70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries
23 Nov 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary
Submitted by Barbara Anslow on Thu, 2012-03-08 21:22Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Mon, 23 Nov 1942Had tooth ('upper left 8') taken out.
We had a letter from Father Moore ((still in Hong Kong)):
''Received your card yesterday – probably held up a month. Since in it you mention the beginning of October devotions. Heard our contact was still around, so thought I'd run off this note.
Glad to hear about parcels from England. Should be some help. Hope to send you something before Christmas. May it be a happy day for you all, if not quite so merry. Maybe the usual 'Merry Christmas' is not too far off.
'The news has been very good. The second front is going nicely; in Africa, and the Germans have been pushed back 150 miles beyond Tobruk. Americans still holding the Solomons (3 of them) and sank 12 transports and 11 warships in latest battle. Five years ago I had a New Year plum pudding with the Rear Admiral Norman Scott, who was killed in the Nov. 12 engagement.
'We have received definite word we cannot go to Kwangchowan; so we are here for the duration, I guess. However, I've sent a letter via Chungking air mail home, and asked the folks to send your message to Mrs Hall in Australia. Studying Chinese full tilt now. Health generally good – flu or ?? once. Prices terrific, but some things reasonable. Japs expect more bombings. Understand 500 ((?)) books to camp. Hope you find some good reading. Take it easy. Good health to you all, and God's blessing, John D. Moore.'
'Maryknoll now has new missions in many South American countries – and Mexico. We have been ordered home ((USA)), but repatriation even from Shanghai is now very doubtful.'
I took 'Limelight' to Mrs Lewis Block A1 for her daughters to read.
Mabel and I to music at St Stephens tonight. She was dizzy yesterday.
23 Nov 1942, R. E. Jones Wartime diary
Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2012-11-01 20:54Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Mon, 23 Nov 1942Japs air patrolling all day.
Hair coolers. [?]
Rumour re men of military age being sent to Sham Shui Po, also of air battle over ShaTin yesterday.
((G.))
23 Nov 1942, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong
Submitted by Admin on Sun, 2014-02-16 22:35Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Mon, 23 Nov 1942http://www.usaaf.net/chron/42/nov42.htm says:
(Tenth Air Force):
CHINA AIR TASK FORCE (CATF): 9 B-25s and 7 P-40s feint at Hong Kong, then fly to the Gulf of Tonkin and sink a freighter and damage 2 others near Haiphong, French Indochina.
23 Nov 1942, Eric MacNider's wartime diary
Submitted by Admin on Tue, 2016-11-08 13:11Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Mon, 23 Nov 1942Lecture on cigarette making by J.A.Stericker.
23 Nov 1942, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
Submitted by ssuni86 on Wed, 2017-07-12 23:48Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Mon, 23 Nov 1942OBJECTIVE: Bomb airfield at San Chau Island
TIME OVER TARGET: ~8:15 a.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten P-40E and P-40K from 75th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group) and six B-25s from 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group). All aircraft are from the China Air Task Force (10th Air Force).
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: P-40s: Major John R. Alison; Captain Albert J. Baumler; Captain John H. Hampshire; 1st Lt. H.M. Blackstone; 1st Lt. Edward H. Calvert; 1st Lt. Greg Carpenter; 1st Lt. William T. Gross; 1st Lt. Mack A. Mitchell; 2nd Lt. Bernard A. Dyrland. In addition, Col. Robert L. Scott and Lt. Col. Clinton D. Vincent aborted this mission due to mechanical issues with their P-40s.
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown
RESULTS: Bombs hit aircraft hangers and runway. One fighter aircraft is destroyed on the ground.
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Japanese fighters (possibly from the 25th Sentai or 33rd Sentai) take off during the raid but are unable to intercept American aircraft. One Ki-27 from an unknown unit is encountered by two P-40 pilots during their flight back to Kweilin. In the subsequent dogfight the American pilots claim to damage the Ki-27. However, it is possible the Americans actually shot the plane down, as Japanese records indicate one pilot from the 33rd Sentai was lost over Canton on this date. The 33rd Sentai flew Ki-43s rather than Ki-27s, however, so either the Americans misidentified a Ki-43 as a Ki-27 (unlikely, as the Ki-27 had a fixed undercarriage) or the 33rd still had some Ki-27s.
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: There are no American losses.
SOURCES:
- Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. I could not locate the relevant mission report for the B-25s in the archives, however.
- 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).
23 Nov 1942, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
Submitted by ssuni86 on Thu, 2017-07-13 19:43Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Mon, 23 Nov 1942OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tien Ho airfield in Canton
TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:30 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Seventeen P-40E and P-40K from 16th, 75th, and 76th Fighter Squadrons (23rd Fighter Group) and six B-25s from 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group). All aircraft are from the China Air Task Force (10th Air Force).
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Col. Robert L. Scott; Lt. Col. Clinton D. “Casey” Vincent; Captain Edmund R. Goss; Captain C.B. Slocumb; 1st Lt. George R. Barnes; 1st Lt. Jack R. Best; 1st Lt. J.R. Carney; 1st Lt. Patrick H. Daniels; 1st Lt. Charles H. Dubois; 1st Lt. Martin W. Lubner; 1st Lt. Robert H. Mooney; 1st Lt. William W. Druwing; 1st Lt. Harold K. Stuart; 1st Lt. Heath H. Wayne; 1st Lt. J.O. Wellborn; 2nd Lt. W.S. Butler; 2nd Lt. Aaron Liepe
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown
RESULTS: Bombs hit hangers, aircraft, barracks, and oil/gasoline storage facilities.
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Two fighter pilots assigned to the 25th Sentai, 1st Lt. Hideo Sugawara and Warrant Officer Katsuji Katayama, are killed on the ground during the bombing. In addition, 1st Lt. Fujio Ichihashi Shigenobu from the 33rd Sentai is lost over Canton. (Japanese records do not indicate how this pilot was killed. See the November 23, 1942, raid on San Chau for a possible explanation of this loss.)
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: No American aircraft are lost. Bomber crews claim 7 to 10 aircraft are destroyed on the ground.
SOURCES:
- Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. I could not locate the relevant mission report for the B-25s in the archives, however.
- 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).
23 Nov 1942, John Charter's wartime journal
Submitted by HK Bill on Tue, 2021-05-04 12:17Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Mon, 23 Nov 1942((More about the meeting to discuss the bulk IRC rations)) I think it would not be incorrect to say that the majority of people who wanted to be issued with their full quota of rations had made a point of attending the meeting, while those who had nothing in particular to shout about (and those constituted the majority of people in our blocks) had not bothered to turn up. This was unfortunate because, after sundry pointed questions to the Chairman, a motion was proposed and carried (almost unanimously) that the Japanese should be sounded and if found to be amenable, the suggestion be made to them that the food be distributed pro rata.
