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

In Kowloon some of the civilians are still in hiding, but most are prisoners.

Arthur Hamson writes to his wife Edith at 4.10 p.m.:

Beloved mine,

I understand young Barton will probably be shifted up to the hospital as he is unwell. I'm giving him this note to deliver it to you if possible. Where we are quartered is past the Police Training School at the junction of the Shalin ((sic - presumably Shatin)) and Castle Peak Rd.

I'm wondering if you have received my two letters I sent to you yesterday. One note was by Dr. Newton who is here with us, but who took young Osborne to the hospital last night....

We are having a little more food now. 2 cups of tea per day, some rice and cabbage and this morning we had a slice of bread butter and cheese. It all depends what the soldiers give us, but as there are 55 of us it needs a lot to feed us....

The imprisonment here is monotonous. All we do is to read, talk and play cards and hear guns.

On the Island the Central Police Station is hit by bombs for the second day in a row.

Jorgen Jorgensen, a Norwegian ship's captain, dies after being admitted to St. Paul's casualty clearing station with injuries sustained when his ship the Halldor is bombed. Second Engineer Gosta Nyborg died in the bombing, and the four surviving Norwegians will be taken prisoner. One, Olaf Daniel Pedersen, will die in Stanley on August 15, 1945.

The Daily Express carries a thoughtful page 1 article:

Hongkong, besieged and under shellfire/last night, sent this radio to London:

WE INTEND TO DO/OUR BEST

Express Military Reporter MORLEY RICHARDS

FROM besieged Hongkong, shelled all day from short range and bombed without respite, this message was flashed last night: " We all thank you most sincerely for your heartening message. We intend to do our best."

The message came from Hongkong's Governor, 54-year-old Sir Mark Young . In reply to Mr Churchill’s message ‘We are all with you’.

Tokyo radio yesterday predicted that the fate of Hongkong would be "decided in a matter of days"

The Express is realistic about the prospects of relief from the Chinese Army:

Marshal Chiang Kai-shek's offensive in the Canton area, though gaining ground, is still a long way from directly affecting Hongkong's besiegers. It is directed more to harassing the enemy’s flanks.

The paper reports that the Japanese are occupying Kowloon and predicts (wrongly of course) that they’ll try to take Hong Kong by siege and bombardment rather than direct assault:

The enemy can draw on heavy reserves free from interruption and may decide that his best plan is to blast the garrison into submission while attempting a strict blockade to produce eventual starvation. Frontal assault would inevitably mean staggering losses to the Japs, and not necessarily success.

There is an optimistic assessment of the Colony’s water supply now that the reservoirs have been captured. It seems to me that the Express is doing well at trying to be both informative and upbeat. This is going to be an increasingly difficult task.

Sources:

Hamson: Allana Corbin, Prisoners of the East, 2002, 102

Central Police Station: Tony Banham, Not the Slightest Chance, 2003, 85

Norwegians: Banham, op. cit. 89; and

http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/halldor.html

Note:

It has not yet been established which members of the Barton and Osborne families are referred to.