War news

Friday, February 12th., Comarques, Thorpe-le-Soken.

I think that the war is now drawing to a close and I should be rather surprised if it didn't end this year. The whole thing has been a sheer madness in my opinion.  But when you see the newspapers more occupied with the social and political news of the war and not the military news of the war you may bet a great change has come over the scene. And not before time because the food situation here is grave. In Germany and Austria it is, I understand, appalling. The recent strikes in Germany and Austria were very real and alarming, and all this is to the good. The only potential problem I see is that if social unrest gets completely out of hand then there may occur something similar to what has happened in Russia. It depends on whether or not there are sufficiently charismatic agitators to lead a revolution.

As I see it, it would be sufficient for us for Austria to cave in. If Austria did then Germany would have to. As Austria is easily the weaker of the two, the most interesting thing is what is happening in Austria, and yet people seem always more interested in what is happening in Germany. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link and Austria is the weakest link. I don't count Turkey and Bulgaria. 

The U.S.A. have now 400,000 men in France, and the number is increasing all the time. Up to the present however the U.S.A. haven't displayed much talent for turning men into an coherent fighting machine. They are not conceited and they admit this. So far, they are far inferior to us in this respect. I have this on good authority because I see a great many people of all sorts who are in a position to know the facts and who talk freely to me.

Russian news is scarce and much of it is censored. An English manufacturer in Russia who has escaped told a friend of mine, who told me, that he was tried for his life by his own workmen, and got off by a majority of two.Also that he himself saw people being burned alive in barrels of kerosene in the Nevsky Prospect, the principal street of Petrograd, and that nobody seemed to be particularly upset by it. Except those being incinerated of course! Hugh Walpole has spent most of the war in Petrograd and has the most astounding stories to tell of robbery and violence and so on. Some interesting material for his use when this is all over.

I have just now finished "The Pretty Lady" but it doesn't leave me much freer as I am always worried with articles and oddments for this tedious war