Tuesday, Nov 4th
Russian news bad….Against Moscow they are reported to be preparing a new offensive when the ground hardens. There are contradictory reports from Sweden of elaborate preparations for winter campaign and lack of warm clothes, blankets etc for army, discouragement of German soldiers at length of campaign.
Weather here still very cold and rheumatism in night has been very troublesome.
Wednesday, Nov 5th
Guy Fawkes Day but unlike last year no bombs or warnings. Heard one siren for weekend of half term, the first for a very long time. Hope will arrive to have a firework party in peace for Hilary, but to quote [Sir Edward] Grey, or to misquote him, “It will be a long time before the lamps are relit in Europe” and we have rockets, Catherine wheels, Roman Candles and other delights.
Germans pressing on Moscow and the south….French convoy from Madagascar and Indo China intercepted off South Africa. Probably carrying contraband for Germany….Still bombing steadily in Germany and N. France….Though no detail given, the Navy is destroying U-boats and 1,276 men from submarines are prisoners. The largest convoy ever to cross the Atlantic recently arrived without loss.
Friday, Nov 7th
Last night had the pleasure of listening to both Roosevelt and Uncle Joe Stalin on the same B.B.C. programme. Roosevelt speaking in the White House to the International Labour Office meeting, Stalin in Moscow to celebrate the anniversary of the 1917 revolution.
Roosevelt: “I extend the hand of courage to the delegates of these organizations whose leaders are today languishing in concentration camps for having dared to stand up for ideals without which no civilization can survive….The epic stand of the Britain, China and Russia shall receive the full support of the peoples of the Americas.”
Listening to the quiet and measured voice I felt filled with the certainty of victory, for no system based on force and tyranny can in the long run prevail against the free tradition of Europe for it has and can find no moral foundation in consent. This is the lesson of Napoleon, it will be the lesson of Hitler.
Stalin’s speech was confident. …He said the enemy’s strength was failing, there was no disunity in Russia, their power was growing as fresh resources came up. The coalition of G.B., the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., must give them a preponderance over Germany.
A deadlock seems to have developed in front of Moscow owing to the difficulty of developing supply lines… Still the Germans are still hoping to reach the Kremlin before winter.
Saturday, Nov 8th
A heavy loss of bombers over Germany last night – 37 – said to be due to appalling weather conditions, cold and electric storms, 23 degrees of frost inside some of the cockpits.
Goebels has announced that this is not only Germany’s greatest chance, it is her last chance, and that Germany must experience an inferno if the war ends in a German defeat. Has this vile and wicked man seen the warning light or is it simply his way of trying to keep up the spirits of Germans faced with a third winter of war?
Sunday, Nov 9th
On domestic front fortunes are at a low ebb. Hilary has had one cold and now has another after being back at school for a week. Nora is thoroughly run down and has a frightful cold that she cannot shake off. The one consoling feature is that I am not in bed with sciatica.
Senate has voted to reverse the Neutrality Act…. Ships – armed – to enter war zones.
Monday, Nov 10th
Churchill in Mansion House speech said that R.A.F. now equal in size to German air force. Not bad considering that before war we were promised by Baldwin an air fore equal to any within striking distance of our shores and it has taken two years of hard work under war conditions to reach parity.
Hitler in address at Munich on anniversary of the Beerhall putsch called Churchill “a crazy drunkard.”
Tuesday, Nov 11th
Armistice Day. For first time since I have been here did not keep the two minutes silence at 11, but had a special assembly with lesson and hymns – Ein Feste Burg, and the King, O God, to Thee his heart upraiseth. Told the children they must have faith in the victorious end to the war and hope that the peace will be laid on better foundations than in 1919. Poppies were sold as usual, but their cost was 3d instead of the usual 1d.
Thought of previous Armistice Days. 1918, the sirens and hooters all going off at eleven, the flags appearing, the swarming crowds in London streets, the King and Queen driving down the Mall, lined with German cannon, from Buckingham Palace; standing inside the nave of St Paul’s Cathedral at evensong that night. Armistice Day at college, sitting in dark room reading during the silence; at St John’s Leatherhead, a chapel service followed by O.T.C. parade and the Last Post, myself in gown and hood and condemning and disliking military commemoration; the years of conciliation, Briand, Stresemann and Austin Chamberlain, Locarno and the League; Leicester, where there was no official celebration as the University College was post-war, the rise of the Nazis and gathering anxiety; first Armistice Day at Henley where started a ceremony at the school and promptly had trouble with the governors; the futility of the late thirties, opportunities missed, Europe slipping steadily down the hill, but the ceremony becoming more and more of a mockery as hope faded away, or turned into the false will o’ the wisp of appeasement and the betrayal of Austria, Spain, Czechoslovakia. As we sowed, so we reap.
The P.M. spoke of “the closing net of doom”. “The condition of Europe is terrible in the last degree. Hitler’s firing parties are busy every day in a dozen countries; Norwegians, Belgians, Frenchmen, Dutch, Poles, Czechs, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Greeks, and above all in scale, Russians are being butchered by the thousand and the tens of thousands after they have surrendered, while individual and mass executions in all these countries have become part of the regular German routine.”
Oranges are to be seen in shops but they are only for children,. Hilary has asked for his but none has come to Henley.
Tuesday, Nov 18th
Have been waiting for fresh supply of paper. As so very short and great drive for paper for munitions ordered enough to last for about three years of this Diary at present rate of writing, or duration of war?
A new scheme of rationing to cover tinned stuffs such as sardines has been introduced. This is by “points”, as with clothing coupons, and aims at preventing unfair supplementing of rations by buying tins. Got so many sardines that inclined to turn up nose at them; won’t be able to any longer.
School children to have 40 extra coupons between 16 and 14, but lower in age only if they are over 5ft 3 in height or over 7 stone 12. It all means clerical work for P.B. schoolmasters. Matches are very short and sticks very thin. Our last supply came from China by some devious route.
Trouble with Hilary today. Refused to go to school in afternoon, so was sent to bed instead. Does not appear to be bullied or unhappy when he gets there, but does not like hard work.
School going downhill, especially boys, who have proved singularly unable to run their own games and have failed to produce any leaders. Said to Miss Hunter today that the lower middle class do produce the most ghastly collection of stiffs without any kind of standard. Everything done more and more in most slipshod fashion.
Great efforts being made to recruit women for industry or A.T.S. Talks on wireless, posters etc. Every unmarried woman of 20 - 25 must be expected to be called on. Meanwhile A.T.S. still in very bad odour; how far justified do not know, but food, housing, medical attention all very unsatisfactory, not to mention methods of choosing officers for “society” reasons. One poster of a girl withdrawn because considered too fast and full of sex appeal and one at present in use substituted. This of very young and serious woman looking upward. Tonight on wireless a woman said at a time when we are all walking on the edge of a precipice women must come forward to release men for the army. Other people say that interviewing boards up to Ministry of Labour have been too much run by men, and women have not been given the lead by women of recognized position instead of being exhorted or bullied by men.
The biggest event of the past week the amendments to the Neutrality Act by House of Representatives in U.S.A. to permit sailing of American ships in war zones and their arming. American ships can now sail direct to Liverpool or Glasgow and into Mediterranean. This males it certain that arms and food provided under lend lease will reach us and carries the undeclared war against Germany a stage further.
Churchill’s speeches are usually unlucky: just after he had announced that a fleet of heavy ships was ready for the Indian Ocean, the Ark Royal was torpedoed just east of Gibraltar….. All the crew of 1,600 except one man saved. That is the third aircraft carrier lost, the others, Glorious and Courageous, were lost in the first year.
Wednesday, Nov 19th
P.M. on starting for last journey to France (then in dissolution) suddenly turned to his butler and said, “Get my heavy pistol for me.” His secretary asked him why he wanted it. “Well,” he said, “if we are attacked by the enemy I may be able to account for at least one German.”
Thursday, Nov 20th
The beginning of an offensive in Libya was announced, about 20 days earlier than last year. P.M. made a statement in the House, said the peculiar conditions of the desert made the movement of armoured forces more resemble the movements of fleets at sea, that the object was the destruction of the armoured units of the enemy, that the clash between these units could not be long delayed and that for the first time in this war we should be meeting the Germans on even terms….
Friday, Nov 21st
P.M.’s message to all ranks: “His Majesty’s confidence that they will do their duty with the exemplary devotion in this supremely important battle which is before them….the Desert Army may add a page to history that will rank with Blenheim and with Waterloo. The eyes of the nation are upon you. All our hearts are with you. May God uphold the right.”
No news tonight. The battle between tanks fairly joined yesterday afternoon…. Situation spoken of as “confused”. Not a good sign!
Saturday, Nov 22nd
The battle continues in Libya.
Had letter from Molly tonight. She and four others are drivers in the W.R.N.S. (at the RN station at St Merryn near Padstow). They have two Vauxhalls, a Morris 10 and 25 ton lorry, a bike and an ambulance. Someone always has to be on duty day and night in the ambulance and if there is any flying the driver has actually to sit in it. There are also some routine trips with mails and anything from fetching fish to driving the captain on his rounds. They are billeted in an hotel and fetched by bus each morning.
Sunday, Nov 23rd
News in Libya still good. Battles between tanks continue and we have cut in behind and between the German armoured forces….Trying, waiting for news when on this battle so much depends. The prize of victory is the control of North Africa, the future of the French empire, the control of the central Mediterranean, perhaps the collapse of Vichy and Italy, the sea route to Russia through the Near East.
Rostov has been occupied by the enemy. The threat to the Caucasus grows….. The present battle for Moscow said to be “the biggest”, but there have been so many battles on the eastern front described this way that I am getting cautious.
Joad [C.E.M. Joad, philosopher] tonight on the Brains Trust said he became a writer so that when he became too old to write he would have something to read. Shall I be forced to read the Diary in my old age (if reached)?
Hilary asked today whether if we won this battle the war would be over. Had to admit that this improbable.. Milk still to be had from dairyman, who does very well and there seems to be no shortage here so far. Still get milk at school for break, too. Ration 2 pints per person per week plus condensed milk.
Ethiopian music tonight – thought at first it was our Scottish allies on their bagpipes!
Wednesday, Nov 26th
The first round of tank battle seems to have been indecisive and both sides are bringing up reinforcements. The Germans have made a raid into Egyptian territory with an armoured column. The garrison at Tobruk have sallied out but seem to be stuck. The losses on both sides in tanks said to have been heavy. We still have air superiority though here enemy has been reinforced. Obviously the task before us was very different from last year.
Friday, Nov 28th
The fighting (in the desert) must be quite unlike anything seen in military history and seems to resemble a fantasy of Wells - units charging each other out of the blue, attacking and making off again to reappear somewhere else. The armoured forces are now much reduced by losses and mechanical breakdowns…. It all seems rather like a huge game of chess. Infantry caught by tanks can only surrender when the field gun ammunition is exhausted. Tanks can only be checked by tanks of similar value as “pieces” on the battle chessboard, and pieces of all ranks turn up to play their part on unexplored squares. Whatever point the game has reached, there has been no decision yet.
Meanwhile the enemy continues to creep nearer to Moscow….
Teachers while engaged on their job (of education) are also expected to be billeting officers, wardens, Home Guards, firewatchers, national service secretaries, scoutmasters, club leaders, A.T.C. in industry, milk distributors, meal caterers, second hand clothes merchants, concert party organizers, etc. This pointed out in a letter to Times from one of my first students at Leicester (University College of)
Sunday, Nov 30th
Announced that there is to be no Boxing Day holiday this year, only Christmas Day. Beaverbrook said in Glasgow that we aim for 30,000 tanks in 1943. The Germans already have that number!
Have been reading an account of the control room at one of the fighter stations near London in summer of 1940, Readiness at Dawn. Could not put it down. The author a middle aged pilot of last war who returned as a volunteer reservist to help in the operations room. The men in the operations room put the flights in the air at the orders of the Group, always seeing that as one flight goes off the next in the squadron is brought from available to ready. They direct the flight leader by radio telephone until he is in contact with the enemy, follow the battle and bring the flight back to base. All they see is the plotting of the movements of the enemy on the great floor map from the reports of the Observer Corps; all they hear is the Tally-ho when the enemy is sighted and the orders of the flight leader to his men; but from their own experience they can imagine the flight high up in the clouds speeding towards the point of interception with the enemy.
The battle in Libya seems to be sorting itself out a bit…..Our air force in Libya is on top of the Germans and the Beauforts, the most heavily armed fighters in existence, are knocking the guts out of the German dive bombers. This air superiority together with better communications and bigger supplies from Suez than the Germans can get from Tripoli should give us victory in the end…..
The Russians have freed Rostock and forced the Germans to retreat in disorder….. The Russians also counter-attacking in Moscow area where the Germans are reported to have massed forty-nine divisions. English tanks are reputed to have reached this point.
Japan still hesitating on the brink of war…..
Diarist’s note added in 1964.
“Crusader” - Based on The Desert Generals by Corelli Barnett, 1964
Causes of defeat.
GB a social democracy and a first class industrial power but army remained preserve of the gentry. This led to the dominance of the horse and cavalry regiments. The officer class were naturally conservative.
1920-39
R.A.F. and Army fighting a battle for money. Radicals in Army baulked at destroying cavalry and used false analogy that armour performed the role of cavalry – i.e., shock action (the charge) and mobile exploitation (the pursuit).
The Royal Tank Regt had worked out an alternative to armour as cavalry and had worked out the techniques, but soldiers preferred to be commanded by “gentlemen”. Tank men became extremists and argued that tanks alone would decide tank-to-tank battle.
“No coherent systems of tactics came out of this uneasy marriage between tanks alone and tanks as cavalry….. No tank commander will go far wrong if he places his gun within range of the enemy” – Gott.
The Germans would not commit themselves to a tank-to-tank battle, but coordinated infantry, anti-tank guns and field artillery and would not be drawn. They attacked by pushing forward a mixed force and then fighting defensively on the ground occupied. When on defensive, policy to draw tanks onto their guns and then counter attack with tanks.
German tanks superior in mechanical design and reliability, recovery services, telescopic sights and anti-tank artillery, especially 88mm anti-aircraft gun used as anti-tank gun. The British tanks tried to get at the German armour and its lorried infantry and artillery in a cavalry “charge” and were shot to a standstill by anti-tank guns. On November 1941, out of 450 (tanks) 300 were lost.
This is a most interesting an well-edited local diary and deserves to be published as a local book if there are more edited extracts. The reference to Two Ton Annie on 30 June 1940 is probably a mis-spelling of Two Ton Tessie O'Shea (1913-1995) who was a music hall entertainer and well-known actress. Her theme song was "Two ton Tessie of Tennessea"
ReplyDelete