News that reaches me privately from Berlin confirms in all
essentials most of what the newspaper correspondents are saying about non-fraternisation—and various other questions. The mis- understandings about the movement of British troops into areas of the capital previously occupied by Russians were not trivial ; the Russians, it appears, carried away with them all the beds from the quarters awaiting the British troops, and left the place in a state that cannot be decorously described. However, the best is being made of an unpleasant business. The crux of non-fraternisation is the recourse of British soldiers to German women, who are in- fecting the B.L.A. with venereal disease on an alarming scale. Language, of course, is no difficulty. A display of ten fingers— meaning to p.m.—is a recognised assignation sign, and the places of meeting (in the open air) are well understood. How the relaxa- tion of the non-fraternisation rule is going to improve this serious situation is not clear. Naturam expellas furca, :amen usque recurret. * * * *
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