13 Dec 1941, Sheridan's diary of the hostilities

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.