Saturday 29th June 1940

Ah! It was a marvellous sleep! The usual depressing fatigues this morning but the signal stores tent was pitched soon after lunch and so from then until teatime Ron Dean and I helped Stan Ling to get the stores ship-shape.

The news is still bad. French Syria has accepted the armistice (but the Polish Brigade there, 6000 men with all arms and equipment, has crossed the border and is now safe in Palestine). The Channel Isles heavily bombed and machine gunned. About 1/5 of Romania has been taken over by Russian troops, “without any incidents”. There is rather vague trouble in the Far East. It sounds as though Japan is trying to seize as much as possible of French Indo China. “Hostilities have started” says the laconic communiqué.

“That's the man I want to see – Adolf” said a Sergeant, looking at a picture in a magazine.“'Oo? “Itler? Bugger'im!” said another of our refined sergeants. “Ah well,” commented a more philosophical three-striper, “Adolf's given us all a job, any'ow!”

The damned sand and dust in this bloody hole! The rotten tea and poor service and deficient stock in the blasted NAAFI here!

The Jews! Give me Arabs. “Mish quise Yehuhdi”