page 155 — March 1942

Tuesday 10^th

… Great excitement (this should be yesterday, but I forgot)—a card from Michael Adams, a prisoner of war in Germany Stalag  111e, to whom, in a fit of boredom, we wrote last term, having seen a request for letters in the Times. A nice letter—ours made him laugh—captured last July after floating in the N. Sea for a week. I wrote back—nice to get up a correspondence. He lives in Egypt. zwg zwc

Friday 13^th

News of last few days: Far East—Java gone, New Guinea threatened, Rangoon evacuated; our forces having had to fight their way out, with both sides suffering heavily. Chinese troops arriving—they’ve been fighting years, with little support from us, or America, except bombs which came via Japan and exploded on arrival*, and now we’re relying on them to help us out in Burma. And they are—good for them. zwg zlb

[* See note (a)]

Middle East—complete silence. Russia; slow difficult advance all along the front. Encircled [German] 16^th army being slowly destroyed, and now defence is weakening. Good. zru zlb

[See note (b) ]

Tuesday 17^th

Wizard JTC parade—a bren-carrier platoon came over, we had a lecture, demonstration, and then a ride. Grand—30hp Ford engines, 2–5 miles per gallon (2 on rough ground), and wizard up and down bumps. It felt like this

zct zwp zm

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