Monday, 1 May

Ninth day of the fourth lunar month, Jiashen year

Sun

Today is Labour Day. Because it is wartime there has been no parade. In the announcement Stalin admitted the achievements of the British and American air forces, and he admitted that defeating Hitler’s Germany was more difficult than expelling the German army from Soviet territory. He compared Germany now to a wounded beast which tries to escape, and we must try to give it a fatal blow. The duty rests upon cooperation betweenBritain, the United States and the Soviet Union, which are joined forces from East and West. The tone of the whole speech was without any dissatisfaction towards the military actions of Britain and the United States. It was enough to prove that the second war zone would soon be open and the Soviet side seemed to be satisfied.

I received a telegram from China, saying that the enemy used 60,000 troops to launch a fierce attack in the area around Zhengzhou on the Peiping-Hankow railway in an attempt to destroy it, and then concentrate its strength to invade the Guangdong-Hankow railway. Some have even said that Zhengzhou has fallen. According to what Dagongbao published, the enemy army was transferred from Northeast China. Then what I predicted when the Japanese-Soviet agreement was reached unfortunately became true. The suffering of our country will be more serious, and I am deeply worried about it. Accomplishing nothing here has made me consider resignation.