April, 1941 (Number 7 Artillery Camp)
Just the usual few scribbled lines to let you know I’m very much alive and well. As you will notice by the address, we are again at the Artillery range I mentioned in a previous letter. We left our billets at 5:30 in the morning and after an early breakfast, were on the move by eight. The trip proved uneventful for us, but slightly different for No. 4 gun crew, whose gun buckled and turned turtle on the highway, smashing all the instruments, thereby putting the gun out of action.
The weather has been bitterly cold for the past two days, but warmed up nicely during today. We had a battery manoeuvre yesterday and will have a tank shoot tomorrow. I am the gun layer on this shoot and expect to have a great time shooting at tank targets through a telescopic sight.
Things seem to be moving again on the Continent, so perhaps we will be given a chance to strut our stuff. I must say I admire the Slavs for their unexpected stand against the Germans. I haven’t had a chance to see a paper or listen to a radio since Saturday, but the boys are saying tonight that the Germans are pouring across the Yugo-Slav border. The very fact that the Yugo-Slavs defied Hitler is an excellent sign, as they knew very well what the results of such an action would be. They say the British are rushing to the rescue, so perhaps this time Gerry will get more than he bargained for.
Wasn’t that a glorious feat the Navy has just achieved in smashing the Italian navy without the loss of a single man. They say the British are a nation of “Wop-keepers,” and so it would seem. Mr. Ravenscroft has a nephew who, by the way, is Lieut. Commander of the Jarvis, which was conspicuous in the naval action recently.
I got a very nice letter from Dad last week, in which he reported the financial state of affairs on the farm. I wasn’t surprised as I had read enough in the Canadian papers to know by the prices of farm produce, that conditions must be difficult.
There is an N.A.A.F.D. show tonight which Les Glover and I plan to attend, so I will close now, to carry on later tonight or tomorrow.
