11 Dec 1941, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Germany and Italy declare war on America and Congress and the President respond in kind. Now the war in the Pacific and the war in Europe are one, the two sides are lined up, and the stakes could not be higher.

At midday Major-General Maltby takes the decision to abandon the Mainland. The evacuation begins in the afternoon amid scenes of chaos and terror.

Ellen Field's trying to sleep when her No. 1 Houseboy comes in and tells her the Japanese are at the end of Prince Edward Road, about three miles away. Then a friend, Leslie Coxhill, a Volunteer in the Signals section, arrives:

'My God!' he shouted at me. 'Are you still here?'

By the time she's packed it's 7 p.m.  After an agonising walk in high heels with her three children and their amahs, she arrives at the waterfront to find scenes of chaos. Helped by two Canadian soldiers, she manages to get herself, her children and two amahs on to an already over-loaded motor launch:

Blacked-out Hong Kong came into harsh relief as a succession of Japanese flares, hanging in the sky like garish lanterns, lit up the whole harbour with an eerie brilliance. Every gun on Hong Kong seemed to open up simultaneously. Great spouts of water sprang up around us as bombs started to fall.

The soldiers help her and her party to safety. Later she's to remember them and decide to extend her relief to the Prisoners of War in Shamshuipo beyond her family members.

Doris Woods crosses the harbour and puts in a day's work at the bank. Leaving earlier than usual, she proceeds to the Star Ferry terminal (Victoria/Central), where she's told (wrongly) by some Canadian soldiers that the Japanese are fighting in Nathan Rd. near the Alhambra theatre and advised not to cross. Doris insists that she's going to get her sister, and crosses in an empty ferry. On arrival, she runs through the deserted streets of Tsimshatshui and calmly tells Aileen that the Japanese are close. They find a Chinese worker, one of the few around, to help them with their luggage, but when they arrive at the terminal there's no ferry. They walk along the quay to a crowded police launch, which takes them and their luggage across. Their married sister, Mrs. Winfield, is waiting for them in Victoria, and at the bank is a car which will take them to their billet on the Peak.

Their servant Ah Moi brings the Hamson family the news that many British civilians are leaving Kowloon for Hong Kong Island, while Chinese are coming from the New Territories to loot homes and businesses. They decide to leave Lion Rock and return to their home at dusk, and spend the night preparing to try to cross the harbour the next day.

Kowloon missionary John Hammond reports:

Heavy artillery fire increased late Thursday afternoon. We could see the flashes four miles away at the top of the hill leading away from Lai Chi Kok to Castle Peak.

Hammond says that all electricity is shut off by now, and the looters have already taken over the trucks, taxicabs, cars and all other forms of transport.

A Chinese friend persuades the Hammonds to leave their mission station and take shelter in the nearby home of the Reitons - Mrs. Hammond is their daughter:

So quickly carrying the few things that we had with us we made our exit through the rear door, crossed the small alleyway and went upstairs to our future hideout. Our Chinese helped us and we were transferred in about ten minutes. Closing all of the outside storm shutters, that worked like venetian blinds, we lived in darkness until we were taken to the Japanese concentration camp.

The looters duly arrive:

We heard them coming down the road crying out, shouting, robbing and shooting. We had been through enough already to drive us insane, but to be suddenly thrown into this state of affairs was nearly beyond human endurance.

Nevertheless, somewhat to Robert Hammond's surprise, the women in the two families don't become 'hysterical' and never complain 'during all those long, long months of horror and trouble'.

Robin Boris Levkovich, a naturalised Briton of Russian origin, is a policeman assigned to Food Control. Senior Jardine Mattheson manager D. L. Newbigging sends him on a highly dangerous mission to try to retrieve 4,000 pounds of flour from a store in Kowloon. He manages to get across the harbour by 6 p.m., travelling in a naval launch which returns without waiting for him. While looking for Food Control, he meets Doctors Selwyn-Clarke and Fehilly who ask him to deliver supplies to Kowloon hospitals which haven't had any since the start of the fighting. Levkovich sees Selwyn-Clarke depart on 'the last ferry leaving Kowloon' while Fehilly stays on.

Levkovich finds a lorry with the ignition key still in it, and manages to locate and load stores at the Tait Wing Company opposite Whitfied Barracks. He drives past dead bodies and through bands of looters armed with revolvers and axes, reaches the Central British School, and delivers the food to the emergency hospital there. His mother and sister are nursing at this hospital, and his mother tells him that the staff have been told they must stay at their posts while they still have patients, but they've been promised evacuation with the rear guard. He has his doubts, but says nothing.

He's out of petrol, so he walks to the nearby Kowloon Hospital and, after talking to Drs. Newton and Fehilly, he's driven back to the food store in an ambulance with two members of staff to help him load. He's forced to scare off looters with a revolver he'd previously acquired from a policeman. The trip back is a 'nightmare', in the dark, through speading fires and the sound of guns.

There's great news for the breakfast tables back in Britain:

Jap attack on Hong Kong fails

Sadly there's more:

The Japanese attacking Hong Kong have suffered a reverse and a Japanese patrol has been wiped out.

“Our land forces have halted a Japanese attack, although fighting is continuing,” stated a communiqué in Hong Kong yesterday.

Chinese forces in Kwangtung Province are attacking Canton from east and west, thus relieving the Japanese pressure on Hong Kong, according to a dispatch to a Chinese language newspaper.

Sources:

Maltby: Tony Banham, Not The Slightest Chance, 2003, 52

Field: Ellen Field, Twilight in Hong Kong, 1960, 22-31

Woods: John Luff, The Hidden Years, 1967, 48

Hamsons: Allana Corbin, Prisoners of the East, 2002, 74-75

Hammonds and Reitons: John B. Hammond, Bondservants of the Japanese, 1957 ed., 21-23

Levkovich: Statement, pages 1-3, (in the Ride Papers, held at the Hong Kong Heritage Project and kindly sent to me Elizabeth Ride)

Jap Attack: Daily Mirror, page 1

Note: Levkovich dates his mission as beginning on December 12. However, Dr. Newton's diary and the general course of events in Kowloon make me confident that this should be December 11.