Wednesday, 16 February

Heavy snow, quite cold

The Consul-General of New Serbia reported, saying that from the start of the war until now, the Soviet Union has stationed many troops along the Manchuria-Mongolian border, and they have always been on full guard. With the aim to test the Soviet strength on the border, the Japanese garrison at the Manchuria-Mongolian border always had skirmishes with those of the Soviet side. During the height of the war in Stalingrad, Japan sent 10,000 troops to the Soviet border. Last December, several more rushed in, but they were surrounded by the Soviet side and disarmed. So when the German-Soviet war ends, and if nothing serious happens amongst the Allies, without doubt the Soviet Union will join the war against Japan.

Last night many British planes bombarded Berlin, dropping more than 2,500 tons of bombs. This set a record for dropping bombs. Probably this was as a result of the bombardment of London by German planes. The more the British and Germans directly suffer the pain of war, the more the awakening of the whole race. Perhaps aggressive imperialism can be reduced.

The Swedish correspondence from the American United Press Agency said that the former Finnish Prime Minister, Juhu K. Passikivi, met the Soviet Ambassador to Sweden in the Finnish capital. He wanted to find out the conditions the Soviet Union required for the surrender of Finland. The various Finnish parties also dispatched their representatives to the Finnish capital to link up with the Soviet Union one after another. The time for Finland to is near. The Soviet army’s western advance will be much faster, and the controlling power of the European war by Britain and the United States of the European war will diminish. What is even clearer is that the British Government has adopted the wrong attitude towards the Soviet Union concerning the Polish Incident. But hopefully the British Government will adapt well and give in more to the Soviet Union. It is nevertheless a great pity that the so-called public opinion of the United States repeatedly hits icebergs. They will feel disappointed that they can no longer attend to European affairs and return to their isolationist policy. It is also not satisfactory.

Soviet newspapers published the congratulatory telegrams between General Tito of the Yugoslavian Liberation Army and the Soviet Southern Army’s Commander-in-Chief General Ivan Ru’ar, as well as the news on Mihailović’s collaboration. These reflect the Soviet Government’s attitude towards Yugoslavia. The status of Ambassador Simic here will be precarious.

Soviet newspapers also published the Japanese news that recently men from 12 to 60 and females from 12 to 40 have to register before 22 February, to facilitate mobilisation. One can see from this the lack of manpower on the enemy side. Recently Soviet newspapers have published a lot of news which is disadvantageous to the Japanese. This is good manoeuvering.