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.

  • 9 Sep 1943, Harry Ching's wartime diary

    Submitted by Admin on Sat, 2013-03-23 17:22
    Book / Document: 
    Harry Ching's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 9 Sep 1943

    Two alarms but nothing happened. Saw plane swoop low over Harbour. Yarn she brought down. Ten raiders but no damage.

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

    Submitted by Admin on Sun, 2013-08-25 22:09
    Book / Document: 
    R. E. Jones Wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 9 Sep 1943

    Fine & hot though cloudy.

    Make up canteen lists for tomorrow. Assisted M with hers pm. ((G))

    No news.

    Steve in concert at St Stephen’s.

  • 09 Sep 1943, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

    Submitted by Grace on Wed, 2014-11-05 13:57
    Book / Document: 
    Eric MacNider's wartime diary
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 9 Sep 1943

    Plays - "Villa for sale" (Day Sage, Lorraine Money, J.C. & Yvonne Charter, Mrs Lewis): "The Blackmailer" (I. Newton, Lydia Hutchinson, Jack Skinner): "Elizabeth Refuses" (S. Mackinlay, James Norman, Yvonne Charter, Mrs Tinson, Mrs Graham Barrow) (c.) D. G Wilson,

    music - Drown & orchestra

    ((Not sure which Mrs Lewis he refers to.))

  • 09 Sep 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Submitted by ssuni86 on Mon, 2019-01-28 00:00
    Book / Document: 
    WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 9 Sep 1943

    OBJECTIVE: Bomb White Cloud airbase at Canton

    TIME OVER TARGET: ~11:45 a.m.

    AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group) escorted by eleven P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group).  All aircraft are from the 14th Air Force.

    AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

    • P-40 pilots: Colonel “Rosy” Grubbs; Captain Morrison; Captain Bell; Lt. Mimmack; Lt. Jones; Lt. Lundy; 2nd Lt. Altheus B. Jarmon; Lt. Meyer; 1st Lt. Richard Mauritson; Lt. Thomas P. Bennett; 1st Lt. Samuel P.M. Kinsey.
    • Crewmen aboard B-25 shot up by Japanese fighter pilots: 2nd Lt. Herbert F. Hempe; Captain L.S. Nickels; 1st Lt. Charles H. Dearth; Sgt. Martin S. Waite; Staff Sgt. Michael Barnick
    • B-25 crew on other aircraft: 2nd Lt. Robert D. Guma; Staff Sgt. Loren Morris; Staff Sgt. Golden U. Gallup; Staff Sgt. Charles M. Cox

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 96 x 100-pound bombs

    RESULTS: Bombs fall within perimeter of airbase, and B-25 crews report direct hits on one hangar and one fuel dump

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: An estimated 15 to 25 Ki-43-II and Ki-44-II from the 25th Sentai and 85th Sentai.  Pilots include Major Toshio A. Sakagawa and Captain Yoshiaki Nakahara.

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES:

    • P-40 pilots and B-25 gunners claim to shoot down up to nine Japanese fighters, though Japanese records indicate that just one pilot—Captain Nakahara—was shot down and killed on this date over Canton.
    • Ki-43 pilots claim to shoot down two American planes, but no American aircraft are lost on this mission.  However, the B-25 flown by 2nd Lt. Hempe is badly shot up, and the copilot (Capt. Nickels) and bombardier (1st Lt. Dearth) are wounded.  Hempe lands his badly damaged B-25 safely at Kweilin.

    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 Raid

  • 09 Sep 1943, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Submitted by ssuni86 on Mon, 2019-01-28 22:17
    Book / Document: 
    WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 9 Sep 1943

    OBJECTIVE: Bomb riverfront godowns at Canton

    TIME OVER TARGET: ~3:00 p.m.

    AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Four P-38s from the 449th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)

    AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 1st Lt. Lewden Enslen; 2nd Lt. Billie M. Beardsley

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 8 x 500-pound bombs

    RESULTS: Pilots report direct hits on godowns

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS:

    • Ki-43-II and Ki-44-II from the 25th Sentai and 85th Sentai.  Pilots may have included Major Toshio A. Sakagawa.
    • One Ki-57 transport plane.

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES: P-38s shoot down the Ki-57 transport plane, killing Lt. General Nakasono Moritaka and members of his staff.

    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 Raid

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