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Empire, which was to have been destroyed
first in June with the collapse of France,
and later with the invasion of Britain
in August, still blocks the way, grows
more powerful, and hits back harder.

4th Nov. 1940
Raiding in this neighbourhood during the last
fortnight has been continued night after night
as far as weather permitted. In fact, I think,
we have had only three, or at most four peaceful
nights. But although the sirens wail, and
we take shelter, no bombs are dropped, and
only on two occasions have the guns been in
action. The fact, I believe, is that the planes
are either busy laying mines in the Forth,
or attempting to bomb warships anchored
there. So far all their efforts to produce any
notable results have been in vain. The
bombing of London still goes on, and last
night was the first peaceful night the Londoners
had enjoyed for 56 nights. Meanwhile as the
forces of the R.A.F. increase so does the nightly
air attack on Germany intensify and especially
on Berlin. While we confine our attacks to
Military objectives, which our airmen manage
with great daring to bomb despite A. A. guns &c
the Germans can only in very small numbers now
reach London, and when there, drop their bombs
at random from a height of 5 miles or so! In
Friday night's raid over Berlin a fire was started
in a power station which soon covered an area
a quarter mile square, and ere the last airman
was out of sight, had extended for a mile. Great
damage is also being caused to the lines of
communication, especially railways, which are
regularly bombed, and the stations and goods
yards put on fire. Here our railroads have
hardly been disturbed and only a few of the
large London termini bombed.
The invasion of Greece by Italy seems
likely to give a fresh complexion to the war.
The rumour got about that it was done by
Mussolini without the concurrence of Hitler
as regards the moment of attack, but it seems
more probable that both ruffians had agreed
on the step, but Mussolini may have attempted
a bluff in the expectation of being able to present
his confederate with the fait accompli but the
Greeks have called his bluff satisfactorily, and
all is not going well with Mussolini's bravos.
Sandy is now back in Kenya Colony after
having been in British Somaliland, taken part
in the battle of Hargeisa; been evacuated with
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