Transgressions: April 1941

April 1, 1941, Tuesday

The BEBC has announced the conquest of Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Both the BEBC and the BBC report that a pro-Axis coup, led by Raschid Ali, has seized power in Iraq.? This is a bit more important than the skirmishes around Ethiopia, as it might cut off Egypt from India and give Germany access to nearly unlimited oil supplies.

April 2, 1941

Rear Admiral Bonnetti, the commander of the Italian Red Sea Flotilla having ordered his seven destroyers out on 'do or die' missions, learned that they had died.? All the destroyers have been sunk or captured by the Royal Navy.

April 3, 1941, Thursday

There are rumors in the American communiqués from Russian sources of a German attack on Yugoslavia.

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April 4, 1941, Friday

The American Minister in Cairo reports that the British will soon reach Addis Ababa.?

A most Arabian Nights story among the paper tapes this morning.? The American Minister in Iraq reports that the Iraqi Regent, wearing a woman’s dress over a dressing gown and pajamas, had sought refuge in the American Legation in Baghdad.? The American Minister put the Regent in the back of his car, covered him with a rug, and accompanied by the Minister’s wife, “as camouflage,” delivered him to the British air base outside the city.?

Iraqi army leaders have established a new government under the former, pro-German, prime minister. There are rumors in Sweden that that country will soon become a battleground between Germany and the Soviet Union.? Cripps, in Moscow, is said by American diplomats to be attempting to promote a defensive alliance between Sweden and Finland. The American Minister in Turkey reports that Germany has offered Hungary Croatia in return for passage of German troops attacking Yugoslavia.

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There are reports of a coal crisis in Berlin:? factories are closing; there are practically no shoes available; the food supply is said to be desperate.? These reports surface from time to time.? It seems unlikely that they are true, given that the Reich has the fuel and food supplies of Europe at its disposal.?

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April 5, 1941, Saturday

Virginia Woolf and her husband have killed themselves.? He was about to be interned.

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Heaven is high and the USA is far away.

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I went to the House of Commons with Jack yesterday to hear Lloyd George give a speech about the shipping crisis, mentioning the prospect of starvation if it continues.

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Jack said that Lord Cecil has died.? “He seemed to be recovering, then the heart attack, then something wrong with his digestion, then the kidneys stopped doing whatever it is that they are meant to do and he fell into a coma.”

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“Oh.”

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“Eloquently put.”

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“I’m sorry.”

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“So am I.”

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April 7, 1941, Monday

The American Minister in Egypt has reported that the fall of Bengazi was unexpected both by the British forces and the Egyptian public and that the latter is very disturbed by it.? Making matters worse, the Germans are threatening to cut off the Australians, who are withdrawing at speed towards Tobruk.

The mixed Nigerian and Kenyan 11th African Division has indeed captured Addis Ababa, taking 8,000 Italians prisoner.? Not an enviable fate.

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Berlin, Ottawa, and the BBC agree that Belgrade has been destroyed by the Luftwaffe; the British Imperial Government in Ottawa has severed diplomatic relations with Hungary, and someplace in North Africa called Derna has been captured by the Germans.?

I find, somewhat to my distress, that I mandate bureaucratic routines for myself, in the absence of anyone else (Gifford!) to do so.? I am almost invariably at my desk by 9, or, when overcome by sloth, ten minutes past, cup of tea in hand, making notes from the BBC and Berlin bulletins (viz.: The Germans have scuttled four steamers in the harbour of Massawa); then reviewing the materials which have arrived overnight from the Station.? This morning, I find that, according to the American Ambassador in the Soviet Union, the Soviet-Yugoslav treaty of friendship has been signed, somewhat late.? When the Yugoslav minister in Moscow told Stalin of rumors of German invasion of Russia in May, Stalin replied:? “Let them try it.”? The American Minister in Iraq reports that in the opinion of the British Ambassador, a German take-over of that country is likely.? That would sever the land route to India and position German forces on each side of Egypt.

It being Monday, after finishing my notes on the wireless broadcasts and the Station’s offerings, I settle down to a good read with the Sunday New York Times, two weeks back.? This morning the copy is a bit soiled and wrinkled, a hint perhaps of an unofficial origin.? It tells me, as a front-page, but not featured story, that the Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to provide funds for the Lease-Lend Act.? The lead article was about German (“Nazi”) successes at sea.? The Week in Review section is filled with war news, strongly pro-Ottawa and anti-“Nazi.”? The newspaper allegorically editorializes (“O Pioneers”) in favor of intervention and publishes an interesting series of pieces on the economic nature of warfare, from blockades to confiscations to production quotas. It would be difficult from these reports to guess that the United States was not already in the war.

April 8, 1941, Tuesday

British Empire troops have captured Massawa, the last Italian stronghold in Eritrea. This removes any remaining threat to British Empire convoys sailing through the Red Sea.?

Station items: The American Ambassador in the Soviet Union sends word that a secret mobilization is underway in Russia.

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Mosley has announced the creation of something called British Fascist Scouts (BFS) “to prepare boys for service to the New Era.”

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Another group of cyclists left this place this evening.? Sixty miles to the sea; say, ten miles per hour; they should be there before sunrise.

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April 9, 1941, Wednesday

The BBC claims that a quarter of a million Soviet troops have been moved into Lithuania.?

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The Station delivery this morning includes a report from the American Minister in Finland that the Germans are organizing military units made up of nationals of the former Baltic States under General Laidoner, former commander of the Estonian Army. And one from the American Ambassador in the Soviet Union, who writes that “a very large number of Germans in civilian clothes” have recently arrived in Finland.

April 11, 1941, Friday

Watt, leaning against the door frame:? “This may interest you. MI5 have decided to create an organization to collect inside information on important political matters in all European countries, in the British Imperial Government and in the United States—aims, leading personalities and practical chances of putting their ideas into effect.? Haxton and Guy Burgess are doing this in close co-operation with David Footman.”

?“Seems a bit awkward.? Doesn’t MI5 report to Mosley?”?

“Not only to Mosley.”

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April 12,1941, Saturday

Spring began this morning, suddenly, as if someone had turned a switch.? The sun rather painful after last night’s Welbeck Street activities.?

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April 13, 1941, Sunday

Jack:? “German forces have crossed the border into Egypt.? If they reach Cairo, it is the end of the British Empire.? The King is quite distressed.”

“I thought the King was sympathetic to the German cause.”

“You have to understand that he is, before all else, the King-Emperor.”

April 14, 1941, Monday

Many excited reports from the American Minister in Iraq about the situation there, which changes hour by hour.? At the moment it appears that forces from India will soon invade the country.

“The View from Washington:”

“The Senate of the United States was designed to be “the cooling saucer” for legislation; an institution that would restrain the presumably impetuous, because directly elected, House of Representatives.?? From time to time that function is carried to the extreme and the debate over the lease-lend bill was one of those occasions.? The opposition in the United States Senate spoke three times as long as the bill’s supporters.? The New York Times, which is firmly allied with the cross-party group pressurizing the government to join the war, noted “growing impatience” about the delays in the Senate.? Walter Lippmann, writing in the New York Herald, implied that the tactics of the bill’s opponents were unconstitutional.? In spite of their fervent opposition, in the end the Senate passed what the opposition called the “aid-to-British Empire” bill, 60 to 31, most Republicans voting against the bill, as did some Democrats. The opposition, in both parties, was from the middle western and western states, places far removed from New York and Washington and hardly aware of the existence of Europe.?

“President Roosevelt says that now aid to the “embattled democracies” will be increased “and yet again increased until total victory has been won.” He has called for an “all out effort” by business and labor to produce arms. Speaking as if the USA were already at war is, apparently, a way to accustom his countrymen to the idea that they soon, in fact, will be at war.

“The bill’s supporters, having argued that democracy will not be safe unless the British Empire defeats Hitler, now call for all those who opposed as well as those who supported the bill to unite and that the losers bear in mind that it is their civic duty in a democracy to cooperate with their Government in carrying out any major policy once the people or their representatives have reached a decision.? Which is tantamount to an accusation of treason of any who continue to oppose the war.? President Roosevelt himself, calling for national unity in order to “block the dictators in their march toward domination of the world,” spoke against “Nazi agents” and Communists who call for peace, likening them to the devil quoting scripture.?

“Although objectively this marks the entry of the USA into the war on the side of the British Empire, it will probably take some time for the cautious President to ask for a formal declaration of war, something that he will undoubtedly wait to do until the Army and Navy are on a war footing and there is a convenient German or Japanese “outrage” to carry the country with him.

“A curious leader in the New York Times entitled “Spring, 1941,” begins with a list of past German (or as that newspaper always says, “Hitler’s”) spring offenses, predicts a few possibilities for this spring (an invasion of Greece, etc.), and then ends with a sort of prose poem:? “There will be another blossoming season on which he will not trample.? Already the plowshare is being forged that will turn his system under; already, on many an anvil of freedom, hammers ring, sparks fly, bright swords take shape and edge.”? This is an echo of the American Civil War’s Battle Hymn of the Republic, with its dragooning of religion into the ranks of the Republic’s military forces.? Very stirring for citizens of the USA, especially those from one of the old Union, that is, northern, states.”

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April 15, 1941, Tuesday

According to the morning delivery from the Station, at the signing of the Soviet-Japanese Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression, Stalin embraced the German Military Attaché and declared that Russia and Germany will march together to their goal.? On the other hand, the American Chargé in Germany reports (yet more) rumors that Germany will shortly attack Russia.? Some support for this in conservative (non-Party) circles in Berlin, who believe that by destroying Communism, Germany will achieve a standing in conservative circles in other European countries that would allow a compromise peace.

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April 17, 1941, Thursday

A fine warm morning.

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Belfast was attacked last night by two hundred Luftwaffe bombers.? Mosley has broadcast a crowing speech, promising more of the same.

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April 18, 1941, Friday

Ottawa has warned Italy that if Cairo is bombed, the RAF will attack Rome.

I might as well begin gathering material for my second series of commentaries.?

April 19, 1941, Saturday

Lunch with Jack at his club, where I paid more attention than usual to his court gossip, given my increased need for “copy”.? According to Jack, the Mosleys have practically moved into the Palace and the Queen and Lady Diana are rarely seen apart and commonly not seen at all, as they are closeted in the Queen’s rooms.? There are rumours that they are planning a visit to Paris, followed by Berlin.??? Meanwhile, Mosley is accumulating power, leaving the Prime Minister with little other than a shell of place and authority.?

Jack is expecting a grace and favor apartment soon.? “In the interim, Albany is comfortable.? I am giving lunch to some colleagues tomorrow.? Will you still be in town?”

Of course.

April 20, 1941, Sunday

There was a new face at Welbeck Street last night, who emerged, seemingly, from under Burgess’s bed:? rather bruised by the experience from the look of him.? I was, as usual, in the broken down armchair next to the fireplace, reading something about Italian churches.? Burgess did the introductions, but I didn’t recognize or, for that matter, quite hear the name.? Burgess’s new friend looked something like Burgess himself, if Burgess had dyed his hair with shoe polish.? He was dressed like a laborer, but didn’t sound like one.? I then realized that what I had taken to be his name was Burgess’s description of his occupation:? painter.? By which point Burgess had swept him up with two or three others and they had moved out to Soho.

Given that a cup of tea now passes for breakfast at Welbeck Street, I had more than one reason to look forward to Jack’s luncheon party and was amply rewarded in that regard at a table quite heaped up with non-rationed meats and fish with wines to match.? The party consisted of two beribboned generals, a black-shirted aide to Mosley in his role as leader of the British Fascist Party, an editor of the Times and two senior civil servants, one from the Foreign Office and one from Treasury.? Members of the Cabinet were allowed to lunch elsewhere.? I was introduced as Jack’s godson, writing a thesis about . . . “Old furniture, isn’t it?”? That seeming a good enough occupation for the purpose at hand, I nodded.

Jack spoke of his admiration for “the King-Emperor;” the Foreign Office man concurred, allowing himself a gentle witticism about the evident physical attraction between the royal couple.? The generals predicted German victories in the East and North Africa; the Treasury man was pessimistic about finances; the Blackshirt and the newspaper man engaged in an intense conversation about the New Britain that would emerge following the war in a “special relationship” with the Reich.?

“The Fuehrer has assured our Leader that after Victory Over Bolshevism, the Reich will be fulfilled, its eastern border on the line Riga-Odessa, and will confirm Great Britain in our Empire.”? The Blackshirt.

“There is the matter of the regime in Ottawa.”? Foreign Office person.

“Not for long.? There is a new type of submarine that, unfortunately, will decimate the Fleet, unless Churchill can be brought to his senses first.”

“Roosevelt?”? The journalist.

“Rosenfelt will read the writing on the wall—it is the special gift of the Chosen People to be able to do so—and if not, there are soon to be weapons that will make Warsaw seem an idyll compared to the ruins of New York City.? We will then set to the enormous task of making this country once more fit to be the home of heroes, true Anglo-Saxons, schooled to rule over the lesser breeds of the Empire.? We have grown soft with this decadent form of society.? The Leader is a hard man.? He will mould the next generation in his image, sweeping aside the stinking debris of trades unions, parliamentary intriguers, jazz bands, kike bankers, painters of excrement, whores and pansies.”

The Blackshirt had gotten to his feet during this speech and when he finished he looked around the table as if to challenge anyone who disagreed, then took a glass of Hock in both hands, downed it, and gave the Fascist salute.?

I had had a word or two with the Treasury man, when the Blackshirt was not shouting.? He collected old furniture.? He had some nice pieces in his office.? Would I like to come around some time?? Of course.?

Enough there for a FOES letter or two, perhaps something also for MI5.

April 21, 1941, Monday

A brigade from the Imperial 10th Indian Division has landed at Basra in southern Iraq.

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April 22, 1941, Tuesday

Mosley has issued an edict requiring that all men spend eight months of their twenty-first year working on the land.? They are to spend part of the day at physical labor and part attending lectures on English history and the duties of Englishmen.? Older men like Heywood Hill are looking for work as market gardeners.? There are various aspects to this, but the most basic is that the country is facing starvation next winter unless the war ends before then.

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April 24, 1941, Thursday

Former US Ambassador to Belgium, Cudahy, is in Berlin, seeking an audience with Hitler.? He is an isolationist convinced of the certainty of a German victory.? A millionaire meat packer, as it happens:? he is used to working with butchers.

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April 25, 1941, Friday

The German army has penetrated the Thermopylae.? No Spartans this time.

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April 26, 1941, Saturday

American Notes:

American ambassadors again have been informed by Hull that the US will “play its part in resisting the forces of aggression.”

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The American Minister in Cairo is very concerned about the supply situation of the British forces there.?

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The American Secretary of State has instructed the Minister in Dublin to tell de Valera that he can charter two ships to transport food from the US to Ireland, but that he should remember which side his bread is buttered on and keep clear of the Germans.? The school masterish tone of communications from the American State Department is quite remarkable.?

April 27, 1941, Sunday

German troops, having crossed the Egyptian border and captured the Halfaya Pass, have? forced the British to pull back to a series of defensive lines between the border and Cairo. Thus radio Berlin.? No comment from the BEBC.

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April 28, 1941, Monday

Nothing this morning from the Station, but there is the usual Sunday New York Times, two weeks delayed, with which I occupy myself.? The front page rejoices in the Greek resistance to the German invasion, while noting the Soviet Union’s warnings to Hungary concerning its cooperation with Germany in regard to Yugoslavia.? In a summary of The International Situation, the newspaper reports that the United States Government “is strongly considering” offering aid to Ireland under the lease-lend act in return for the granting of naval and air bases to the Royal Navy and Air Force.? This is clearly relayed from the State Department. There are copies of the communiqués from the German, Italian, British and French governments.? Quite interesting to compare one to the other.? They are all winning.?

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April 29, 1941, Tuesday

Lindbergh has resigned from the U.S. Army Air Force.? Another sign of that the American government has decided to enter the war, sooner rather than later.

Another brigade from the British Indian Army has landed at Basra. The Iraqi Army has laid siege to the RAF base near Baghdad:? RAF planes are flying numerous air strikes against them.? The British seem quite serious about making a fight of it in Iraq.

April 30, 1941, Wednesday

The American Minister in Iraq reports that all British and American women and children have been evacuated from the country.

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