12 Sep 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Things seem to be happening rapidly now. It appears that Badoglio has been playing false to Germany and, according to a German report, he signed a treaty of surrender to the American and British Forces on Sicilian soil at the end of July but this was kept secret. Now the Italians have actually engaged in hostilities against the Germans – short lived and soon quelled if German reports are to be believed, but how amazing! At the outset of hostilities Germany had signed military pacts with three great powers: Russia, Japan and Italy and Hitler and his gang hugged themselves at their cleverness in outwitting the democracies. Now two of those countries have ratted on him and the third is unable to render any direct assistance. Truly Germany and Japan must be having serious headaches just now! This must be the beginning of the end.

 I must quote a really astonishing report of Hitler’s latest speech to the German nation:

“We shall continue this struggle unhindered by any obstacles. Any attempt made by an international plot of plutocrats to talk away German resistance, as was done in Italy, is childish. Their belief in being able to bring about in Germany also a July 25th is based on a mistake. They are also wrong as regards my personal position as well as the attitude of my political co-operators, my Field-Marshalls, Admirals and Generals. More than ever a fanatically united community, under German leadership, is opposing those intentions. We will even be more consolidated in our determination by any distress which might come over us.”  

Pathetic!  Hitler has many doubts assailing him.

To add to our excitement, at 4 o’clock this afternoon we had another air raid! But this was really spectacular. Y said, “Is there a raid on? I thought I heard some bangs.”

We strolled onto the balcony and were suddenly electrified! There was a plane, only a few hundred feet up, banking almost horizontally in a very steep turn. At first sight of a plane at that attitude I thought it must be a Jap, but then I saw the big white or silvery stars on the wing tips! American planes!! They had two bodies, or whatever they are called, and were twin engined.

Afterwards I chatted to an air pilot in this camp and he said they were American Lockheed P38 pursuit planes – fighter bombers, which came out in 1941. They are capable of pretty good speed, I believe, and though they are by now somewhat out of date for the European war, they are evidently quite good enough for the machines the Japanese are able to put up. 
I dashed along the passage to the end room, for a better view, and was peering out and up when suddenly, I was just conscious of a wing tip overhead coming right down on top of the building, and almost simultaneously a tremendous swish and a kind of compression of the air. I ducked instinctively! And I thought the plane was coming straight down. Just then there was a loud smash at the back in the direction of the fort here and someone shouted, “It’s crashed!” I tore back to the other end of the flat to find it had done nothing of the sort!

Wilcox and Ogden, who had been taken by surprise and were still outside, both said they saw the rear pilot waving! The people on the beach had a thrill too, as one plane dived low over them. Then one of these planes (there were two of them) dived very low over Tytam Bay and executed the Victory Roll, straightened out, went tearing back at Stanley village and as it passed it dived low over the Gendarmerie HQ and let fly with some very heavy machine gun fire. Tim said he had been in the cemetery and the other plane came straight over and attacked the same building at right angles to the other plane. Later someone says they saw a car drive up and take away one casualty. But the strange thing was that these planes, apart from their one sharp snap at the Gendarmerie building, had evidently not come to do any damage or take any photographs.

Elsie and Harold saw, with others, about six more planes over HK that had been doing the same thing, careering madly about, diving and generally giving the victory display; then they came out westward and the small Stanley detachment joined them and they flew off! What can it all mean? A battery somewhere at the back of Stanley let off one round and the shell burst up in the sky all alone and by itself with not a plane anywhere near! No doubt a plane had been there some moments before, but trying to hit fast planes like that with AA fire at that low altitude was like trying to hit a wasp in a large room with an orange pip!

No one seems to know exactly what our local fort did. Evidently they fired two shots (I did not see anything) but opinion is divided as to what they fired: some say AA guns and others (perhaps the humourist) declare that they let fly with the two battery coastal defence guns (probably 6”) and that the shells hit Lamma Island and made the big crash we all heard but could not account for! A fellow named Bloomenthal was walking back from the cemetery locality when a piece of shrapnel landed about 10 yards from him – so there is probably some sense in taking cover when AA fire is in our direction. We wonder if there is any significance in this display: it was probably staged by some bright lads in the US Air Force who thought they would cheer us up at the generally bright situation. Also, it must worry the Japanese here not a little.

In a speech made to the press by the local Japanese Governor, he apologised for the suspension of the bus services in town, explaining that the oil storage tanks had been destroyed. He said the train service would be extended where possible and some horse drawn vehicles (two legged?) would be put into service. Otherwise, people must be patient and be prepared to walk if rickshaws were not available. He said the destruction of the oil was a temporary nuisance to HK but that it was of little importance to the Japanese as a whole, for the oil supplies available were unlimited and more oil would soon be coming to the Colony.