page 106 — May 1941

The other poem I wrote turned out 34 lines long—it’s quite fun writing them when they come out nicely. I might put that (anonymously) in the Grasshopper [the school’s literary magazine]. zwt znw

Nice news, 20 germans down in East, Duke of Aosta asks for terms, as Amba Arlagi (spelling?) is surrounded with 7000 men inside. Doing well with German prisoners round Tobruk and Fort Capuzzo. They played the Abyssinian national anthem. Petty-Officer (and proud of it) A.P. Herbert gave the postscript [a weekly radio broadcast]—better than usual, or anyhow not so bad. zam zwf zlb zrd

[See note]

Tuesday 20^th

… During tea about five Blenheims played about, a few times going along the Gannel valley lower than me … Hales came in (as usual), explaining how tired he was, and we discussed politics. When talking to him about school I always want to put my tongue in my cheek. zpp ztc zpn

News—airborne troops in NZ battledress (about 1500) attack Crete—held under so far. zwe zlb zam

Wednesday 21^st

… I packed mostly before tea. Last day [in the San]! I don’t like the news much—still more [German] troops in Crete ‘mostly accounted for’—they’ve had enormous losses. We got 18,000 men [prisoners] at Amba Arlagi. zmt zwe zwc zwf

Friday 23^rd

… There was JTC after tea—we did a sort of tactical exercise—crawling—sliding on rocks—quite fun. … zct

Not very nice news—RAF gone from Crete, Germans very heavy casualties but still lots there. I’m afraid we’ll probably evacuate it. zam zlb zwe zwc