70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

Shows diary entries from seventy-one years ago, using today's date in Hong Kong as the starting point. To see pages from earlier dates (they go back to 1 Dec 1941), choose the date below and click the 'Apply' button.

  • 02 Oct 1944, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2014-11-20 21:25
    Book / Document: 
    R. E. Jones Wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Mon, 2 Oct 1944

    Cooler, NE wind, cloudy.

    Chopped wood am.

    Oil, tea & sugar issued.

    Poor meals today.

    Lorry arrived 5.45pm. No cigs blast their bloody hides.

    With Steve pm.

    Smoking papia [sic - papaya?] leaves.

    Electric current suspended again.

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  • 02 Oct 1944, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2016-09-05 12:22
    Book / Document: 
    Eric MacNider's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Mon, 2 Oct 1944

    S.S – Heath

  • 02 Oct 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Submitted by ssuni86 on Thu, 2019-06-13 22:00
    Book / Document: 
    WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Mon, 2 Oct 1944

    OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.

    RESULTS: Nine B-25 crews are briefed to bomb the Canton airbases.  The first aircraft to take off later returns to base with its bombs still aboard when the mission is cancelled due to poor weather.  When the weather report is determined to be inaccurate, the remaining eight planes continue with the mission.  The results are variable:

    • One aircraft fails to find the target and jettisons its bombs.
    • Two aircraft fail to find the target and return their bombs to base.
    • Two aircraft bomb Tien Ho airbase.
    • One aircraft bombs White Cloud airbase.
    • One aircraft bombs an unidentified landing strip in the Canton area.
    • One aircraft bombs Pingnam, the designated alternate target.

    TIME OVER TARGET: ~10:32 p.m. on October 02 to 12:27 a.m. on October 03.

    AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Nine B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)

    AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Capt. Danforth Loring; 1st Lt. Gordon R. Francis; Lt. Nichols; Lt. Merril S. Parham; 2nd Lt. Leander L. Smith; 2nd Lt. John C. Steadman; 2nd Lt. Arthur E. Thomas; 1st Lt. Henry D. Wagner; 2nd Lt. Lawrence F. Uebel; 2nd Lt. Wilfred E. Cather

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 48 x 100-pound fragmentation bomb clusters; 20 x 100-pound bombs

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None

    SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

    Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

    Tags: 
    air raids

  • 02 Oct 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Submitted by ssuni86 on Wed, 2019-06-19 20:53
    Book / Document: 
    WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Mon, 2 Oct 1944

    OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.

    RESULTS: Eight B-25 crews are briefed to bomb the Canton airbases.  Six aircraft are unable to locate the target and return their bombs to base.  One B-25 commanded by Lt. Hexberg bombs White Cloud airbase.  One B-25 commanded by Lt. Ley bombs the town of Samshui.

    TIME OVER TARGET: ~6:50 p.m. over White Cloud and ~11:03 p.m. over Samshui

    AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 491st Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)

    • B-25J #43-3904: 1st Lt. E.M. Hexberg; Lt. Col. J.K. Hester; 2nd Lt. R.M. Howard; 1st Lt. F.J. Belot; Staff Sgt. F.W. Konkolics; Tech Sgt. H.P. Albro; Staff Sgt. A.L. Matos
    • B-25H #43-4159: 1st Lt. P.J. Ley; 1st Lt. A.J. White; Staff Sgt. W.S. Faulkner; Tech Sgt. J.H. Starling; Staff Sgt. A.J. Quinn
    • B-25H #43-4361: 1st Lt. R.M. Blake; 2nd Lt. T.F. Jordan; Staff Sgt. L.F. Concannon; Tech Sgt. J.B. Clark; Sgt. G.D. Tanchum
    • B-25H #43-4602: 1st Lt. H.W. Fox; 2nd Lt. J.L. Wolfe; Staff Sgt. M.E. Vollmer; Staff Sgt. C.E. Henderson; Staff Sgt. W.R. Green
    • B-25H #43-4319: 1st Lt. J.E. Andrews; 1st Lt. R.K. Shaw; Staff Sgt. G.A. Penney; Staff Sgt. W.C. Cheverie; Sgt. H.R. Lehmann
    • B-25J #43-4326: 2nd Lt. F.O. Dice; 2nd Lt. R.M. Howell; 1st Lt. W.W. Merrill; 2nd Lt. R.V. Zaloudek; Staff Sgt. D.E. Murphy; Tech Sgt. P. Mandich; Staff Sgt. E.E. Routon
    • B-25D #43-3288: 1st Lt. J.M. Musgrove; 2nd Lt. J.A. Wilson; 1st Lt. G.L. Verlan; 2nd Lt. S. Mazer; Staff Sgt. S.E. Smith; Staff Sgt. L.F. Doherty; Staff Sgt. C.R. Bigelow; 1st Lt. H.L. Ramey
    • B-25D #43-3291: 1st Lt. W.A. Sussdorf; Captain D.F. Blaha; 1st Lt. W.P. Dougan; 1st Lt. M. Radovich; Staff Sgt. R.J. Gebhardt; Tech Sgt. W.F. Irwin; Staff Sgt. W.R. Wahl

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 8 x 250-pound bombs (White Cloud) and 22 x 100-pound bomb (Samshui)

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES: Minor flak damage to Lt. Hexberg’s B-25, which is caught by searchlights over White Cloud airbase

    SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

    Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

    Tags: 
    air raids

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