Received your letter of April
third just this past week. It
really seems as if the months
are flying by. It will soon be
May again, and my birthday.
Where is Donald Tompkins APO
number and what is he in. I might
find him.
You said something about Harley
loseing weight. I have lost about
20 lbs since leaving Texas. I
weigh fourteen stone now. or
in American language 196 lbs. Hope
I lose somemore to. I would
like to get down to 180 lbs.
You should see me tonight.
For the last two days I have
been outside and I got good and
sun burn. Can you imagine
getting sunburnt in England?
Plenty of excitement this pass
week, but I can't tell you
anymore. I will have plenty after
the war.
Luella said in her letter I
wouldn't know the place now with
all the fixing you are giving it.
I guess I have been away to
long to remember all the little
details of it anyway. I sure hope
this war gets overwith soon.
I am all fed up with it.
My mail seems to come in
bunches lately. Oh well just so
it gets here. I try to write to the
others but find it almost impossible
to find enough to write, even a
V mail page.
Well I guess this is all for
now. I am feeling fine and I am
as happy as one could be
under the present circumstances.
Please write soon.
Love Ralph.
The next letter will be posted on May 1st.
Background Information (and comments):
- I had the opportunity to take photos of how Ralph's home looks now. Obviously, it's seen even more painting and improvements since 1944. The pictures are at the end of this post.
- Perhaps the following is what Ralph meant by "pleanty of excitement this pass week":
April 16, 1944 (Sunday)
·
German submarine 'U-550 was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by
American warships.
April 18, 1944 (Tuesday)
The
Allies dropped more than 4,000 tons of bombs over Germany, the highest
single-day total of the war up to this time.
April 20, 1944 (Thursday)
The
RAF set a new record for a single air raid, dropping 4,500 tons of bombs for
Hitler's 55th birthday.
21
January 1944 - 19 April 1944: The 'Little Blitz'
But the
Luftwaffe bomber force was badly mauled during the 'Little Blitz'. In four
months, 329 aircraft were either lost or redeployed. Over 100 were lost to
interception, ground defensive fire, crew inexperience and maintenance
problems. British aircraft, in particular De Havilland Mosquito night-fighters,
exacted an ever-increasing toll on the remaining German formations.
Reichsmarschall Goering then diverted squadrons to oppose the allied landings
at Anzio, Italy, from 22 January 1944, and to support German occupation forces
in Hungary from mid-March 1944.
The
final raid of the ‘Little Blitz’ took place on the night of 18-19 April 1944. Thereafter,
Goering devoted what was left of his bomber strength in France to preparations
for the expected allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
The
‘Little Blitz’ was over. Casualties had been comparatively light. Yet those who
lived through it remembered the extra strain on British civilian morale it
caused. Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter, Baroness Soames, experienced the
‘Little Blitz’ at first hand in London whilst a member of the Auxiliary
Territorial Service (ATS):
“Early in 1944, the enemy once more
turned his attention upon the cities of this country, London being the chief
target. Londoners accepted this resumption of the air raids stolidly, but
people were just that much wearier; three years of the sheer slog of wartime
life since the first Blitz had inevitably taken their toll. During the ‘Little
Blitz’, the noise was truly appalling, most of it being caused by our own, much
more formidable defences, and even a quiet night brought little rest to many
thousands of men and women, who, after their day’s work, went home to do their
stint as Air Raid Wardens and Firewatchers. Westminster was no more immune than
other parts of London: on the night of 20 February 1944, Downing Street and
Whitehall once again suffered bomb damage” (Mary Soames:
‘Clementine Churchill’, 1979).
