Sheridan's diary of the hostilities: View pages

((Note: Staff-Sergeant Sheridan's task if war breaks out will be to evacuate the Queen's Rd. Bakery and set up a Field Bakery on the Deepwater Bay Golf Course - hence his interest!))

Today is a beautiful sunny morning, we start off early on the same work as yesterday and keep going until darkness fell. All troops are ordered to standby. We see the Canadians marching to their positions on the Island defences. The Royal Scots and the two Indian Regiments are in position on the Mainland near the border with China. It is obvious they will catch the brunt of any attack. As I pass by Deepwater Bay golf club the golfers are on the lovely green in front of the club house, while others are sipping their drinks on the verandah. Some people are enjoying a swim with no thought of war being imminent. There must be something in the wind, G.H.Q. staff are preparing to move into Battle HQ, a huge underground structure just behind the Garrison Sgts. Mess.

S/Sgt. Merrifield, my room mate who now works in the transport office has had a very tiring day. We both turn in early, I am sound asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow.

I am up before daylight and map out a programme for another busy day. The Aldershot ovens have to be dried out, and it is late evening before we can manage the first batch of bread. It turns out really good considering the inexperience of the Chinese bakers who have not much practice at this type of work. The Queens Road Depot bakery has now been completely evacuated, so my staff consists of Sgt. Hammond, Pte. Edwards, Sgt. Tuck, Cpl. Bonner, Leung Choy No. 1 baker, and 34 Chinese bakers. We get another five Aldershot ovens built and fired making a total of 15. As the soil is very sandy, sandbags have to be used as insulation round the ovens.

The Supply Depot is also being set up using part of the Clubhouse as offices. As tents cannot be used all the stores are being stacked in amongst the trees on each side of the Golf course. It is a big operation and some chaos reigns at times. It is a bit crowded in the clubhouse as it is being used as a bread store, rum store, offices, etc. and the upper floor to be used as sleeping area. But it is not bad for active service conditions. Everything is very quiet around here, the sea is calm, the beach deserted, it looks inviting for a swim as it is quite warm. But that is not possible as the Sappers have mined the beach. Some small naval gun boats are anchored in Deepwater Bay. It is a sheltered spot.

Sgt. Hammond goes to East Point with a lorry and some coolies to collect another of our Perkins ovens which had been for repair. It is not ready and he had to leave in a hurry as the Japs were shelling the place from across the harbour.

We have had a Jap reconnaissance plane over here this morning, the gunboats in the Bay opened up with no hits. No doubt the Jap bombers will be along shortly. Some of the newly formed local Chinese Regt. have arrived as protection for the Supply Depot. A Middlesex Regt. officer and some NCOs are in charge. The Chinese have not had much training and it is debatable how they would combat trained fighters like the Japs.

The Hong Kong Volunteers are of mixed races, British, Australian, New Zealand, Dutch, Chinese, Eurasians, Indians, Malays, etc. Quite a lot are attached to the Supply Depot as drivers, clerks, storemen, etc. But some do wander about in a bit of a dream.

The Bakery is operating efficiently and turning out 14000 lbs of good bread every day. I only hope that it is getting to the men who deserve it i.e. the fighting. I get told off by a Security officer for lighting up the ovens before daylight. I told him it was either that or there would be some people short of their bread ration. I think he understood the situation.

We hear rumours that the Mainland is being evacuated and that the Royal Scots, Middlesex Regt. and the Indian Regts. are fighting a rearguard action back to Kowloon. Other rumours are that looting and rioting by Chinese agitators is taking place in the city of Kowloon. Police have opened fire to stop the looting.

I have a very busy day, cajoling and driving the Chinese bakers to get a move on in order to keep up the bread production. I beat down and set the Aldershot ovens, as the Chinese wearing shorts find it too hot on their legs. In fact my No.2 Baker Tam Tong gets his legs burned. So I give him a pair of my Army slacks to protect his legs.

Hammond, Tuck, and Bonner also get stuck in and do a lot of the work.

Aldershot ovens consist of two segments of half circle metal laid end to end. They are set up in a row (in our case 15) the rear is sealed off, the sides and back are built up with turves or sandbags. A trench is dug in the front and about 1ft of soil is placed on the top to keep in the heat. Firewood is placed inside the ovens and when burnt down to the embers the bread on metal trays is set on top of the red hot embers. The front is then sealed off with a metal door and mud to keep the heat and steam in. It takes about 1 hr to bake the bread.

We hear on a portable radio that a Japanese party flying a white flag came across the Harbour from Kowloon in a motor launch. They came to discuss surrender terms. They were met by a Major Boxer for GHQ who speaks Japanese.

We later hear that there is to be no surrender. But many of us know that the Japs have a great advantage in superior numbers and resources. They have control of the main water supply from the Shing Mun Dam over on the Mainland and which is piped across the harbour. In the present dry season the small reservoirs on the Island would not keep this teeming population going for long.

Jap planes fly over and drop propaganda leaflets printed in English, Chinese, Urdu and Hindustani. They are very crude affairs and cause a lot of amusement. I notice the Chinese have thrown them on the oven fires. The Jap planes have been over again today. Two Navy torpedo boats had entered the Bay and were spotted. The Japs dropped a few bombs but no hits, the boats were away out to sea rapidly. When the air raids are on I have told the Chinese to watch me when to run for cover, but they always beat me to it. Considering that they are non-combatants they have stuck to the job, whereas many of the Supply Depot labour have faded away.

As we seem to be running low in firewood and coke, I obtain a lorry and some coolies and make a trip into the Queens Road Supply Depot. I drive the lorry myself. What a contrast from a week ago. Plenty of signs of bombing and shelling. Damaged buildings, wrecked cars and lorries everywhere. The tramline wires are strewn across the road. Some dead bodies lie about on the roadways and not a living soul in sight. On reaching the Supply Depot I find it has been shelled. Ip Fak ((He worked for the Barrack Stores at the RASC Queen’s Rd. Depot.)) and his family are gone, there is a big shell hole in the roof of his little house. There is no one in charge of the place now. The stores are wide open, one with hundreds of bottles or rum still there. I have no interest or time to take a bottle. The coolies are frightened and are liable to bolt at any moment. A few shells explode nearby, so I get them loading wood and coke as fast as possible. Then I drive like hell for Deepwater Bay. At Wong-Nei-Chong Gap I stop and speak to the Canadian troops. They want to know what is happening towards the City of Victoria. I tell them what I can about it. They are all fine looking young fellows and have no idea what it is going to be like if the Japs land on the Island. They tell me that they had been stationed in Bermuda before coming to Hong Kong.

((Note: In the long entry for today Staff-Sergeant Sheridan describes the evacuation of the Field Bakery at Deep Water Bay and the chaotic conditions as the crucial struggle for the Wong Nai Chung Gap Came to an end.))

No sleep whatever during the continuous firing racket all night. Twice during the early hours we had a stand to. Heavy automatic and rifle fire can be heard from the direction of Wong-Nei-Chong Gap where the Canadians are being attacked. It is only a quarter of a mile away from the Golf club. Before daylight tracer bullets zoom over my Aldershot ovens. I get the bakers on mixing doughs in the shelter of the club house verandah. As soon as it is light we fire up the ovens. There is a lot of mortar explosions from the direction of the Gap. Tracers still go flying past. With the help of Leung Choy ((‘No. 1 Baker’)) we calm the Chinese bakers and keep them working.

Some wounded Naval men limp into the ((Golf club's)) club house. We give them first aid. They had been in a convoy of trucks taking food and ammunition up the Repulse Bay road to the Canadians at the Gap. The convoy had been ambushed by the Japs, some of the sailors had been killed and wounded. We were now in the line of fire, as tracers and mortars began to explode everywhere.

Orders are now given for everyone to be ready to move out at a moment’s notice. The Bakery carries on working until about 10a.m. then we get orders to leave everything and move out at once. I enquire of the Senior officer if we are to take any equipment. The answer is no. Empty lorries, cars, and me all leave like lightedning. I dash up to the first floor of the Golf Club to collect some small kit, but when I return I find everyone had left. I take a last look at the doughs in the verandah in the wooden mixing troughs. In a few hours they will be rotten. The makings of about 8000 lbs of good bread gone west. Hammond, Tuck, Bonner and all the bakers are gone. I make my way along the road towards Pokfulam. I meet some Ordnance Corps men who have also evacuated the Shouson Hill area which is the underground ammunition storage area. I meet up with all the others on the roadside near Bennets Hill. We are all piled along the side of the road, R.A.S.C., R.A.O.C., H.K.V.D.C. nearly all technical personnel. No one seems to know for what purpose. We hang about here until evening, then we all muster by the food store at the bottom of the Pokfulam road. The R.A.O.C. are ordered back to Shouson Hill. The R.A.S.C. and H.K.V.D.C. and all others who are armed with rifles and bayonets make their way to Bennets Hill which we are supposed to defend against the Japs. As much ammunition and grenades as we can carry are issued. We climb up the steep hillside, and are supposed to find positions to defend this hill. It is thickly overgrown with scrub bushes. No one seems to know in what direction the Japs are likely to attack from. An unusual weather feature for this time of the year is that it has started a light drizzle of rain. Hammond, Tuck, Bonner and I find a place with a forward view of the land sloping down to the road. We also find some Canadians and Naval men in similar positions, but there may be others above and below us on the hillside. We are worried about the situation when darkness sets in. If any firing starts then we could be shooting at each other. We are all very inexperienced men at this type of warfare and are no match for the Japs who have been fighting a war in China since 1937.

However orders come through for us to move back to the road where after a short wait some lorries arrive which we board and set off back towards Deepwater Bay. It is pitch dark and no lights are allowed. It is a nerve wracking job for our driver. He is a man of 60yrs (H.K.V.D.C.) named Mr Sleap. ((Probably Corporal Sydney Alfred Sleap, who was aged 55.)) We nearly crash over the side of a bridge and further on hit a parked car, with no serious damage. We pass within 30yds of the Golf club, I can smell the doughs which would now be rotten. No sign of anyone about the Golf Club area. The Japs could be there, but we do not stop to investigate, but continue on up the Repulse Bay road towards Wong-Nei-Chong Gap. Our destination is a house called The Ridge which is well off the road. ((On December 22/23 The Ridge became the scene of one of the worst massacres of the Hong Kong war – Tony Banham estimates that at least 47 people were killed.)) We disembark about ½ mile from the house and set out to walk the rest of the way. Everyone is warned to keep quiet, no cigarettes are allowed, and we walk on the grass verge to deaden the sound. Sgt.Tuck, Sgt. Hammond and I stick together, we seemed to have lost contact with Bonner. ((Horace Bonner was killed at Overbays on December 22)). We can hear a lot of automatic firing going on up towards the Gap and an occasional tracer bullet passes over our heads.

Just as we near the entrance to the house called The Ridge we hear a Naval man enquiring for any R.A.S.C. men. I tell him we are from that unit. He asks for volunteers to go up the road towards the Gap to help with some wounded Naval men. These would be the men who were ambushed that morning with the convoy of ammunition trucks to the Canadians at Wong-Nei-Chong Gap. Tuck, Hammond, a Pte. Kingsford and I volunteer. We set off up the road in the company of the Naval man. We find our Naval men lying in a typhoon nullah (drain) by the side of the road, they are calling for water. We stop and give them some. They are all badly wounded and we discover they have been there since about 8a.m. and it is now 10p.m.

It seems no ambulance could get up this road during daylight. One of the men had been shot through the throat and when we gave him a drink the water ran out through the wound. We made them as comfortable as possible and left them a full water bottle. We continued up the road towards the gap and found several lorries still loaded with small arms, ammunition and grenades slewed across the road. Some dead Naval men are in the cabs, others lie on the road or in the back of the lorries. There are also dead and wounded coolies. This is the result of the heavy firing we heard this morning. They must have been sitting ducks for the Japs’ ambush. We continue on, but as there is no grass verge we are making quite a bit of noise on the roadway. All of a sudden a voice calls out of the darkness “Halt, stand where you are”. I answer “friend” and a Canadian officer emerges from the bushes at the roadside. He is armed with a Tommy gun and warns us to go quietly as the Japanese are dug in above the road and may open up at any moment. He says he is trying to get back to the Gap to his men and accompanies us as far as the house where the wounded Naval men are. This is a large house on the left hand side of the road about 400 to 500 yds short of Wong-Nei Cheong Gap. It is known as the White House.

Hammond and Tuck stand guard outside while Kingsford and I and the Naval man enter the house. We find about 15 people wounded, mostly Naval men, some civilians, and two women, one a Chinese shot through the chest, the other a European was dead. We could see most of the wounded needed urgent attention. I call Kingsford and the Naval man outside to discuss what could be done to get these people to Hospital as soon as possible. The Naval man suggested starting some of the cars which were parked outside the house. However, some were damaged by shell fire, and none had any ignition keys. But then a vital thought struck me, that if we managed to start a car or two and put the wounded in, the noise would alert the Japs and there would be more casualties. We decided that lorries or ambulances were needed to transport the wounded. So Tuck and Hammond decide to go back down to the house called The Ridge to see if any transport could be arranged.

Kingsford and I remain outside the house listening to sporadic automatic fire up towards the Gap, which was now only a few hundred yards away. Then we heard the same Canadian Officer calling softly, I answered and went towards him. He said there was a wounded sailor lying in the middle of the road further up and would I attend to him.

Although I was carrying a Lee Enfield 303 rifle and about 300 rounds of ammunition slung in bandolier fashion, I thought it best to get down and crawl towards the wounded man.  It was about 50yds and I found he had a smashed hip and was unable to move.  He had been in the first lorry and his mate had been killed in the cab of the lorry.  He had been lying there all day and had feigned death when he heard the Japs talking during the day.  I asked him if he could bear me lifting him on to my back to carry him to the White House.  He replied he would stick any pain to get off the road way.  After a struggle I managed to get a firemans lift across my shoulders but he groaned with pain.  He must have weighed about 12 or 13 stone but I got him as far as the door of the White House.  Just as the door was opened from inside, a shot ran out in the still night air, and a bullet hit the wall of the house above my head.  I rushed in and dropped the poor devil on some more wounded men inside the door.  I rushed out and got down prone on the ground with my rifle cocked, when Kingsford came running towards me.  He said he had been jumped on by two Japs and that he had dropped his rifle, which was cocked with the safety catch off.  It had gone off and it was the bullet from it that had hit the wall of the house above my head.

Nothing happens for a few minutes, then we hear the Canadian Officer calling again.  He came out of the bushes near the roadside and enquired who had fired the shot.  I told him that Kingsford had been jumped by two Japs and that his rifle had gone off.  The officer said that they were not Japs but two scouts in their bare feet from one of the Indian Regiments.  We search about and recover the rifle. The real danger now is that we have alerted the Japs and anything could happen.  Se we decide we can do no good here and that it would be best to return to the Ridge. 

We set off down the road, and meet an armoured vehicle trying to manoeuvre between the ammunition lorries.  It is accompanied by a British Officer and some Indian troops all in their bare feet. They are about to stage a raid on the Jap positions near Wong-Nei-Cheong Gap.  Further on we meet a Naval surgeon and two RN ambulances.  He enquires how far to the White House and how many wounded.  We give him all the information, and ask if he requires any help.  He said he had sufficient in each ambulance and continues up the road.  We also find he had attended to the wounded men on the roadside near the entrance to the Ridge and would pick them up on his way back. 

Kingsford and I made our way up the drive to the house called the Ridge.  We find hundreds of men there, all from the technical branches of the Services.  No one seems to know what is going on.  I sincerely hope the Japs do not attack here as it would be mass slaughter.  After a search round the grounds in the dark we come across Hammond and Tuck.  It starts to drizzle rain and as it is now midnight we shelter under a large tarpaulin. 

About an hour later I hear Lieut. G. Wood ((Warrant-Officer Master Baker in the RASC )) calling my name. He says we are to report to Fort Stanley to issue rations which are stored there. The party consists of Capt. Escott, Lt. Wood, Sgts. Martin, Hammond, Tuck and myself. Sgt. Martin drives the truck with no lights showing, a very risky business, where there are steep drops on one side of unfenced roads. We decide to take a chance and return to the Clubhouse at Deepwater Bay to collect some hurricane lamps and some of our kit. We find that the stores have been looted and scattered about the place. We wasted very little time in collecting what we needed, as we were not certain whether the Japs were in the vicinity or not. I could smell the bread doughs that had been mixed that morning and were now spewed all over the Golf Club verandah. We set off for Stanley, everything was very quiet, no firing or explosions, even the R.A. guns were silent. We picked up a Canadian soldier, who asked for a lift into Stanley Fort.

From daylight to darkness I have been driving a lorry carting cases of tea, milk, jams, veg, sacks of sugar and flour and many other tinned commodities from the food store at Chung-Am-Kok to Stanley Fort. The married quarters and barrack block verandahs are stacked up with tons of supplies. We have several air raids but the AA guns have kept them up high and very little damage has been done. One plane strafed the road in front of the lorry I was driving towards the fort, I thought it best to keep going at a good pace and so escaped being hit.

The 9.2 guns at Stanley have been firing out to sea. The shock waves rattle the doors and windows of the Quarters and Barrack block. In the afternoon the Japs got the range of the 9.2 guns and began dropping anti-personnel shells right on target. I saw the ambulance go to the gunsite and pick up some casualties.

I have six Indian troops at the food store helping to load the lorry. They are Sikhs and wear a turban. One speaks good English so I warn him to keep a good look out for any Japs.

We discover that the Japs have now cut the road leading to the Tytam Reservoir about a mile from the Tytam Villas. No traffic can move down towards Repulse Bay further than the food store where I am loading especially during the daylight hours. Several vehicles attempting it have been machine gunned by the Japs.

The Canadians are fighting a losing battle against the Japs on Stanley Mound, and the neighbouring peaks. The Japs have superiority in numbers. I find this out when I come across a party of wounded Canadians on the road. I give them a lift into Stanley Fort, they are all walking wounded. Further on we meet an ambulance which is collecting stretcher cases being brought down the hillside, a very difficult job in such rough terrain. I talk to one of the wounded who travels in the cab with me. He tells me the Japs’ mortar fire is most devastating and that it is very difficult to see the Japs in the green foliage as their camouflage is so good. The Japs are also using pack animals to transport their heavy mortars up the steep hillsides, leaving them fresh to move about in their soft soled cloven hoof shoes. These young inexperienced Canadian troops have had to carry equipment, ammunition, as well as food and water, up the steep hillsides through thick scrub bushes and then fight against a fanatical type of soldier. A lot of servicemen and civilians are trapped in the Repulse Bay Hotel. ((For the siege of the Repulse Bay Hotel see http://gwulo.com/node/13017)) Volunteers attempt to transport food and water at night but are ambushed on the way back.

Before dawn this morning we find some of the monks (Italian Order) are still in some part of the building. One of them brings round mugs of teas which are very welcome. There is no sign of any chance of breakfast. In one of the corridors I meet my friend PO Flynn of the Naval Medical staff, he looked all in and had been up all night tending the wounded. I enquired about the wounded from the White House. He said all had been brought in by ambulance and were as well as could be expected. After several attempts on the telephone I manage to get through to Battle Headquarters and spoke to my Officer Commanding Colonel Andrews-Levinge. He instructed Hammond and I to report to a Lieut. Ponting at a place called Stone Manor which was a few miles further on, or failing that to go to the Hong Kong University. We set off on foot, but are lucky to get a lift on a lorry as far as the food store at Pokfulam. On the way we see some RAF lads carrying rifles and a Lewes gun going up to defend the hillside above the Industrial School. There is a lot of shooting going on but it is very difficult to tell where exactly the fighting is. But it is quite obvious that the Japs have now got most of the key points on the Island bottled up. At the food store we meet WO2 Tomlinson, Sgt. Stennett, Ptes. Hudson and Hewitt and two Canadian ASC Sgts. issuing tinned rations. We make our way to the Stone Manor, a big house just off the road and report to Lieut. Ponting. 

He sends us further on to the University where we meet Major Grieve R.A.S.C. The University looks as if it is going to be a last stand. Piles of supplies, lorries and cars, and troops and people of many different nationalities are here. Not a very good situation if the Japs decide on a bombing raid, casualties would be high. Major Grieves explains that Hammond and I are to collect some Chinese bakers and report to the Exchange Building in Des Voeux Road in the city of Victoria. This building is a department store owned by Lane & Crawfords, the same firm who own the Bakery in Happy Valley where Tom Edgar was Master Baker. The idea is that the Army bakers co-operate with Edgar in producing bread for troops and the Hospitals.((From the start of hostilities Edgar and four other European bakers had been working with Chinese staff at the Lane, Crawford bakery in Stubbs Rd. producing bread for the civilian population; they'd been forced to abandon this bakery on December 21.)) 

Eventually six Chinese are rounded up and are loaded on a small bus, and we escort the bus to Des Voeux Road. We arrive in the middle of an air raid. I leave Hammond outside the Exchange Building to hold the bakers, while I go to see the manager, a Mr Brown.((A.W. Brown)) I find him down in the basement which is the Café Wiseman. He is in conference with some Government Food control officials, also Tom Edgar was present, stripped to the waist ((He'd used his shirt to bind the wounded and didn't get another one until after the surrender.)) They all look worried, but I am introduced as the Army Master Baker by Tom Edgar. The position was now explained to me that owing to the Hong Kong Electric power station being put out of action, Lane & Crawford’s bakery in Stubbs Road, Happy Valley had to be abandoned. They had already taken over two Chinese bakeries, i.e. the Ching Lung Bakery, 41 Queens Road East and the Yoke Shan Bakery a few doors away. Both these bakeries were only producing a fraction of the bread required. The idea was to open some more Chinese bakeries in the western district. This was where Hammond and I were to help. Meanwhile as the bombs were dropping quite near, Hammond had to get the bakers out of the bus and into a shelter, where two of them disappeared. 

Hammond and the other four were brought into the Café Wiseman where the situation was explained to them. We were then treated to some much needed breakfast by the Café Manager, a Greek named Patara. After which we set out in a Bedford van which I drove to find some more bakeries. We visit half a dozen pokey holes of places and finally decide on two, at No. 62 and 84 Queens Road East. They were about a hundred yards apart in a street which would normally be teeming with Chinese, but now the street was deserted. The owners of the Bakeries were not too happy about our intrusion, but in spite of having no official authority we went ahead and requisitioned both places. Both places contained a fair sized wood burning brick oven, but no other equipment. After a discussion with Edgar we decide to risk a trip to the Bakery at Stubbs Road in Happy Valley to try and get some supplies and equipment. We returned to the Exchange Building where Hammond, Edgar and I were joined by a Russian musician. He decided to take over the driving of the big Bedford van. We set off and ran into a series of shell explosions on the way. It was now obvious that the musician could not drive a wheelbarrow not to mind the Bedford, besides he was also shivering with fright. I tried to take over the wheel but he would not move over, and it was too dangerous to stop. However, we reached the Bakery which was up a very narrow passageway. He jammed the van in it so in the end I had to use the butt of my rifle to make him let go. I managed to get the van in position for loading, but now the shrapnel was flying about. We loaded up with dough troughs, scales, knives, scrapers etc. and any other useful equipment we could find. The musician had started a small van which belonged to the Bakery. We put some stores in it and sent him off to the Exchange Building. I take the wheel, Hammond and Edgar are in the back of the van. We set off and go cautiously on to the Happy Valley Road. The Japs are on the opposite side of the Racecourse and shells are falling on the Cricket Club ((probably the Civil Service Cricket Club, as explained here)), Stubbs Road and the surrounding area. Some Middlesex Regt. men are firing back at the Japs from behind the Cricket Club. I recognise one of them as Cpl. Bright a very fine footballer. They are having a pretty hot time as mortar shells are falling on the road opposite the new ARP Headquarters. I put my foot down on the accelerator and drive at a fast speed through Tin Lok Lane and then past the Cathay Cinema in Wanchai. There is not a soul to be seen about, tram wires, slates, bricks and debris are strewn everywhere.

We distribute the equipment and supplies of flour, yeast, etc. to the two bakeries and get everything ready for a start next day. Edgar manages to recruit a few more bakers. We decide to put Hammond with seven Chinese in No. 62 and a chap named Mortimer ((G. W. Mortimer)) with another seven in No. 84. Edgar and I with the van will keep supplies, and collect the bread from all four bakeries. Water is now a problem, so we have to enlist the help of the Fire Brigade to keep us supplied. Space for working in these little poky holes is very limited. Also we have to have Tilley lamps on all day in order to see. The standards of hygiene are not up to the Army requirements.