10 Dec 1941, Additional notes

" ...it was not until the news of the sinking of the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse off Singapore on the 10th December 1941 was flashed to Hong Kong that the fate of these capital ships presaged our fate, devoid of air cover. Our faith in our requirement to hold out for 90 days was based on our relief by such ships, and now they were gone, it began to dawn even on the most optimistic of us that our position was hopeless. It was against this background ...  that the battle of Hong Kong island was fought, and it is against this backcloth ... that the record of the garrison should be judged. To be able to maintain any fighting morale at all under these conditions was only possible on a foundation of general heroism, and this made all those separate acts to which I have referred all the more heroic."

((Source L.T. Ride))