Dear Venetia, My darling, I can’t tell you how incredibly hard we’ve fought these last weeks, keeping the Luftwaffe from bombing the men being rescued at Dunkirk. The last boats left today, and we flew wearily back to base to celebrate our successes, and my name has been bandied around as something of a hero, no less.
Our dogfighting happened mostly inland, heading off the Luftwaffe before they got to Dunkirk, and it wasn’t until the fourth day that I went after three Messerschmitts into the fray, shooting them all down. They’re making a tremendous fuss about it back here at the base, even though I keep insisting it was nothing.
I will be home on leave in a month or so, and have asked Mother to arrange an engagement celebration of sorts. I can’t wait for our honeymoon, my dearest, when you will finally be mine.
All my love, Henry
Wednesday, 12th June, 1940
Nothing for ages, and now we’re right in the midst of war!
Dunkirk was astounding! We rescued almost all the British troops and most of the French troops, too. Far more than anyone had hoped. Everyone says it’s all thanks to the “little ships,” all those ordinary people dropping everything to hurry off in boats and pick up our soldiers off the beach. Daddy took his yacht over and says he saved over three hundred soldiers. “Bombed all the way!” he says. He has been incredibly pleased with himself, with people lining up to shake hands in the village square.
“We small boats were central to operations,” he told a gathering. “We could go right up to the beach, carry the men to the big ships in deeper waters ready to head for England. It was a fearful scene. Crowds of men crawling the beach like ants, wading into the water, sometimes up to their shoulders, while overhead Nazi planes strafed us with bullets. I’ll never forget hauling those men out of the murky water, some badly wounded, all exhausted, the bullets pummeling the choppy sea around us.”
Luckily David Tilling came home all right, although exhausted and starved. Mrs. Tilling was incredibly relieved and kept him in bed for two days to recover. Fortunately, the Colonel gave up his room and has taken a hotel room in Litchfield, or I think we’d have had a war right here in Chilbury.
Ralph Gibbs from the shop came back in a bit of a state, with his shoulder dislocated and some broken ribs. He is prone to fighting, and we can’t help wondering if his injuries were from the enemy or from trouble in the ranks. He gets to stay at home for now, while David Tilling has to go back again in a few weeks, probably heading to North Africa. And very unhappy he is, too, mooching around trying to woo Venetia, who is far too busy with Mr. Slater to even notice him.
Henry is a hero at last, and bound to get a medal, Mrs. B. says. He downed three Nazi planes over Dunkirk! I was hoping he’d have leave, too, but they’re busy helping poor France, who are being overrun.
Sadly, the son of Mrs. Poultice, one of the Sewing Ladies, didn’t make it. He was in a small boat that was bombed by a Nazi plane. Another boat dragged him out of the water, but he was too injured and died before they reached Dover. She hasn’t spoken a word since, just slowly sews. We managed to convince her to join the choir, which might help a little.
Mr. Churchill says we’re not giving in!
Daddy’s glad that Mr. Churchill became Prime Minister, even though a lot of people say he’s wrong. They want to make a settlement with the Nazis rather than fight, as frankly our chances don’t look terribly good.
“They’re cowards!” Daddy roared. “It’s more honorable to go down fighting than to give in. We can’t just let them walk all over us.”
Mr. Churchill says this war is going to be fought in the air, and we’ve been asked to give our pots and pans to the Government so that they can be melted down and made into bombers. I found eleven in our kitchen, which surely must amount to a wing at least.
Invasion
If we don’t give in, we’re the next ones after France to be invaded. Since Chilbury is only seven miles from the coast, there’s a chance we’ll be overrun by Nazi troops before we’ve even heard about it. We’ll be woken in the middle of the night by the sound of tanks crashing down our doors.
What will happen if we get taken over by the Nazis
We’ll all starve as they’ll take our food to give to Nazi soldiers
They’ll take anyone left who can fight and send them to the front line, or get shot
They’ll force the rest of us into factories, even children like me
We’ll have to have Nazi soldiers staying at our houses, or shoving us onto the street so they can live there
We won’t be able to go anywhere except by walking or bicycle as they’ll take our motorcars and we won’t be able to get on trains
They’ll imprison or shoot anyone who doesn’t do what they say
They’ll imprison or shoot anyone they don’t like