Recent events have radio listeners so impatient for big news that they now think nothing of a 200-plane U.S. raid on the Japanese or 500 allied planes over Germany, so I'm missing a lot of details. Lae, for instance, has been taken, but no one has details.

La Vanguardia (read it carefully or you'll miss the retreat):

Between the Donetz and the Dnieper, the westward movement of German troops continues with marvelous precision, protected by strong rearguard units. They inflict tremendous casualties on the Soviets when the reds try to assault German formations in prepared positions.

I read Mussolini's speech. Poor old Benito used to be able to work himself into a tantrum over nothing. Now he sounds pathetic, weak and melancholic. When a friend moaned about his escape, another said, "Why worry? He's no longer a dictator or a man of power. He's just a cochero now!"

I listened to an ex-Marikina guerrillero — a self-confident chap from a good family — just released after 12 days in Fort Santiago (his third trip there). He was caught once, confessed, imprisoned, and finally given Release Papers. That only qualified him for investigation the next time there was trouble in his area. He received a second set of Release Papers. When his area was zonified, he was sent in for more questioning because of his history. What did they do to him this time? "A little torture ... suffocated us with water ... gave us the sun treatment.... We sat out in the sun for four days but fortunately the rains came." They were released because the Japanese couldn't find any guns on them. Someone asked where the guns were. He just grinned.

A half-hour later I ran into another ex-Fort Santiago graduate, Luis, a stout ex-manager of one of the departments of Ismael & Co. before the Japanese took it over. He was sent to Fort Santiago along with Hemady: "I was just in the way," he explained. He lost 45 pounds in the 52 days he spent there. "I grew up used to a tough life and tough food, but Fort Santiago had me licked. It's a wonder how some Americans take it month after month," he said.