| April 1944 |
| 25th | Cold day. Dry North wind. R.A.F. over Germany in very great strength last night. Munich attacked. ½ million incendiaries dropped. Kept us awake a long time coming home in great force. One crashed at Elmstead. Vera heard it come down and saw flames. 29 lost. |
| 24th | Dull and cooler. No sitting out. Vera went to Braintree. Siren 5.45 - 6. Vera heard it at Braintree but they didn't hear it here. (Lexden). 5 shot down last night over Bristol. Big U.S. raids today. |
| 23rd | Beautiful day. 68 degrees all afternoon, got up to 70 degrees after tea. Sat out on lawn all afternoon and again after tea until 6.45. Got so hot that I had to take jacket off. Too hot to have tea out. 1000 bombers raid on Germany last night. 42 missing. |
| 22nd | Glorious day. Sun has not gone in once. Had shelter out for 1st time on big lawn. Mother sat out from 3-5 and from 6.10 - 6.30. Garden looks marvellous. All blue. Saw lots of bombers and fighters going home at dusk from big raid on Hamm. (North Rhine, Germany). Siren has just gone 10.20 - 11. All quiet. |
| 21st | Nice day but dull evening. New record by R.A.F. Over 4,500 tons on invasion rail targets in Cologne, Belgium and France. Cologne got 1600 tons and we only lost 4 there. Total losses only 16. Set first beet. First marrow up. |
| 20th | Nice day after lovely rain. Not much news. Set 1st carrots. |
| 19th | Nice sunny day after white frost. Raid in night 12.30 - 1.45 a.m. Had a lot of planes over and some guns in distance but nothing near. Heard a few bumps. 13 shot down. 1000 R.A.F. bombers attacked rail targets in France last night. Over 4000 tons dropped. Heaviest ever. 14 missing. Over 750 U.S. heavies been to Germany today. George came home very hungry in the raid and we gave him a big lights supper. (Lights = lungs of animals that have been slaughtered for human consumption. Popular cheap food for cats 1930s-1960s - not of high nutritional value but filled a cat up). |
| 18th | Broke out lovely sunny day but rather chilly. Mother went out in front garden. Secret diplomatic despatches banned. Everybody expecting Second Front to start. 2000 U.S. planes have attacked Germany today including Berlin. George has been missing all day. |
| 17th | Cold dull day. Heating ban starts - no more heating to be allowed until 31st Oct. Very cold in office. Heard cuckoo. |
| 16th | Rained all day. Did not feel well, thought I had got a cold coming. Went out in morning but stayed in rest of day. No news. |
| 15th | Rainy afternoon and evening. Could do no gardening. Not much news today. Heating ban to start on Monday. |
| 14th | Nice day but wet evening. Raid in night 1.30 - 2 a.m. Got up but did not go into shelter. Heard a little distant gunfire. Saw flares over London. Official total now 812. Mother went down garden. Russians have nearly overrun Crimea. 31,000 prisoners. |
| 13th | Another nice day. Big mass raids on Germany. Had just got to bed last night when there was some gunfire but no siren. Dad went to Bergholt. Mother went down garden again. |
| 12th | Nice day, fine and sunny. Garden looks lovely. Heavy R.A.F. raid on Aachen last night 1000 tons. 9 missing. (North Rhine, Germany). Mother went down garden. |
