John Charter's wartime journal: View pages

Eight days ago Y and I spent our fourth wedding anniversary in camp. Last year we were quite convinced that we should be free again by this anniversary, but here we still are! We had a cold and soaking wet day to greet us and on our way to a soya bean coffee and scone party in Maudie’s room in the morning we met Alec Potts who cheerily greeted us with,  “Quite like a summer day at home, isn’t it?”!

We had invited half a dozen of our friends to the coffee party and I took along a bottle of home made wine. We made it with some pineapple juice, a lime that Maudie had given us, some rice, and bits of raw potato and some wong tong. The cork blew off three times during the maturing process and in the end I had to tie it on! The cork came out with a rare old pop on the day and the wine really was very good and bubbly.

Some time ago they had sold some bottles of pineapple juice in the canteen (Japanese product) and Y and I bought a bottle for the purpose of flavouring our ground rice puddings etc. After it had been opened a little while it began to ferment and that gave us the idea of making wine. We made ourselves a jolly good lunch with the aid of a tin of I.R.C. meat roll and onions, carrots, sweet potato and pumpkin from our garden. Pumpkins keep for several months if the skin is not damaged. Then we had stewed prunes with rice and Yvonne Ho’s tin of condensed milk. In the evening the Corra’s came round for some cake and coffee. We look forward to the time when we can have a real celebration.

As I am writing of wedding anniversaries I had better mention Yvonne’s engagement ring. Before Xmas our funds were getting very low. We had taken a number of odds and ends to Mrs Langston’s ‘shop’ which she runs in her room at the Indian Quarters, and they sold very well. I had an E.P.N.S. cigarette case which brought Y50 ((pdv £450)) and Yvonne a Ceylon tortoise shell cigarette case which brought Y35. There were various trinkets of hers which also sold and a nice clothes brush of mine that went for Y30 (this is the only thing we have regretted selling as it was always useful). Altogether we raised about Y250 ((pdv £2,250)) in this way. But we are each getting two Y36 canteens per month making a total of Y144 ((pdv £1,296)) per month to be raised. We felt we simply must raise money for canteening as this was the cheapest way of buying extra food in camp and it can make a lot of difference to our health. In addition to canteen goods we wanted to try and buy extra rice especially as half our garden had been taken over by the community gardeners and the other half looked as though it will go at any minute. There are people who prefer to swap or sell rice for other things, especially families with small children who cannot eat their full quota. So reluctantly we discussed the advisability of selling Y’s engagement ring.

For sentimental reasons we were of course, much against the idea, but after talking it over we decided that our health was far more important than sentiment and we decided at any rate, to try and find out what we could get for it. The ring was a blue sapphire surrounded by ten small diamonds set in a heavy platinum ‘crown setting’. Well, eventually we went along to a friend of ours who had had dealings in these matters and asked what he thought we could get for it. He said that there was no sale at all for sapphires, apparently diamonds were the only stones in which the Chinese were (and are) interested – in jade too, of course, though few Europeans possess good jade. This news rather dashed our hopes, but our friend went on to say that there was a great demand for platinum now (a few months earlier there was no demand for platinum at all!) and after weighing the ring he said there was so much platinum in it that, with the small diamonds which would not fetch very much, we should get about Y3,500 for it. We tried not to show too much surprise or excitement for, with the exchange then at 10-1 this represented 350 pounds sterling ((pdv £15,750)) – a great deal more than I paid for the ring. This price, by the way, was for the carcass of the ring after we had removed the sapphire. This was grand because it meant we retained the big stone, the really important part of the ring and disposed of the small diamonds and the metal which really had little sentimental value in themselves. We therefore asked this friend to get in touch with his ‘dealer’, remove the stone and get a price. A few days later we were told that when they weighed the metal on accurate scales they valued it only at Y2,200 and the ‘dealer’ didn’t think the diamonds would bring the total up to Y3,500; what did we want to do?

The method of dealing is as follows: the owner states his price to the dealer who then approaches the Formosan with whom he deals. The dealer adds to the owner’s price whatever commission he hopes to make and offers the article to the Formosan at the total figure. If the Formosan thinks he can sell the article in town for the figure demanded he will often produce the cash on the spot and the deal is concluded there and then. If he is not sure that he can sell it for enough to make his profit too, he will give, as deposit the full sum asked by the dealer, and try his luck in town. If he can get what he wants for it he will say all right to the dealer and the money (less commission) is then handed to the owner. If he cannot get a sufficiently high price, the Formosan will make an offer and the owner can then decide whether to climb down or have his article back. This system was instituted after one or two pieces of jewellery had been lost or otherwise gone astray. Of course, it is safer all round to offer the article at a price which the Formosan will pay for straight away, but this means the owner probably loses a bit on the deal. On the other hand, if you ask too high a price, the Formosan will just refuse to negotiate. As the value of the Yen depreciates, the dealers have to push the prices up gradually, and as the dealer who gets the best prices (and there must be some half dozen or more in the game) gets most custom and therefore makes most commission, there is quite keen competition! Also, one imagines, this condition obtains amongst the Formosans.

Well, our hopes were a little dashed on hearing the revised prices and I was tempted to say, “Ask Y3,000 for it”, for even 300 pounds sterling was very handsome.

I wasn’t too keen on waiting about while the ring was sent into town. However, a last moment whim prompted me to ask the dealer to try Y3,500 and imagine our surprise when, a couple of days later, our friend turned up with the money in full! The Formosan had paid up like a lamb!

Having got the money we decided we had better dispose of it as quickly as possible. Our friend further assisted us in obtaining cheques from reliable people to the value of 200 pounds sterling for Y2,100 which left Y1,400. We were able to give some money to friends and we even bought 35 packets of cigarettes in the black market at Y16 per packet ((pdv £72)). No sooner had we bought them than the price of cigarettes dropped to Y11 and Y12 which made us feel rather silly! However, we hung on to them and have since bought 10 more packets at Y20. The price has now risen to Y25 ((pdv £112)). We kept the balance of the money for canteens and also bought some rice. If it were not for the fag of having to perpetually re-convert cigarettes back into cash when we wanted money for a canteen, it would have been better to invest all our money into goods of one kind or another, because the cash itself, always depreciates, while the value of goods continually rises. But it is astonishing how quickly the money goes. If we want more later we can cash some of the 200 pounds and still leave sufficient to cover the cost of setting the stone. A man with good credit (Govt servants are considered pretty safe!) can now get from Y25 to Y30 per £1 and heads of the big firms are getting Y35 or even Y40 per £1 for cheques written on their firms. Towards the end, in a month or so, I have no doubt the exchange will rocket to 100:1 and over. Of course the cost of goods will keep pace with this increase.

All kinds of things come in ‘through the wire’ at night; duck eggs @ Y40 per egg; bacon @ Y460 per lb (about £15 ((pdv £675)) per lb!); lard @ Y600 ((pdv £900)) per lb; wong tong @ Y150 per lb (compared with the canteen price of Y38 per lb!). One dealer got in a whole roast pig which he sold in no time at Y250 ((pdv £375)) per lb! Oil also comes in and egg yolk powder. In fact the Chairmen of the blocks think that the Japs in charge of this camp were making so much ‘squeeze’ on these dealings that they deliberately held up the supply of canteen goods during Jan. to force people to buy through the black market. I think this is very likely.

At the end of Jan. nearly every one had run out of matches and they were being sold at Y12 per box - at that time, about £1 ((pdv £45)) per box. This meant that the black market was doing harm to the camp in general; but now canteen supplies have been resumed (after continual requests and interviews by Gimson) the black market dealings mean that a lot of additional food is finding its way into camp and ramp or no ramp, that in itself is a very good thing.

The other day Y and I sold an 8 oz tin of I.R.C. salmon for Y150 ((pdv £225)) and bought four fresh duck eggs for Y120 ((pdv £180)).  A doctor told us that the eggs were better value than the salmon. We have another tin of salmon, but now eggs are Y40 each we must try and get more for it! If we wait too long, however, the (we hope) approaching food ship will bring down the value of tinned foods and we won’t be able to do our deal – what a game!

Most of these black market dealers have their agents in blocks all over the camp and, much to our surprise, Harold (Bidwell) has become an agent. I don’t know what his commission is and I am sure, by the amount of rushing around he has to do, he earns it. But one would hardly expect a person in his position to do this. However, it is no business of mine and, having just spoken of the good that this dealing is doing for the camp, I am either contradicting myself now or being a snob! However, I would not feel comfortable doing it myself and as they have just got a very good price for Elsie’s diamond ring, cannot imagine why he bothers with it. There are very few married women in camp, these days, with their engagement rings and many have parted with their wedding rings as well! We trust we shall not have to part with the family wedding ring.

Y and I have decided to budget and ration ourselves to the end of May. By then surely something will have happened. If not we shall cash some cheques. We buy chiefly rice at Y30 – 35 per lb, or exchange 3 packets of cigarettes for 2 lbs. Rice has come down in price since the beginning of Feb. for, from the first of this month, the Japanese, by an order from Tokyo, increased our daily quota from about 12 ozs to 480 grams - 16.8 ozs. This was marvellous news. Why is Tokyo so concerned about us at this late hour, especially when Japan’s supply questions must be growing more and more difficult. Have our numerous medical reports and requests borne fruit at last? Has the Red Cross been making representations on our behalf? Have the reports from the repatriated Canadians been in any way responsible!? Whatever the reason we are more than thankful.

For the last 6 or 7 months our rice rations have always been short and have varied between 88% and 98% of the full amount. When it was as much as 12% short it made a big difference to our meals. The average was short by 10%. For the first 10 days of the new scale we were 13% short! But for this next 10 days we are only 10% short which means that each person gets 2½ ozs per day more than the January maximums. This means that people who before Feb. had rice for swapping have even more rice now and, consequently, where we had to give 3 packets of cigs in Dec. and Jan. for 1 lb of rice we can now get 2 lbs for the same number. People also swap their oil for cigarettes, but we do not attempt to get extra oil chiefly (I am bound to admit!) because we manage to make do with our ration but also, (a little bit!) because we don’t think people should be encouraged to swap their oil for cigarettes. The same applies to butter, milk etc.  However, if we felt we really needed it I think our worthy scruples would just go with the wind! In here I’m afraid it is a case of ‘take care of yourselves and the devil take the hindmost’. Not that people will not help, in case of serious illness etc. but, on the whole, people don’t spend much time looking round to see if others are really in want. I now have a much greater respect for the widow with her two mites than I ever had before. 

Incidentally, I hear that one black market dealer possesses cheques to the value of £70,000!! ((pdv £3,150,000))  Wartime profiteering! Well, I hope he realises them all.   

Someone in camp has a book with the silhouettes of all the types of battleships in the world, commissioned before 1936 or thereabout and the two that passed yesterday were identified as belonging to the Iash or Iasay (or some such name) built during the last war, of 29,000 ton displacement, with a max speed of 23 knots and an armament of 12 x 12”guns.  Some say 12 x 15” guns but the former seems more likely. They certainly looked pretty old models with their very high control towers and squarish lines.

((It is likely that these two battleships were sister ships of the Ise class, Ise and Hyuga completed in 1918 with 12 x 14”guns. After the loss of 4 aircraft carriers at the Battle of Midway the IJN decided they needed to quickly supplement their fleet air protection capability and Ise and Hyuga were converted to battleship–carriers. With their rear turrets removed they could carry up to 22 float planes launched off the stern by catapault. Ise and Hyuga left Singapore on 10th February in the company of 3 destroyers and a light cruiser before successfully reaching Japan on 20th February, carrying oil and rubber supplies as well as nearly 1000 oil field workers. Although allied intelligence were aware of this Completion Force, as it was designated, and although they deployed 26 submarines along their route to sink them, as well as conducting sorties by approximately 100 land based aircraft, the poor weather with low cloud and visibility, deliberately chosen by the Japanese as the time to attempt the breakout, prevented any successful attacks. Both ships were subsequently sunk at Kure naval base in July 1945.))
 
Two more destroyers came in this morning coming from the North. During the night a plane or two was buzzing about and there was one colossal rumble of explosions which awakened most of us. There has been some heavy bombing recently near the Lema Islands and Waglan and, as a result, scores of dead fish have been floating about and have been caught up on the local beaches. The Formosans have been collecting them (unfortunately they wont let us get them) and we can see numerous sampans being paddled about by Chinese who pick them out of the water. We have had no more fish since I last mentioned the subject.

There are a great number of planes buzzing about just now. I think they are Japs. It is terribly bad weather for air activities at present. If it would only clear up, things might begin to happen. We hear that England and Europe are experiencing the bitterest weather for 50 years and that ice has drifted down to parts of the British coast. If this is so it seems that the whole of the world (Northern hemisphere anyway) is experiencing exceptional weather.

The plight of the refugees in Germany does not bear thinking of. We hear that thousands are flocking to Berlin where they are given rations for three days and sent on. There must be more than a grain of truth in this story. Poor things! What a terrible plight especially for the old people and people with children in the bitter weather. They seem to be faced with two hopeless alternatives – the promise of their own leaders of a condition worse than death if the nation gives up the struggle; or sure destruction by the armies closing in on them.

What an astonishing grip the Nazi party still seem to have on the nation – they seem now to have embarked on a policy of sheer national suicide. What a pitiless and barbarous thing is modern war – or any other war – and how senseless. Seeds of bitterness have been sown which will take generations to uproot. If only they would see that further resistance is futile. One cannot help admiring their dogged, if senseless resistance in the face of overwhelming odds. I suppose we British would probably behave in the same way if the positions were reversed. So is this going to be the last war? Will the peace settlement hold out hopes of permanent peace or will fear and hate ruin the chances again?

I confess I am fearful of Russia’s attitude and policy. I feel something better than the old kind of capitalism is necessary – a greater levelling up of mankind as a whole – but I mistrust communism. Sir William Beveridge’s scheme for national insurance, education and medical attention in Britain seems (from what little we know of it) a great stride in the right direction. I remember in 1931 and 32, when I was playing in the London University Rugby team, Sir William was President of the University Rugger club and he used occasionally to come and watch matches and chat afterwards with the team. Also, he was photographed with the team (I’m afraid my two team photographs must have been looted with the rest of our goods from our flat). Little did we think, in those days, that he would become so important a personage.

A few days ago “a perpetual blackout until further notice” was ordered in camp. Now we cannot use even our little oil lamps. Y and I have our supper at 7.30 p.m. by which time it is too dark to read or write. Then at about 8 p.m. we walk round and round the blocks for 20 minutes or half an hour to warm up before going to bed. After that there really isn’t anything to do but go to bed! I usually try to sit up till 9 or 9.3 p.m. unless I begin to get cold again. Otherwise, I wake up at some unearthly hour and will just be waiting for the day to dawn.

Half of Feb. gone, thank goodness. It is still perishingly cold and most or at any rate, many people are suffering from chillblanes. Well, we have already had a wet Chinese New Year which, according to the Chinese, means a good year for crops. Last New Year was dry and it certainly proved a very bad season for the gardens. We have been told we can retain the remainder of our garden until the 15th April, so things might have been much worse. Our carrots have done quite well and at present we are eating chiefly carrots and carrot tops made into stews with a little ground rice, or curried with the garlic and chillies.

Block lectures have been organised and, they are a very good thing, though some are rather poor. These take place every Monday and Thursday. On Tuesdays Miss Gibbens (Headmistress of the Diocesan Girls School in HK) lectures on European history (continental) from Napoleonic times to the 1914 war. These are exceptionally good and instructive and Y and I go regularly. We are fortunate to have her in these blocks. The lectures began at 7.30 p.m. and that means I begin to feel hungry again before I go to bed! I have tried keeping a little to eat when I come back, but it really is most difficult and uncomfortable to eat in the dark. However, the evenings are slowly drawing out now, which is a blessing. If we don’t eat something before we go to the lectures we find we get so hungry that we simply cannot concentrate on the subject! It is awful! Incidentally I think most of us are going to have difficulty, at first, in concentrating for any length of time on any subject.

There has been a good deal of shipping activity of late: a convoy of five merchantmen and two destroyers crept out two or three evenings ago and early next morning two of the same ships (easily identified by peculiarities in their superstructure) came creeping back again. Later that day (evening) a third ship, which may or may not have been in the convoy, stole in and crept into Tytam Bay where she took shelter for the night. A most unusual procedure. She sailed out again the next morning. In spite of the very low clouds, which shroud the hill tops, there have been an unusual number of Jap planes about of late, so it seems as though something is afoot nearby. If only the weather would clear.

Well, the Americans have landed in the Bonines – Iwajima – only about 600 miles from Japan! The American fleet (or fleets) must be simply enormous if they can afford to cruise around like that in Japanese waters so far from their own bases and must, one surmises, consist, to a large extent, of aircraft carriers, for they seem to have complete air superiority. Does all this mean that they are going straight for the Japanese islands and are not going to bother invading the China continent? If so it probably means that the war out here will end sooner which will be a good thing, though it also means we shall probably be here much longer. Still, if some decent food arrives for us we shall be able to face longer internment with greater equanimity.

We hear, however, that 30,000 American troops with a tank corps have recently arrived at Kunming whence the Chinese chief-of-staff moved a little while ago from Chungking, so it looks as though full use is now being made of the re-opened Burma Road and the Chinese and Americans are preparing for a drive to the coast. If it is in our direction and if their attack coincides with a landing here and the two forces link up, the Japanese forces in the Malay Peninsula, Burma and Indo China will be completely cut off. If only I could wave the next two or three months by with a magic wand. Still, I remember thinking that when I first came here!

Still no news of the food though multitudinous rumours! The most popular one is that it is due here on Friday (two days time) though if that were true I think an official announcement would have been made by now. Another is that the invoices have not yet arrived and that nothing can be done until they do. It is most tantalising for we cannot even be certain that this ship was the Awa Maru and that the food has arrived at all and consequently we do not know whether we can open and eat up the remaining tins of food that we have or whether we must continue to eke them out. The ship was in HK for 24 hours (during which period it rained most of the time) and left next morning, headed in a southerly direction. I hope 24 hours gave them enough time to unload a large quantity of stores.

There has been a great deal of Japanese activity about here of late: continual blasting which carries on through the nights; pretty active air patrol and a good deal of shipping movement. Last night another cargo vessel and a small destroyer anchored in Tytam Bay. This is rather too near the camp to be comfortable! Numerous supplies have been arriving by junk and lorry for Stanley Fort and the other day four small mobile guns were taken up. I imagine the blasting is caused by preparations for gun emplacements round about here.

At the beginning of this year a new Japanese Military Governor replaced the Civil Governor and soon after he arrived he stated that the intended to convert HK into an impregnable fortress. “What, again?” said we. We thought we British had done that in 1941! Well, it remains to be seen if the Japs can make a better job of it. It is evident, however, that they are making hasty preparations for an attack on this Colony. This is the last day of Feb. something might happen next month; if not I hope it will be the month after.

For the last three days we have been revelling in the beneficence of warm sunshine. The temperature has risen quite a bit and what a difference it makes to life. Today is cloudy again but still fairly warm. Yvonne, who is now feeling fairly alright, has gone to sit out on the hillside. Her attack of chicken-pox has been pretty mild and she has not got a great many spots. The danger in this place is that some of the spots may go septic, but I don’t think this will happen in her case. In fact we have both been fairly free from that sort of thing. The others in this room have had quite a lot of trouble in that way. Elsie has, of late, developed signs of this ‘central blindness’ and has gone to the hospital this p.m. to be examined by Harry Talbot again. It is due, mainly, to malnutrition. I hope Elsie’s is nothing serious.

Fresh fish came in yesterday the first time for weeks! It was only a small amount but better than nothing. People are losing weight again after the good effects of the Canadian parcels.

Oh grief! Oh disillusionment! Oh cruel capricious Fate that flaunts Abundance with a generous seeming grace before our famished eyes and then with most malicious mirth whisks away his bounty with a laugh and leaves us, poor deluded fools, to lick our chops and pick the hungry crumbs that from his trenches spill. Lackaday; lackaday!

Yesterday, just before the evening meal was served, Mr Sandbach stood on a table, waved a list in the air and called to everyone to gather round. He then read, ‘The advanced manifest of the Canadian stores that the Japanese hoped to send into camp on the following day’. (Sunday) There was a buzz of excitement!  What were we going to get?

The list was as follows: 600 cases of comfort parcels (2,500 parcels); 21 cases medical and surgical supplies; 37 cases Men’s clothing; 2 cases men’s boots and shoes; 1 case boot repair equipment; 5 cases relief goods and toilet articles; 1 case cigarettes (9,000); 2 cases books. There was polite clapping and everyone did their best to look pleased and not disappointed! One parcel each and four cigarettes each!! Where, oh where were the wonderful bulk supplies?

Well, I suppose it jolly well serves us right for being such greedy gubbins and expecting more. Still, I must say it’s a long time since I have felt so flat and let down. One gets a horrid feeling that we don’t count for anything in the war effort and consequently the Govt at home doesn’t bother about us much. The Americans were repatriated; the Canadians were repatriated; the Dutch get their regular parcels from town but the poor British get nothing! In fact, we feel a little sorry for ourselves! However, self pity never got anyone anywhere and in any case we are sure we are not really forgotten. We are sure it is all the fault of the Japanese – they have double crossed us somehow.

Today the parcels and stores have been coming in. Imagine our surprise when we saw from the canvas wrappers of the parcels that they are part of the original lot that came from Lorenco Marques.

There is, in camp, a steadily growing feeling that there is a lot more food in town that has not yet been sorted out and sent to the different camps. This, it is thought, includes the more recently packed bulk supplies and also the American parcels. I am torn between a desire to credit this theory and a great fear of hoping for anything more at all in case it all turns out to be groundless. But looking at it logically, it does seem extraordinary that such a large ship as the Awa Maru should bring such a small quantity of supplies to Hong Kong, especially as it must be much more difficult for the Japanese to bring I.R.C. supplies to their enemy internees in the S. Pacific regions (like HK and Singapore) than to places like Shanghai and Formosa, and it would therefore seem that when a special ship is chartered for this purpose they would take full advantage of it.

We know that originally there were about 300,000 prisoners of war in Japanese occupied territory. The shipping experts here say that the ‘Awa’ is capable of carrying at least 12,000 tons of cargo. Assuming there are still 300,000 prisoners to be supplied (in spite of re-conquered territories such as the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines) it would mean that on a pro rata basis this camp alone should receive just about 100 tons; i.e. 90 lbs per person. These parcels altogether weigh about 8 lbs, plus say, 2 lbs per person of other goods makes it about 10 lbs. So there seems to be a big discrepancy between the 90 and the 10 lbs. Then again, fancy sending 4 cigarettes each all the way from America! ‘Old Gold’ they are and quite nice. No doubt the Japs have kept most of them for themselves.  

78 pairs of boots have been sent – between about 1,200 practically shoeless men! Why no Canadian parcels at all when it stated the goods were Canadian. Formosan guards are alleged to have said that our Sham Shui Po prisoners each received 2 parcels similar to ours and 150 cigarettes. Well, good luck to them if it is true. The cigarettes are said to have been ‘Craven A’. It would be lovely to have some English cigarettes or, better still, for me, some decent pipe tobacco.

During the last few days I have been suffering from another mood of black depression. Life in this place seems to be growing more and more damnable and I wonder despairingly how much longer it is to go on. So many stupid little things happen which, in these trying circumstances, become upsetting in a most absurd way. I suppose living in these intolerably crowded conditions has gradually worn us down till our nerves are all on edge.

Keith Mackie and Jackie Anderson, who became engaged at the end of last year, have decided to be married at the beginning of April. Keith and Tony Sank share a boiler room on the servant’s verandah of this flat and Tony very nobly offered to move out if the rest of this flat would agree to him occupying the back of the kitchen. Hitherto we have kept in the kitchen a big wooden ice chest with a large shelf fixed across the back of it, and in the chest on the shelf we have kept our food tins (in which we collect our food), plates, mugs, cutlery etc. and bottles of drinking water and sea water; also frying pan and sauce pan. Other people in the flat also kept stuff in the kitchen. Of course, we all agreed to move our stuff out, but it was very inconvenient and meant we had to put the ice chest on the verandah and dispense with the shelf – all most annoying!

At the end of last year, when I was returning one morning with the breakfast tea, I trod on the edge of my dressing gown while climbing the stairs and went sprawling. Fortunately I saved the Lammert pot but our own was smashed. There were none left in the canteen so we were reduced to our thermos. Actually, during this cold winter, it has not been too inconvenient, for the thermos certainly kept the tea hotter, though it tended to get a little stewed. We always said that one day the precious thermos would be smashed – well, today was the day! Y was carefully putting it on the floor in a corner where we have kept it for safety, when it tipped over and smashed. Well, that was that. We decided straight away to buy another as without one life would really be too difficult. I wrote out a notice and took it to Roe to have it put on the board. We said: “Wanted to buy one medium sized thermos flask”.

It will probably cost us from Y250 to Y300 - £10 or £15 (pdv £450), for I shall have to write a cheque to obtain the Yen. Thermos flasks can be purchased more cheaply at the canteen – about Y200 for a refill, I think, but as, between us, we can spend only Y150 per month, it would mean forfeiting all our food purchases for about 5 weeks.

There has been rather a lot of friction in the room of late too, which tends to make things more difficult. The weather also has been putrid! Cold and foggy of late. However, no doubt things will brighten up soon.

The news is good – it always is these days; but my goodness how these Germans hang on and hang on. One cannot but admire their stoicism but I do wish they’d be good fellows and give up trying; it would make things so much easier.

For the last month or so the Japanese have been working like badgers on anti-invasion defences around Stanley. They are busy tunnelling into the hillsides, not much above water level, at numerous points on this peninsula and the adjoining bays and headlands, and blasting goes on day and night. Tunnels command Stanley beach (double tunnels at both ends) and I imagine they will be used as heavy machine gun nests to repel any landing. They are blasting level patches for gun positions too. They are at work on one of the hillsides just above the gaol. It faces to, and commands, the narrow neck of this peninsula at Stanley village and they have constructed a roadway which connects it to the road leading to the fort.  They have driven a tunnel into the hill too, behind the gun platform. Mobile guns have been seen, some weeks ago, on their way to the fort. But this particular position seems a very bad and exposed one to my inexperienced eye. It is true that it will command, admirably, the Stanley mound and Mt Parker range of hills but, then, it too is easily commanded from these very ranges and I doubt if the Japs will achieve much in the way of camouflage. The gaol and our blocks will be in the direct line of fire and shells that fall short may do serious damage to civilians. Judging by reports of the fighting on Leyte, the Philippines, Iwajima etc., it seems that the Japanese garrisons usually retire to one final fortified position and there fight it out to the bitter end. We are wondering if they have picked upon Stanley peninsula for the position of their last stand in HK. This place saw the last of the British resistance in Dec 1941. It is the most natural stronghold on the island and it is a place to which forces on the other parts of the island can easily retire if the attack comes from the mainland – as in the case of the Jap attack on this Colony.

Easter has gone: it was unmarked by anything worth mentioning except the weather has been simply heavenly – such a change from the bleak, grey winter. On the Wednesday I fell rather bilious and spent a couple of days more or less in bed. Both Y and I seemed to loose our appetites for a bit, which was really marvellous! It has enabled us to build up quite a reserve of rice flour which, now we are hungry again, as usual, we can now eat. In fact a touch of indigestion in this place is quite a Godsend!

April has arrived at last; the month of big events? The big conference of the allies at San Fransisco is scheduled for April 25th and a number of people (including Mr North) attach quite a lot of importance to the date. Russia may refuse to renew her pact of non-aggression with Japan, which is due for renewal by that date. With the British and American forces now well across the Rhine and advancing rapidly on Hamburg and Nurenburg it seems that the issue in Europe is settled and can only be a matter of time.

Goebells’ orders to all Nazi’s to remain in their respective areas and fight to the death shows what a ruthless grip the Nazi party has on Germany. It would seem that, after the attempt on Hitler’s life and the subsequent executions both of high ranking German army officers and members of the German aristocracy, that the Nazi Party still has undoubted control of Germany and is not at all afraid to use its power. In fact, by their system of Gestapo Police they remove and deal promptly with any anti-Nazi elements, thus making it impossible for any other party to be formed which might ask for terms, and so, if the Nazi’s decide to fight to the bitter end (as they seem to have done) then the fighting will continue until the greater part of Germany is occupied. To me, this seems a crime of the greatest magnitude that the Nazi’s are perpetrating against their own nation and countrymen. The thought of women and children being trained to assist in the defence of Berlin is too appalling. Poor things! I hope it will all end quickly.

In the meantime things are going ahead pretty rapidly in the Pacific war. With the new American bombardment of Shikoken Island it looks as though they mean to go straight for Japan and finish off the war there. On the other hand, three cruisers bombarded the Pratas islands, about 150 miles S. or S.E. of Hong Kong and for the last three days we have had very heavy air raids on HK, so it looks as though something may be about to happen here. The weather, as I have said, has been simply perfect, with excellent visibility.

They seemed to wait till Easter Sunday was over, for the first raid started at about 11.45 on Monday and lasted till about 2 o’clock or a little later, the ‘all clear’ being sounded at about 3.30. On Tuesday and today exactly the same thing happened. The American bombers are simply enormous. They are mostly B-24’s, the flying fortresses with their twin tail rudders, with a few B-29’s, the Super Fortresses with their single, very big rudder. I do not propose to know much about the shapes and appearences of these giant machines, but I am told that is one way of telling the difference and could just make out these details though the machines were very high – between 15,000 and 20,000 feet I should think. These flew chiefly in flights of 6, sometimes 4 and 3. It is difficult to say whether some of the flights circled around, dropping their bombs in two lots instead of just one, but I should say there were between 20 and 30 of these giants in each raid plus some fighter escort planes. When the sun caught them they looked very beautiful, like great silver birds floating slowly through the azure sky (although they would be doing about 300 mph). They dropped some tremendously heavy stuff – on Monday it seemed like the docks again, and Kai Tak; Tuesday it was much more distant and sounded as though the New Territories were having a plastering – probably the railway and military concentrations etc. Today it was nearer again and we saw huge columns of black smoke and yellowish grey smoke rising over the Stanley range of hills. The black smoke looks like an oil dump.

As far as we can see the local Japanese air unit of late has consisted of two small fighter planes, ‘The Flying Sampan’ (our pet name for a fair sized flying boat they have) and ‘Donald Duck’ (a sea plane). At all events, of late we have seen only two little fighters which do quite a bit of patrolling about here. In the Monday raid these two had ventured forth, though what they were supposed to be doing so low down when the bombers were at such a height, I do not know. I was looking over our verandah when I heard a plane rapidly approaching from the west, and a moment later one of these Jap planes came hurtling across our blocks, going at a good lick but with its engine making a very peculiar noise. As it was passing D’Aguila peninsula it emitted a stream of smoke from its exhaust and suddenly nose dived, wheeling slightly to the right as it went down behind the hill. I thought at first it had suddenly dived to attack something but my suggestion was somewhat ridiculed because the plane was already too low to start diving at that angle and because no American bomber was at all likely to be coming in just above sea level. In addition, people in the Indian blocks saw a cloud of smoke rise from behind the hill where the plane went down. So it is pretty certain that that poor chap crashed. People in Block 2 actually saw the dog fight which took place some distance off Stanley Bay. These two Jap planes were, apparently out after the Americans when about 5 American fighters suddenly swooped out of the sky onto them and riddled them with bullets. They say the other Jap plane tried to make off but also seemed to be badly hit and was loosing height; so that too was probably lost.

Some weeks ago two B-24’s were cruising about HK, very low. There was a launch off Stanley Bay towing a big lighter and one of the planes zoomed slowly down and raked the ships with her canon and the ships returned the fire. The plane then wheeled and dived again and dropped a bomb which hit the lighter right in the middle. The two ends lifted into the air, one sinking immediately and the other sinking a little more slowly.

On another occasion, one of the afore mentioned Jap fighters sailed boldly in to attack one of these giant fortresses, but the American just turned round and the Jap thought better of it and made off pronto.