Last Saturday Miss Nerney began her services at the hospital (Thorpe Hall). She was to work from 7.30 to 3.30 and from 7.30 to 6.30 alternate days. This was adhered to for two days but afterwards she was kept 'til 8 each night. She says there is no rest all day. Nevertheless there must be women in the village who could do this work in part. Every other week she has free. As the arrangement of 7.30 to 8.30 every day brought her work for me to a standstill. I gave notice that it would have to be altered. The Hall is owned by Major-General Byng who is I believe in Egypt at present. His wife Evelyn has placed the Hall at the disposal of the British Red Cross for use as an auxiliary hospital.More wounded came at the beginning of this week, 14 English. There were already over 20 Belgians. When they arrived a large crowd assembled at the railway station to greet them. If these numbers reflect the picture elsewhere then this war is going to result in a lot of casualties. I haven't seen any figures yet for soldiers killed. It strikes me that warfare is now so heavily mechanised that all previous conflicts will be dwarfed by this one. And so much of the killing will take place at a distance. What will the psychological effect be on the soldiers?
Knowledge of soldiers: a grenadier at Thorpe Hall, wounded, told Alcock on Wednesday that the Germans had a gun with a range of 22 miles!
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