19 Dec 1941, Harry Ching's wartime diary

Cloudy and rainy, helping the smoke pall to blanket the eastern districts. A friend phoned early, in whispers. He is serving in the rice depot at the Lee Theatre in Percival Street, and one of his staff this morning saw a couple of Japanese soldiers at the Causeway Bay junction nearby, apparently reconnoitring since they went away. Later in the morning an Australian friend went by our back door and shouted, "They landed last night. Three hundred of them, at North Point" - a mile away eastward from us.

It was an understatement. Contrary to expectations, they had crossed the eastern end of the Harbour the night before in great strength. It was a dark night, and the smoke pall from Whitfield had further reduced the visibility. In the afternoon the battle in the hills seemed to have quietened. We saw a long file of soldiers, probably Canadian, walking from the west slowly along Stubbs Road high above us, reinforcements for the battle raging at Wongneichong Gap. The upper end of Happy Valley has become a no-man's land. The telephone still works, but all sign of government has vanished except for the street guards. The electricity supply has ceased.