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.
  • 6 - 14 Apr 1944, Tom Hutchinson's Wartime Diary

    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 6 Apr 1944 to Fri, 14 Apr 1944

    Tom Hutchinson's War Diary - Page 38

    Notes:

    6/4/44 - 20 Mo Chi's   5-00   1 Race Ticket  1.00
                - Balance for Jim's tires - Jok Kee   60.-
    11th - Yesterday bot 5¢ Mint  planted 7 sprigs in flowerpot, today, planted 2 I. ((Irish)) Potato eyes in same pot, as soil very loose, good for potatoes.
    14th - Rent for Apl (pd Chu)   10.-
            - Newspaper 14th March to 10 Apl    4.50

    Supporting information:

  • 6 Apr 1944, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

    Book / Document: 
    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 6 Apr 1944

    Wet, humid.

    Ground rice for bread. Grinder broke.  

    Roll call 2pm after German lessons.

    Saw Steve pm. He’s much better.

    Hatori gone to Japan. 

  • 06 Apr 1944, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 6 Apr 1944

    Issue of 1 tin corned mutton (4)

    R.C. Passion play

    Jap Roll Call

  • 06 Apr 1944, WW2 Air Raids over Hong Kong & South China

    Date(s) of events described: 
    Thu, 6 Apr 1944

    OBJECTIVE: Harass the Canton airfields with a series of one-plane night raids staggered over a four-hour period

    RESULTS: Due to poor weather conditions only three of eight B-25s reach the target and release their bombs; two B-25s run out of fuel and crash.

    TIME OVER TARGET: From 8:25 p.m. on April 6 to 12:37 a.m. on April 7

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

    AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Unknown

    ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 24 x parachute fragmentation bomb clusters; 6 x 500-pound bombs

    JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

    AIRCRAFT LOSSES: Two B-25s go down on the return flight when their crews are unable to find landing fields and run out of fuel over friendly territory.  All crewmen successfully bail out and eventually return to duty.

    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).

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