Last night for the first time took a Sten gun to pieces. There is almost nothing to learn in it. No spare parts. If the gun goes seriously wrong you simply chuck it away and get another. Weight of the gun without magazine is 51/2 lb. -- weight of the tommy gun would be 12-15 lb. Estimated price is not 50s. as I had imagined, but 18s. I can see a million or two million of these things, each with 500 cartridges and a book of instructions, floating down all over Europe on little parachutes. If the Government had the guts to do that they would really have burned their boats.
9 August
Fired the Sten gun for the first time today. No kick, no vibration, very little noise, and reasonable accuracy. Out of about 2,500 rounds fired, 2 stoppages, in each case due to a dud cartridge -- treatment, simply to work the bolt by hand.
10 August
Nehru, Gandhi, Azad4 and many others in jail. Rioting over most of India, a number of deaths, countless arrests. Ghastly speech of Amery,5 speaking of Nehru and Co. as "wicked men", "saboteurs" etc. This of course broadcast on the Empire Service and rebroadcast by A.I.R.6 The best joke of all was that the Germans did their best to jam it, unfortunately without success. Terrible feeling of depression among the Indians and everyone sympathetic to India. Even Bokhari,7 a Moslem League man, almost in tears and talking about resigning from the B.B.C. It is strange, but quite truly the way the British Government is now behaving in India upsets me more than a military defeat.
4. Abul Kalam Azad, Indian Nationalist Moslem leader, spokesman for Congress in the 1945 negotiations for Independence.
5. Leo Amery (1873-1955), a Conservative politician and M.P., Secretary of State for India 1940-45.
6. All India Radio.
7. Zulfaqar Ali Bokhari, organizer of the Indian Programmes in the B.B.C. Eastern Service.
12 August
Appalling policy hand-out this morning about affairs in India. The riots are of no significance -- situation is well in hand -- after all the numbers of deaths is not large etc. etc. As to the participation of students in the riots, this is explained along "boys will be boys" lines. "We all know that students everywhere are only too glad to join in any kind of rag", etc. etc. Almost everyone utterly disgusted. Some of the Indians when they hear this kind of stuff turn quite pale, a strange sight.
Most of the press taking a tough line, the Rothermere press disgustingly so. If these repressive measures in India are seemingly successful for the time being, the effects in this country will be very bad. All seems set for a big come-back by the reactionaries, and it almost begins to appear as though leaving Russia in the lurch were part of the manoeuvre. . .
14 August
Horrabin8 was broadcasting today, and as always we introduced him as the man who drew the maps for Wells's Outline of History and Nehru's Glimpses of World History. This had been extensively trailed and advertised beforehand, Horrabin's connexion with Nehru naturally being a draw with Indian listeners. Today the reference to Nehru was cut out from the announcement -- Nehru being in prison and therefore having become bad.
8. J. F. Horrabin (1884-1962), journalist and illustrator; on the left wing of the Labour Party; Labour M.P. 1929-31; achieved a considerable reputation for his educational maps and atlases, combining geography with historical fact to present a broad survey of world economic problems.
18 August
From Georges Kopp's9 last letter from Marseilles after some rigmarole about the engineering work he has been doing. . .
9. Georges Kopp had been the commander of the P.O.U.M. unit with which Orwell served in Spain. They remained close friends until Kopp's death in 1951. He had joined the French Foreign Legion in September 1939, was captured by the Germans in June 1940, had escaped and worked in France as an engineer and British agent until 1943 when he was flown to Britain by the Allies.
I am about to start production on an industrial scale. But I am not at all certain that I shall actually go on, because I have definite contracts with my firm, which has, I am afraid, developed lately connexions which reduce considerably its independence and it is possible that another firm would eventually profit by my work, which I should hate since I have no arrangement at all with the latter and will not, for the time being, be prepared to sign any. If I am compelled to stop, I really don't know what I am going to do; I wish some of my very dear friends to whom I have written repeatedly would not be as slow and as passive as they seem to be. If no prospects open in this field, I contemplate to make use of another process of mine, related to bridge-building, which, you may remember, I have put into successful operation at San Mateo before the war.
Translated: "I am afraid France is going into full alliance with Germany. If the Second Front is not opened soon I shall do my best to escape to England."
19 August
Big Commando raid on Dieppe today. Raid was still continuing this evening. Just conceivable the first step in an invasion, or a try-out for the first step, though I don't think so. The warning that was broadcast to the French people that this was only a raid and they were not to join in would in that case be a bluff.
22 August
David Astor very damping about the Dieppe raid, which he saw at more or less close quarters and which he says was an almost complete failure except for the very heavy destruction of German fighter planes, which was not part of the plan. He says that the affair was definitely misrepresented in the press and is now being misrepresented in the reports to the P.M. and that the main facts were: Something over 5,000 men were engaged, of whom at least 2,000 were killed or prisoners. It was not intended to stay on shore longer than was actually done (i.e. dawn till about 4 pm.), but the idea was to destroy all the defences of Dieppe, and the attempt to do this was an utter failure. In fact only comparatively trivial damage was done, a few batteries of guns knocked out etc. and only one of the 3 main parties really made its objective. The others did not get far and many were massacred on the beach by artillery fire. The defences were formidable and would have been difficult to deal with even if there had been artillery support, as the guns were sunk in the face of the cliff or under enormous concrete coverings. More tank-landing craft were sunk than got ashore. About 20 or 30 tanks were landed but none were got off again. The newspaper photos which showed tanks apparently being brought back to England were intentionally misleading. The general impression was that the Germans knew of the raid beforehand. Almost as soon as it was begun they had a man broadcasting a spurious "eye-witness" account from somewhere further up the coast, and another man broadcasting false orders in English. On the other hand the Germans were evidently surprised by the strength of their air support. Whereas normally they have kept their fighters on the ground so as to conserve their strength, they sent them into the air as soon as they heard that tanks were landing, and lost a number of planes variously estimated, but considered by some R.A.F. officers to have been as high as 270. Owing to the British strength in the air the destroyers were able to lie outside Dieppe all day. One was sunk, but this was by a shore battery. When a request came to attack some objective on shore, the destroyers formed in line and raced inshore firing their forward guns while the fighter planes supported them overhead.
David Astor considers that this definitely proves that an invasion of Europe is impossible. Of course we can't feel sure that he hasn't been planted to say this, considering who his parents are. I can't help feeling that to get ashore at all at such a strongly defended spot, without either bomber support, artillery support except for the guns of the destroyers (4-9 guns I suppose), or airborne troops, was a considerable achievement.
25 August
One of the many rumours circulating among Indians here is that Nehru, Gandhi and others have been deported to South Africa. This is the kind of thing that results from press censorship and suppressing newspapers.
27 August
Ban on the Daily Worker lifted. It is to reappear on Sept 7th (same day as Churchill makes his statement to Parliament).
German radio again alleging S.
C. Bose is in Penang. But the indications are that this was a slip of the tongue for R. B. Bose.
29 August
Advert in pub for pick-me-up tablets -- phenacetin or something of the kind:
BLITZ
Thoroughly recommended by the
Medical Profession
The
"LIGHTNING"
Marvellous discovery
Millions take this Remedy for
for
Hangover
War Nerves
Influenza
Headache
Toothache
Neuralgia
Sleeplessness
Rheumatism
Depression etc. etc.
Contains no Aspirin
Another rumour among the Indians about Nehru -- this time that he has escaped.
7 September
There is evidently trouble in Syria. Hand-out this morning to the effect that -- most unfortunately and much against H.M. Government's will -- General de Gaulle is insisting that Syria is still under a French Mandate and it is impossible yet to make a treaty, as in the case of Iraq. General de Gaulle's attitude is considered most deplorable, but as he is, after all, the accredited leader of the Free French and the whole legal position is very obscure (the matter should be decided upon by the League of Nations which unfortunately no longer exists), H.M. Government is unable etc. etc. etc. In other words the Syrians will get no treaty, the blame for this is placed on our puppet de Gaulle, and if possible we shall swipe Syria for ourselves. When I heard this hollow rubbish trotted out by Rushbrook-Williams10 this morning, and we all had to listen and keep straight faces, there came into my head, I don't quite know why, the lines from Hardy's Dynasts about the crowning of Napoleon in Rome:
Do not the prelate's accents falter thin,
His lips with inheld laughter grow deformed,
In blessing one whose aim is but to win
The golden seat that other bums have warmed?
10. L. F. Rushbrook-Williams, at this time Eastern Service Director of the B.B.C.
The Daily Worker reappeared today -- very mild, but they are urging a. a Second Front, b. all help to Russia in the way of arms etc., and c. a demagogic programme of higher wages all round which would be utterly incompatible with a. and b.
10 September
Lecturing last night at Morley College, Lambeth. Small hall, about 100 people, working-class intelligentsia (same sort of audience as Left Book Club11 branch). During the questions afterwards, no less than 6 people asked, "Does not the lecturer think that it was a great mistake to lift the ban from the Daily Worker" -- reasons given, that the D.W.'s loyalty is not reliable and it is a waste of paper. Only one woman stood up for the D.W., evidently a Communist at whom one or two of the others expressed impatience ("Oh, she's always saying that!"). This after a year during which there has been a ceaseless clamour from Left organizations for the lifting of the ban. One is constantly being thrown out in one's judgements because one listens to the articulate minority and forgets the other 99 per cent. Cf. Munich, when the mass of the people were almost certainly behind Chamberlain's policy, though to read the New Statesman etc. you wouldn't have thought so.
11. The Left Book Club had been founded and published by Victor Gollancz in 1936. It still continued to publish a book a month on anti-Fascist or Socialist topics and the practice of holding group meetings had been revived in the middle of 1942 and some fifty branches formed.
15 September
Ghastly feeling of impotence over the India business, Churchill's speeches, the evident intention of the Blimps to have one more try at being what they consider tough, and the impudent way in which the newspapers can misrepresent the whole issue, well knowing that the public will never know enough or take enough interest to verify the facts. This last is the worst symptom of all -- though actually our own apathy about India is not worse than the non-interest of Indian intellectuals in the struggle against Fascism in Europe.
21 September
Yesterday met Liddell Hart for the first time. . . . In a great stew about the barbarism of bombing Lubeck. Considered that during the wars of recent centuries the British have the worst record of all for atrocities and destructiveness. Although, of course, strongly opposed to the Second Front, also anxious for us to call off the bombing. There is no point in doing it, as it can achieve nothing and does not weaken Germany. On the other hand we ought not to have started the bombing in the first place (he stuck to it that it was we who started it), as it merely brought heavier reprisals on ourselves.
Osbert Sitwell was also there. . . . Both of them professed to be disgusted by our seizure of Vichy colonies. Sitwell said that our motto was, "When things look bad, retake Madagascar." He said that in Cornwall in case of invasion the Home Guard have orders to shoot all artists. I said that in Cornwall this might be all for the best. Sitwell: "Some instinct would lead them to the good ones."
22 September
Most of the ammunition for our Sten guns is Italian, or rather made in Germany for Italy. I fancy this must be the first weapon the British army has had whose bore was measured in millimetres instead of inches. They were going to make a new cheap automatic weapon, and having the vast stocks of ammunition captured in Abyssinia handy, manufactured the guns to fit the cartridges instead of the other way about. The advantage is that the ammunition of almost any continental submachine gun will fit it. It will be interesting to see whether the Germans or Japanese come out with a .303 weapon to fit captured British ammunition.
28 September
Open-air church parade in Regents Park yesterday. How touching the scene ought to be -- the battalion in hollow square, band of the Coldstream Guards, the men standing bareheaded (beautiful autumn day, faint mist and not a leaf stirring, dogs gambolling round) and singing the hymns as best they could. But unfortunately there was a sermon with the jingoistic muck which is usual on these occasions and which makes me go pro-German for as long as I listen to it. Also a special prayer "for the people of Stalingrad" -- the Judas kiss. A detail that gets me down on these occasions is the clergyman's white surplice, which looks all wrong against a background of military uniforms. Struck by the professionalism of the band, especially the bandmaster (an officer in the black peaked cap of the Guards). As each prayer drew towards its close, a stirring in the band, the trombones come out of their leather suitcases, the bandmaster's baton comes up, and they are ready to snap into the Amen just as the priest reaches "through Jesus Christ our Lord".
5 October
New Viceroy of India to be appointed shortly. No clue as to who he will be. Some say General Auchinleck -- who, it is said, gets on well with leftwing Indians.
Long talk with Brander,12 who is back after his 6 months tour in India. His conclusions so depressing that I can hardly bring myself to write them down. Briefly -- affairs are much worse in India than anyone here is allowed to realize, the situation is in fact retrievable but won't be retrieved because the Government is determined to make no real concessions, hell will break loose when and if there is a Japanese invasion, and our broadcasts are utterly useless because nobody listens to them. Brander did say, however, that the Indians listen to the B.B.C. news, because they regard it as more truthful than that given out by Tokyo or Berlin. He considers that we should broadcast news and music and nothing else. This is what I have been saying for some time past.
12. Laurence Brander, author, had lectured on English literature in India for twelve years before the war. From 1941-4 he was employed by the B.B.C. as Intelligence Officer, Eastern Service.
10 October
Today in honour of the anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, the Chinese flag was hoisted over Broadcasting House. Unfortunately it was upside down.
According to David Astor, Cripps is going to resign shortly -- pretext, that the War Cabinet is a sham, Churchill being in reality the sole power in it.
11 October
The authorities in Canada have now chained up a number
of German prisoners equal to the number of British prisoners chained up in Germany. What the devil are we coming to?. . ."13
13. See also 37.
17 October
Heard a "Jew joke" on the stage at the Players' theatre last night -- a mild one, and told by a Jew, but still slightly anti-Jew in tendency.
More Second Front rumours. The date this time is given as October 20th, an unlikely date, being a Tuesday. It seems pretty clear that something is going to happen in West or North-West Africa, however.
15 November
Church bells rung this morning -- in celebration for the victory in Egypt. The first time that I have heard them in over two years.
Appendix I
BOOKS BY OR CONTAINING CONTRIBUTIONS
BY GEORGE ORWELL
Down and Out in Paris and London, London, 1933; New York, 1933.
Burmese Days, New York, 1934; London, 1935.
A Clergyman's Daughter, London, 1935; New York, 1936.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying, London, 1936; New York, 1956.
The Road to Wigan Pier, London, 1937; New York, 1958.
Homage to Catalonia, London, 1938; New York, 1952.
Coming Up for Air, London, 1939; New York, 1950.
Inside the Whale, London, 1940.
The Lion and the Unicorn, London, 1941.
A Collection of Essays Page 56