Thursday, 16 October

I received a telegram from Ambassador Shao Lizi.  Yesterday at 3.00 p.m., the Soviet Government instructed various embassies to move out of Moscow. The consulate at Chita reported that in the past few days Soviet troops had been transferred west from the Far East. There were some ten trains of artillerymen passing through Chita, therefore it could ascertain that the Soviet situation was quite tense. Shao Lizi also reported that the German army would achieve a major encirclement of Moscow. Now one can witness Germany’s weakness that the German army has amassed tanks produced by various countries. The wars in the coming few days to two weeks will be very important. I was afraid that it would not need two weeks. Yu Hongjun (俞鴻鈞)[1] and Gu Yiqun invited Sir Otto Niemeyer and H. Merle Cochrane and others to Gu Yiqun’s home. Hollington Tong(董顯光)[2] was also there. During dinner, he received a phone call, saying that Konoe Fumimaro’s Cabinet had fallen again. So, the enemy will carry out a northern advancement taking advantage of the Soviet Union’s emergency. The enemy will fail in the near future.

[1] Yu Hongjun(1899-1960) was Cantonese. He had studied at St.John’s University in Shanghai. He was an official of the Nationalist Government.

[2] Hollington Tong (1887-1971) had studied in Missouri and Columbia Universities. He was a famous reporter and politician. He was close to Chiang Kai-shek.