Tuesday, 8 February

Light snow, quite cold, sun

For the past few days I have been reading the American (writer) Pearl Buck’s Asia and Democracy. She advocates strongly that the United States should rectify its racial view and she praises Chinese culture a great deal. She has really gained a very deep insight into Chinese culture and history. Such understanding is rare even within Chinese academic circles. This is truly respectful. She advocates strongly for the equality of blacks, which is very forward thinking.

Yesterday the American navy sailed direct to the northern part of Japan and bombarded Paramushir in the Kurile Islands. The Japanese guard army there did not know what to do. The American fleet bombarded the defence devices from 5 knots away and then left without difficulty. This is the first time the American navy has bombarded Japan Proper. The Japanese should know that the war has now reached their gates.

At 9.00 in the evening, Moscow celebrated the Red Army’s recapturing of Nikopol with a gun salute. It is one of the biggest production areas of Manganese in the world. The German army needs 375,000 tons of Manganese (necessary for producing steel) every year, but Germany and its vassals only produced 170,000 tons, so Nikopol had to supply at least 200,000 tons for the German army every year. Now Germany has lost this source, and the German military production will be unable to sustain itself. The Soviet Union recovering it this morning will therefore have a great influence on its war prospects.