty looking un-exploded bombs displayed in shop window – enough to make anyone fed up with the war straight away. Walked on Downs all day Sunday and Monday. “Out of bounds” notices at frequent intervals and turf much cut up by tanks. The loneliness and distance soothing and refreshing, the [unreadable] lovely after the rain, the woods full of bluebells and cowslips on the open turf.
The evacuation of Crete announced on wireless on Sunday night. Some 15,000 troops rescued from southern coast of island after frightful hardships. Incessant bombings (no movement possible by day), heat, dust and thirst. Men who went through Dunkirk say give me Dunkirk any time. The defeated armies had to cross the mountain spine to reach the sea. Short of food, they ate donkeys and the raw flesh of fowls they had killed.
It looks as though the Free French may move into Lebanon from Palestine. I hope they don’t make a mess of it as at Dakar. Much talk in Vichy of “defence of the French empire” against Great Britain. Germans said to be allowing rearming of French in Syria, though Germans supposed to be in all key positions
Thursday, June 5th
More news of German infiltration in Syria…. hoping to take cover behind the French and to involve France and Britain in war if Britain takes any steps to prevent their using the Syrian air bases and infiltrating “tourists” into the country….
Today Hilary got into the dog’s barrel and rolled from the [School House] terrace to the [school playing fields] at the bottom of the slope and boys (playing cricket) were surprised on looking into the barrel and finding Hilary. He was bruised and scraped but soon recovered himself.
Saturday, June 7th
Paraffin difficult to get now. Trouble with the lodgers who have oil cooker and are severely limited by the retailer. Coal shortage, too, owing to calling up miners, and not possible to begin laying in coal for the winter. A lively prospect. Think I had better get in two-handed saw and do some wood cutting. Even beehives are unobtainable now, and no casual buying of anything even remotely resembling food. Quelle vie, quelle vie, quelle vie! All working up to a grand old bust!
Waiting for the word Go to march into Syria, but disaster in Crete casts a gloom over everything. Public opinion feels lack of air support in Greece and Crete has twice let down the army – and twice is a lot. We had the Cretan aerodromes for eight months, the Germans the Greek aerodromes for three weeks. We could make use of neither. All seems to show that no coordinated plan for was worked out for defence of island. We were told we had decided to defend it to the end. When the decision was made, was it known that the aerodromes could not be used and local air support would be lacking? If so why was it made?
American ambassador gone back to report to Roosevelt. Various speculations – some say he will report Britain “all in” and position very serious indeed, industrial production falling, shipping position desperate. Talk of agreement between Vichy and Hitler as to New Order in Europe and another peace offer to U.S.A. On other hand Americans said to be taking a very tough line with Vichy….
Sunday, June 8th
British and Free French troops marched into Syria at 2 o’clock this morning…. Mr Winant has reported that we are confident that we can maintain air superiority over Britain and the Channel invasion ports.
Monday, June 9th
Hilary went to school today to Council Infants’ Nursery Class. He was so overwhelmed by the variety of impressions that he had little to say about it. It rained hard most of the day.
Beaverbrook broadcasting to Canada said the hour of invasion is approaching. Really think it must be this time!
Thursday, June 12th
Debate on Crete on Tuesday. P.M. said A.A. guns were in great demand and had to be diverted from one Mediterranean theatre to another. “Every single gun in action at some necessary point or other and all future production for many months ahead is eagerly competed for”. Especially necessary for Battle of Atlantic. Equipment of army at outbreak of war most meagre and deficient in character. Not hampered by lack of aircraft. Difficulty in transportation. The Germans, using the continental trunk lines, can do in five days what it takes us weeks or more. It was hoped that within the time (or loss) limit in which the Navy could protect the northern coast of Crete, the army and 25,000 to 30,000 men would succeed in biting off the head of the terrific apparatus of airborne invasion. This they were unable to do. The numbers of the air force were few and if they had not been withdrawn they would have been blown off the aerodromes.
The position in Iraq has been restored, our front in Egypt is unbroken, we are advancing in Syria and large forces occupying Abyssinia were now set free. If the next six months should find us in no worse position than in which we stand today…. a famous chapter will have been written in the martial history of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Sunday, June 22nd
Had a lovely spell of hot weather. Last Sunday on Downs all day. Diary neglected. Swarms also active, another reason. However news today at 9 o’clock of German war on Russia “to save Europe from menace of Bolshevism” – so Hitler running true to Mein Kampf after all. Numerous rumours in papers of terrific troop concentrations in Rumania and Finland area – query, a big punch movement north and south – for last ten days, but no sign from Moscow or any mention on Moscow Radio. Stafford Cripps withdrawn from Moscow via Sweden for consultations, a sign of the coming storm.
First reaction that long term position much worse. Russian army and air force very doubtful quantities indeed. If Russia in west overrun and economic resources organized and controlled by Germans and war factories shifted westward, outlook for these islands lying off a Germanized continent, with the trade routes threatened and shipping losses steadily growing, very poor in long run. We shall become an outlying aerodrome – very overcrowded – far from our continental base in the U.S.A.
Damascus in our hands today, but campaign going very slowly and French resistance strong…
Feeling of unease in country, press and parliament very strong and demand for better organization at the top. No criticism of Churchill, but argued that he carries too heavy a weight of responsibility and cannot supervise everything. Some ministers not up to the job….
The legacy of the policy of appeasement still being paid out with a vengeance. Turkey has to all and intents and purposes gone….[With fall of Greece] has followed the only way possible and made a treaty of friendship with Germany. The Germans thus gain control of Straits and Black Sea area for an attack on Ukraine, Crimea and Sebastopol.
Hitler having failed last summer by air attack in daylight, or in winter by bombing at night, to defeat us quickly is now planning for a long war. Before turning to deal with the democracies he must secure control of the wheat and oil of Russia and build up a continental economic system. Having conquered Europe and Near Asia he can then turn all his forces against us in this island, in Africa and in the Near East.
What are the Russians worth. An Air Force numerous but not up to date compared with Germany; mechanized divisions there, but reserves? Molotov broadcast today, compared Hitler to Napoleon, but how far has the mechanized advance reduced the value of distance to Moscow from German frontier? Anyway Messrs Baldwin and Chamberlain between them have landed us in a pretty sticky patch without a friend from Brest to Pekin. I suppose one ought to be glad that Hitler has taken on Russia and so increased his own difficulties. Unfortunately one feels that doubtful that in the long run he has.
Appeal for large numbers of radio mechanics to work new location devices to detect night bombers; sounds as it at last we are on the track of something practicable. Principle of reflection of wireless beams known for sometime, but nothing mentioned about it so far.
Churchill spoke tonight. This the fourth turning point of the war.- 1st defeat of France, 2nd victory in daylight air, 3rd lend lease enactment. P.M. not taken by surprise. Stalin had been warned; hope he took warning to heart….We have informed Russian ambassador that we will give all the help in our power. He took nothing back about what he has said about the cruelties of Communism, but the Russian peasant was defending his soil which his fathers had tilled for generations. Meanwhile 27 Nazi planes destroyed over France in daylight sweep with only one loss to ourselves.
Monday, June 23rd
“It is not too much to say here this summer evening that the lives of 1,000 million additional human beings are now menaced with brutal Nazi violence…and behind all this glare, behind all this storm, I see that small group of villainous men who planned, organized and launched this cataract of horror upon mankind. ….The cause of any Russian fighting for his hearth and home is the cause of free men and free peoples in every quarter of the globe. Let us learn the lessons already taught by such cruel experience. Let us redouble our exertions and strike with united strength while life and power remain!” P.M. last night. Later broadcast in Russian.
Some typical phrases – “A terrible military machine that the rest of the civilized world so supinely, so insensately allowed the Nazi gangsters to build up year by year from almost nothing; this blood-thirsty guttersnipe; clanking, heel-clicking dandified Prussian officers….dull, divided, docile masses of the Hun soldiery plodding on like a swarm of locusts”.
Wednesday, June 25th
We are taking the daylight initiative over N.W. France to some effect. – 112 enemy machines shot down to 26 of ours with 5 pilots safe. Loss of 5 to 1. When fighting over Britain last autumn loss 3 to 1. Military authorities in Germany give the Russians six to eight weeks. We shall see. There are reports of big tank battles going on but not much news from either side.
Friday, June 27th
Germans seem to be advancing fast north from Vilna in direction of Minsk, but held up in the south in Bessarabia [Moldavia]. The Russians have bombed Rumanian oil fields. More optimistic view today after having read the New Statesman, which suggests resistance, not victory, is what counts and thinks the Russians will resist. Offensive tremendous drain on German oil reserves.
Air sweeps in N. France continuing and Kiel and Ruhr heavily bombed. Now revealed that Gneisenau crippled in Brest after direct hit amidships just as she had been repaired from previous damage.
Took off some honey this week, but does not look as if it will be a good year.
Meat ration to be increased to 1s 2d from 1s as cargoes have come in from southern hemisphere. Private poultry keepers to be allowed up to 50 hens on egg front. Sensible article in NS on scarcity stunts in cheap press. Production of, say, cigarettes cut to 75%; papers feature cigarette shortage, people start buying up, smoking more and hoarding, and consumption instead of being cut by 10% goes up by 30% and all round artificial dearth is created. Strawberries have been selling at 5/- to 6/- a pound.
No air raid warning in Wednesday night, but a series of explosions from 2 to 3 a.m. and huge flashes (Clifford on fire watching counted 85) in direction of Aldershot, windows doors and roof rattled and trembled.
With two hours of summertime it does not get dark till 11.30, a great advantage in school for building does not heat up much till after school as we begin at 6.45 and end at 1.40 by GMT. We definitely sleep less, however.
Sunday, June 29th
Went on river today from 11 to 3.30. Crowded with craft in the afternoon, hardly think we were at war except for bombers and occasional Spitfires droning or whistling overhead. Last week was midsummer and the year has turned the corner very markedly. The trees have gone dusty and lost their sheen, the grasses have seeded and are drying and turning brown, the hay has been cut and the laburnum and rhododendrons are dead. “Summer’s lease has all to short a date.”
Russians reported to be holding their state frontier. Germans claim their tank columns past Minsk in centre of motor road to Moscow, also large numbers of tanks and planes destroyed…..very hard to get any idea of what is really happening.
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