A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK

NO one wants to propagate hatred now that the war is over, but sound judgements must be based on hard facts, and hard facts such as some which have just been sent me, ought not, I think, to be suppressed. They are from a private letter from the C.O. of a unit on the Western Front to a relative ; the letter was written on April 15th : After the past few days' fighting in which our Battalion took part I am left filled with a burning hatred for the Germans such as I could never properly describe in words or writing. No doubt you realise that everybody in England feels that the war is as good as over and you probably feel the same way yourself. But, believe me, the present state of the fighting with such S.S. or Paratroops has become a war of no quarter and no mercy. Just read what I am going to write, and then you will realise the task that still lies ahead of us. An Infantry unit who we had been working with had the misfortune to lose about 25 fellows who had been cut off and forced to surrender. The next morning we attacked and captured the area where these lads had surrendered. The S.S. troops had murdered them and burned their bodies in a house. The same day a troop of our tanks (four in all) were attacked by about 4o men, all armed with bazookas. Having set the tanks on fire, those of our lads who were still alive baled out only to be taken prisoner (temporarily). The next morning we found their bodies in a wood close by—each man had been murdered in cold blood and had no less than a dozen bullet holes in their backs. The night before last I was taken prisoner by a German patrol together with the rest of the crew and a few infantry men. We were in a house in a front-line village within shouting distance of the German lines, and the patrol had outflanked our infantry positions and entered the house from the rear. As we were being marched out of the house, I being the last man of the column and a pistol in my back, the leading lads were mown down by machine guns which had been trained on the door- way. As this happened we all made a break for it, and one of our lads who had hidden himself in the house shot the officer dead who was covering me. From then on all hell was let loose and as dawn broke the remaining ferries baled out leaving their dead and wounded.

It is all over now, but this is the kind of thing that has been happening.

There is a sinister note in a remark attributed to von Rundstedt in the Daily Express. The captured Field-Marshal is in confinement in the Lake District, and on hearing on the wireless von Krosigk's announcement of Germany's surrender, he is said to have declared : " It is not the Wehrmacht that is to blame. The political leaders of the country were schlecht—bad." No one will contest the characterisation of the German political leaders, but here, palpably, is the old familiar 1918 attempt to exculpate the army at the expense of the politicians. There are even more conspicuous signs of that in the address of von Bohme, the German commander in Norway, to his " unbeaten" troops. Fortunately events speak too .forcibly to allow the legend to take much root. But an attempt to give it currency is certain.

* * * * In the middle of the meadow stood a vast erection of boughs and branches, constructed largely by Italian prisoners. In the bck- ground the ruins of the village church, part of it 14th century, which a direct hit by a flying bomb had shattered. Round the edges of the field nine-tenths of the population of two parishes, except what part of them had formed up a little distance away, to arrive in torch- lit procession. Round the coming conflagration a wide circle formed. inside it the two surpliced rectors shared the short service—God Save the King, the Lord's Prayer, a short address on fire (the purifier, the source of light and of power), more prayers, the Old Hundredth, the benediction. Then the blaze—billows of smoke first, then whirling flames that sent the lee side of the circle stampedi precipitately to a safer range. Unrecognised faces stood reveale in the glare, the outlines of neighbouring houses flickered out of th darkness. As I left someone was starting with universal approv-

" Keep the Home Fires Burning." So, I suppose, a thousand villag up and down the countryside celebrated Victory Night, much a

thousands of them have celebrated famous victories- through centuries.

Journalists are uncomplaining persons, and when they are con• cerned with the production of weekly papers they are quite content to work on when other people are junketing. But when the Pcs Office takes a different view, and all articles and letters posted lain than Sunday are consequently left undelivered till Thursday, t late to be of any use to papers which, except for last-minute new close down on Wednesday evening, the complications are increased considerably. And even the last-minute news is wanting this week with no evening papers on Wednesday and no morning papers on Thursday. The B.B.C. fortunately has been doing business as usual. For inevitable deficiencies in this issue circumstances must provid an explanation. * * * * The Government no doubt has thought carefully before deciding to employ German prisoners on its housing schemes. The justice of the decision is unquestioned. If the bomb-damage comes to any like the t,000.,000,000 suggested by Sir John Anderson every penny we can get out of Germany, in labour or any other form, should be got. But the end of the war and a longing for home will cause great unsettlement in all prisoners and there may be many attempts to escape. Men removed from camps to work in the open will need to be heavily guarded.

* * * * I rejoice to learn that Ezra Pound, the renegade American pro- Fascist who has been broadcasting enemy propaganda in Italy, is among the captives taken by one of the 'American armies. He wrote poetry and criticism, regarding the merits of which opinion differed; he contributed to British Fascist periodicals when such things existed. His private and business letters were full of blasphemies and obscenities. Altogether a repellent person, who seems likely

now to receive part, at any rate, of his deserts.

* * * * I quote from the Cambridge Review the following impressive intelligence:

UNIVERSITY SPORT TIDDLEYWINKS.

Sidney Sussex College won their first victory at tiddleywinks 13s Saturday, when they beat Newnham College by 84 points to 71 (eight a side)."

In its exhilaration over a victory comparable in its way with Naseby, Cromwell's college, I understand, proposes to re-christen this great game Siddneywinks.

* * * *

I offered the conductress my three ha'pence as I got off the bug on Victory Day. She refused it flatly. " I'm not going to tak fares. We shall all be sacked next week. Let people have fret rides." This seems 'to me pessimistic, and rather less than Honest. After all, collecting fares is what the lady is still paid for. As for me, the Passenger Transport Board can have my money at any

time—if they come and get it. Or I might send a cheque. Jsart:s.