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.

  • 23 Jan 1944, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Wed, 2014-01-01 13:55
    Book / Document: 
    R. E. Jones Wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sun, 23 Jan 1944

    Fine, cloudy, colder.

    Meatless day.

    High altitude raid by our chaps this afternoon.  No opposition. Heavy stuff dropped. Shook our buildings.

    With Steve pm.

    (More Jap naval officers visited camp, indicates that some warship or other is in the harbour. Accounts for today’s raid perhaps)

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  • 23 Jan 1944, Harry Ching's wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2014-05-05 16:50
    Book / Document: 
    Harry Ching's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sun, 23 Jan 1944

    Alert 4.30 p.m. One low over Kai Tak. Big explosions and smoke.

  • 23 Jan 1944, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2017-01-19 16:19
    Book / Document: 
    Eric MacNider's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sun, 23 Jan 1944

    Short / Rose (Anniversary Service)

    P.M. Raid.

    Drown / Jenner

  • 23 Jan 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Submitted by ssuni86 on Thu, 2019-02-28 21:14
    Book / Document: 
    WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sun, 23 Jan 1944

    OBJECTIVE: Air strike against Kai Tak airfield

    RESULTS: B-25s bomb buildings on the east edge of Kai Tak; American and Chinese fighter pilots dogfight with defending Japanese fighter pilots

    TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:45 p.m.

    AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT:

    • Eleven P-40s from 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
    • Fifteen P-40Ns from 28th and 32nd Provisional Fighter Squadrons (3rd Fighter Group, Chinese American Composite Wing)
    • Nine B-25s from Chinese American  Composite Wing

    AMERICAN AND CHINESE PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

    • 74th FS: Col. David L. “Tex” Hill; Major Barry Melloan; Capt. Eugene Lundy; Capt. Morello; 1st Lt. Jess T. Garrett; Lt. Thomas P. Bennett; Lt. Strantz; 2nd Lt. Charles E. Cook; 2nd Lt. Chester Denny; Lt. Virgil A. Butler; Lt. Moolen [?]; Lt. Gordon  F. Bennett
    • 28th and 32nd PFS: Lt. Col. Eugene L. Strickland; Capt. James T. Bull; Capt. C.A.L. Martin; Capt. Charles C. Wilder; Capt. Frank C. Smiley; 1st Lt. James E. Bush; Capt. S.T. Cheng; 1st Lt. C.M. Chang; 1st Lt. C.Y. Meng; 2nd Lt. T.C. Chao; 2nd Lt. Y.C. Chang; 2nd Lt. C.H. Yang; 2nd Lt. C.P. Mao; 2nd Lt. M.Y. Sun; 2nd Lt. J.L. Kuo

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: An estimated four to six Ki-43s and/or Ki-44s, possibly from the 11th Sentai and/or  85th Sentai.

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

    • Two P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron crash land, though pilots are uninjured (Denny; T.P. Bennet).
    • One P-40N from 3rd Fighter Group is damaged.
    • American and Chinese pilots claim to shoot down one Japanese fighter and to damage another, but Japanese records do not indicate any Japanese pilots are lost on this date.

    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

  • 23 Jan 1944, Diary of George Gerrard in Stanley Internment Camp Hong Kong

    Submitted by Alison Gerrard on Sun, 2019-05-26 22:00
    Book / Document: 
    Diary of George Gerrard in Stanley Internment Camp Hong Kong
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Sun, 23 Jan 1944

    Today shortly after one o'clock I left the Tweed Bay Hospital. N.M. and H.S. came down and carried most of my stuff as of course one has to take blankets and pillows and mintoy as well as personal things including tea, bread and any other eatables. In other words the hospital provides a bed only.

    I feel all right with little or no pain in my toe. I go to see Digby again on Tuesday. I'm glad to get back to my room in the block as the chow in hospital was very poor.


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