15 Aug 1945, Arthur Nathaniel Braudé's wartime diary

It's 2 p.m. and there is a slight drizzle and it's very hot and humid. Enthusiasm is subdued, somewhat, and more and more are inclining to the view that the rumours are premature. They are influenced in no small way by the bits of newspaper news which drifts in, about the heavy bombing of Japan by "atomic bombs", large task forces off Tokyo Bay with an expected landing; and the continued advance of Russian forced into Manchuria, along the trans-Siberian Railway. In addition, the heavy detonations — either blasting, demolition or gunfire — have restarted on a minor scale. Nevertheless, it was decided to have a victory stew this tiffin and the two remaining pigs plus half a dozen birds went into the pot. I really don't know what to think about it all but I have decided to go with more caution as far as my meagre supply of beanss and fish is concerned. Whatever the true situation may be, the end cannot be so very long delayed, and on this past point the vast majority of us are agreed. In the meantime, I view, with anxiety, the decreasing number of pages left in this diary.