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.

  • 2 Sep 1943, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

    Submitted by brian edgar on Fri, 2012-12-07 17:39
    Book / Document: 
    Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 2 Sep 1943

    Mrs. S. Mason (Block 4, Room 25P) writes a card to Miss Isobel Wavell in Farnham Common (Buckinghamshire):

    Darlings,

    We are very anxious for news of you both as we have not had a line up to date.

    We are all very well and do hope you are. It's all very worrying, isn't it? Still we are making the most of this extraordinary life. We only hope the fashions are streamlined when we meet again, which we hope will be soon.

    You are constantly in our minds, as are also the old times we spent together.

    Source:
    David Tett, Captives In Cathay, 2007, 149

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  • 2 Sep 1943, Harry Ching's wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Sat, 2013-03-23 17:20
    Book / Document: 
    Harry Ching's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 2 Sep 1943

    After midday raid. Great oil fire Laichikok burned couple of hours. Second alarm 5 p.m. Brief alert.

  • 2 Sep 1943, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Sun, 2013-08-25 21:52
    Book / Document: 
    R. E. Jones Wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 2 Sep 1943

    Fine & hot.

    Choir practice at St Stephens 11-noon.

    Air-raid & either oil tanker or A.P.C. hit. Immense clouds of smoke (white over Stanley mound) 1.40PM.

    Played crib with Steve pm.

    Colony to be attacked within 2 weeks?

    New moon. Fire still burning.

  • 2 - 3 Sep 1943, Tom Hutchinson's Wartime Diary

    Submitted by barbaramerchant on Sat, 2013-09-14 16:33
    Book / Document: 
    Tom Hutchinson's Wartime Diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 2 Sep 1943 to Fri, 3 Sep 1943

    Tom Hutchinson's War Diary - Page 12

    Notes:

    2/9/43 - Ferry + Bus   .50
               - James School Fee (Sept)   4.-
    3/9/43 - Rickshaw 1/2 share   .60
               - Sarah to see Bea in Hosp.   7.-

    Supporting information:

    Tags: 
    food
    Hong Kong
    Mongkok
    second world war
    civilians
    survival
    family

  • 02 Sep 1943, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

    Submitted by Grace on Wed, 2014-11-05 13:51
    Book / Document: 
    Eric MacNider's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 2 Sep 1943

    1.35pm raid. (10) "A fire was caused as a result of the raid" (NW direction, thick clouds of smoke)

     

  • 02 Sept 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Submitted by ssuni86 on Fri, 2019-01-25 23:05
    Book / Document: 
    WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 2 Sep 1943

    OBJECTIVE: Bomb POL (petroleum, oil, and lubricants) depot at Lai Chi Kok

    TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:30 a.m.

    AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten B-25s from the 11th Medium Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group) escorted by three P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group).  Two additional P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron are tasked with skip-bombing ships in Victoria Harbor.  All aircraft belong to the 14th Air Force.

    AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

    • P-40s: Captain Crooks; Captain Morrison; Lt. Lundy (escorts); Captain Hawkins and Lt. Mimmack (skip-bomb flight)
    • B-25 #09: 2nd Lt. George T. Grottle; 2nd Lt. Gerald H. Dornbach; 1st Lt. Charles H. Dearth; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Sgt. Golden U. Gallup
    • B-25 #36: 2nd Lt. Edgar N. Gentry; 2nd Lt. Donald G. O’Leary; Staff Sgt. Edward M. Cooning; Sgt. William H. Johnson; Staff Sgt. Robert D. Shaak
    • B-25 #41: 1st Lt. Charles F. Whiffen; 2nd Lt. Edward J. Pawlowski; 1st Lt. Charles J. Bethea; 2nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Tech Sgt. Karl H. May; Sgt. Jack L. Gould
    • B-25 #46: 1st Lt. Daniel Manley; 2nd Lt. William F. Angell; 2nd Lt. Raymond J. Mazanowski; 2nd Lt. Paul J. Diekmann; Tech Sgt. Thomas R. Touchstone; Tech Sgt. Frank E. Osborne
    • B-25 #54: 2nd Lt. Richard R. Rouse; 2nd Lt. John M. Overstreet; 2nd Lt. Ralph Kamhi; Staff Sgt. Henry M. Ellis; Staff Sgt. William V. Vickery
    • B-25 #55: Lt. Col. Morris F. Taber; 2nd Lt. Clifford T. Schapansky; 1st Lt. Joseph F. Dockwiller; 1st Lt. Guy P. Baird Jr.; Tech Sgt. George W. Gouldthrite; Staff Sgt. Louis L. Lucas; Staff Sgt. George J. Atack
    • B-25 #56: 2nd Lt. Robert A. Nice; 2nd Lt. Earle F. Kane; 2nd Lt. Robert B. Fischborn; Staff Sgt. Eugene E. Banzhof; Staff Sgt. James T. Hopkins
    • B-25 #57: 2nd Lt. Herbert F. Hempe; 2nd Lt. Dow J. Richter; Sgt. Rafael C. Arellano; Sgt. Martin S. Waite; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick; [no rank given] E.O. Hauser
    • B-25 #61: Captain Don H. Milan; 2nd Lt. LeRoy J. Fontaine; 1st Lt. Glee G. Smith; 2nd Lt. Clyde H. Wells; Tech Sgt. Joe Edmonson; Staff Sgt. Clair G. Archer; Sgt. Herbert G. Passarine
    • B-25 #68: 2nd Lt. James T. Hartnet; 2nd Lt. Richard L. Edwards; 2nd Lt. Seaborn V. Howard; Staff Sgt. Marino R. Galluzzo; Staff Sgt. Arthur B. Smith

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED:

    • B-25s: 48 x 500-pound demolition bombs and 24 x 136-pound incendiary clusters
    • P-40s: Two 500-pound bombs and 800 rounds of .50-caliber machine-gun ammunition (strafing)

    RESULTS:

    • B-25s set Lai Chi Kok oil tank farm ablaze and the resultant smoke plume rises three miles high. 
    • P-40 pilots claim to hit a tanker with one 500-pound bomb; they also strafe at least two “fire barges” trying to put out the fire at Lai Chi Kok.

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Six to eight Japanese fighters, possibly from the 25th or 33rd sentai.

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES: P-40 pilots and B-25 gunners claim to shoot down three intercepting Japanese fighters.  Japanese records do not record any pilots lost on this date over Hong Kong, however.

    SOURCES:

    • Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
    • Japanese Army Fighter Aces, 1931-45, by Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa, and Christopher Shores

    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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