
May 4th, 1945
THIS YEAR the period [of Rogationtide] coincides with the incipient strains
of V-Day, with hopeful if impishly mysterious warnings by Mr Churchill that
there might be an “announcement of decisive importance justifying
celebration”. All are beginning, very naturally, to slacken the tautness
of their nerves, but for Christians the proclamation of our Lord’s ascent to
glory must be the major subject of thanksgiving. With it this year will go a
deep realisation that but for sin the present horrors would be unknown, and
that everyone has a life of reparation and repair ahead. . .
Whatever else is doubtful in the present welter of rumour, Hitler and
Mussolini are dead, the garrison of Berlin has capitulated, and peace
negotiations are certainly under way. The points now at issue, evidently, are
two. Somebody must offer unconditional surrender to the Big Three. And he must
be competent to do so. The fact that Admiral Dönitz has seized the vacant post
of Führer suggests a doubt about his readiness to surrender the German navy,
though at the same time it is more than doubtful that the German army would
fight on for an admiral. Once a proper surrender has been made, it will be
anybody’s guess what terms will be imposed. The production of Hitler’s
authentic body is widely canvassed as one. It is now certain that he was not at
Berchtesgaden, as once seemed likely, nor does military defence of the redoubt
any longer seem to be in question.