The announcement of the capture of Keren on the wireless was perhaps the biggest thrill of the war because it was so utterly unexpected. Even the usually impassive announcer of the B.B.C, could not keep the -excitement out of his voice. To show what a surprise it was, that morning the news about Keren in the "Daily Telegraph" occupied just 1% in, under a small heading at the foot of a column, and though it reported the capture of a brigade headquarters there Was no indication that the end was.so near.
The Keren country was described by Indian officers as far worse than anything on the North West Frontier, and the Italians fought like demons. But greater demons and superb generalship won the day. It was known that General Wavell detached two divisions, one of British troops, one of Indian, and sent them to the Sudan to help recover Kassala. But daring pays.
The result is that some regiments will have inscribed on their colours two great victories won within four months, 1,500 miles apart. Such a record must be without precedent. It is clear that General Wavell and General Cunningham must be supported by a magnificent collection of officers. Great commanders as they are they could not have achieved their successes without perfect staff work and the ability to see what had to be done at every moment by their subordinates, During the fight for Keren a detachment of our men had to fall back temporarily from one position, They retook it 48 hours later and there they found two Indian soldiers in charge of a machine-gun. The Indians merely said that no order to retire had reached them, so they stayed on. They pointed to a pile of empty cartridge cases saying that they had found plenty of occupation while alone.
The National Day of Prayer as ordered by the King saw the churches crowded. In some cases where a church with a very individual congregation had been bombed—such as the much lamented All Hallows Barking by the Tower, the church of "Tubby" Clayton, headquarters of Toc H—the service was held in rooms hired for the occasion. The broadcasts of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Hinsley were inspiring messages of confidence and encouragement. The Chief Rabbi, Dr. Hertz, also delivered a fine sermon in the same spirit, Indeed as one looks back on the past year it is hard to see how any other spirit is possible. One thinks of the Battle of Britain last autumn when all the German Air Force was hurled at us and was! béüten back: with the certain loss of 2,375 planes, besides many so damaged that they can never have got home, while the R.A.F; ended with more planes than they had begun with, 5
That wonderful annual "Jane's Fighting Ships" for 1941 contains a good deal more information than might have been expected in wartime Thus it is learned that twelve mew cruisers were completed for the Navy last year, five of the 8,000 tons Fiji class and seven of the Dido (5,450) class. Seeing how short of cruisers Britain was at the opening of the war, owing to that iniquitous naval limitation Treaty of "London in 1930, when the late Mr. Ramsay MacDonald insisted on cutting down to 50 cruisers although the Admiralty had put 70 as the very minimum, these twelve are doubly welcome. "Jane" also says that a group of 20 new destroyers has been added to the Navy, having been built in the record time of eighteen months. Two of them, Exmoor and Holderness have already been mentioned for shooting down enemy aircraft.
A writer in the "News Chronicle" points out that the average weekly sinkings of ships in the three weeks since the intensified spring U-boat campaign began is at the rate of 5,500,000 tons a year and that this is just about the same as the number of new ships that Britain and America were building in the last year of the last war.
The problem of beating the U-boats is complicated now by the addition of aircraft, but mo one doubts for a moment that it will be Solved. The fantastic nature of the recent German claims of ships probably has a twofold aim—to prove to the German public the success of the much announced spring campaign, all the more necessary after the failure of the equally trumpeted air blitz last autumn; and for use in the "war of nerves." Some time ago a U-boat was captured and its log showed that its commander had claimed a ship sunk with every torpedo he fired. In the school of mendacity Hitler has some promising pupils. wow That amazing fellow Stanley Hilton Thurston, who boasts that no prison can hold him, got away from Dartmoor recently while other prisoners were having breakfast. He has at different times escaped from Arundel, Chelmsford, Liverpool and Lewes. The last time he was at liberty for six months, living in luxury in a flat in St. John's Wood and going openly to the theatres and race meetings. He was eventually spotted and nabbed when trying to pawn a ring. How he got out of Dartmoor is a mystery. Since he got away he has used one motor car, driving it till petrol ran out, and then a bicycle. Or so it appears. He also seems to have stolen some clothes. But this is supposition until he is caught. Everyone round Dartmoor including hunting men on horseback has joined in the chase. It seems probable that Thurston had accomplices. He is described as Dartmoor's handsomest prisoner. It is of course very unsocial to say so, but somehow one hopes he will not be caught.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.