11 Oct 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Today is presumably the day when, according to Emily Hahn, Hong Kong became 'a pit of horrible misery'. The Hong Kong News announces the losses on the Lisbon Maru: 'H. K. Prisoners On Torpedoed Vessel/Nearly Half Of Total Lost Through Action Of American Submarine'. The article paints a picture of Japanese efforts to save the POWs that is totally mendacious and probably was not believed by many.

Things might be hard in Stanley but they're much worse in Kowloon's Shamshuipo POW Camp: today the number of deaths in an epidemic of diphtheria and related diseases peaks at 6. In contrast, there were 7 deaths in Stanley between August 18 and 13 December - and the youngest person to die was 45 years old, while most of those in Shamshuipo were of course of miitary age.

Source:

Pit: Emily Hahn, China To Me, 1986 ed., 409.

Shamshuipo: Tony Banham, We Shall Suffer There, 2009, October 11, 1942

Stanley: Geoffrey Emerson, Hong Kong Internment, 2008, 186