26 Dec 1941, Major John Monro MC RA diary of the Battle of Hong Kong

This morning as we were unable to get any messages through by phone I again went up the Peak with orders for the Hong Kong Regiment.  I found all the officers asleep in Landale’s drawing room.  They offered me breakfast though they must have been on short rations for a long time.  The Chinese are looting the N.A.A.F.I. stores near the Peak Tram station.  The place is littered with burnt out lorries and trucks.

On my way down I was alarmed to meet two Chinese who had got hold of a revolver and a rifle respectively.  I was unarmed.  I don’t think that we are too well loved by the local Chinese.  Certainly at times we have given them ample cause to hate us.  Now that we are defeated they may wreak their spite upon us.  I walked by as unconcernedly as I could.  One of them came up to me and asked if I knew how Major Boxer was.  He had been his No.1 Boy.  Before returning to the H.Q. I went into Courtlands to see if I could rescue some of my kit.  My room had been occupied by 3 or 4 women and my trunks taken downstairs to one of the basement rooms.  The Japs had gone through them.  Everything was scattered all over the floor.  So far as I could see the only thing they had taken was my sword.  The No.1 Boy gave me a couple of blankets and a pillow and made sympathetic suggestions as to what I should take.  I made up a bundle of socks, underclothing, and some warm top clothes as it will soon be very cold.

On my way back to H.Q. I meet a party of Japs but they made no attempt to molest me.  Later in the day I tried to make another foraging trip but was turned back by a sentry.  At H.Q. we have seen very little of the Japs though down in Queens Road they are having a victory parade.  Large formations of aircraft have been flying over Kowloon and Victoria scattering leaflets most of which fall in the harbour. I suppose they are trying to tell the Chinese that with the end of the British Rule and the coming of the Jap the Millennium has come.  Up here we have had one or two sightseeing parties of Naval and Military Officers.

I am trying to make up my mind whether to make an attempt to escape or not.  On the whole I think not.  Chuck Bramble tells me that the island is busy with Jap troops.  So far as I can see the only way out is to get to Shikko or little Saiwan and then take a sampan to the mainland.  But I rather doubt whether there are any available.  The Coast Defences have sunk so many there can only be a few left.  The owners of those that remain would probably cut the throat of any white man as a reprisal for the tremendous destruction we have wrought amongst the fishing fleet.  I don’t feel like getting my throat cut alone, I prefer to die, if die I must, in company.  I have asked several people to make an attempt with me.  Baugh says he is still feeling badly knocked up.  MacAlister is toying with the idea of escape but seems unwilling to come with me.  Others, whom I think would be good companions, say that they are married and must think of their families. 

I am living in my office with Chuck and Bill Squires.  Paddy and Cross are living in the I.G’s office.  The clerks are living next door.  From his experience in T.A. camps Chuck is prepared for anything.  He has got a primus stove with which he prepares tea or coffee and makes the shaving water in the mornings.  We mess in Scandal Point Hall.  A small Jewish looking Sergeant of the R.A.S.C. is in charge helped by a number of R.A.F. other ranks.  He is running a good show.  Most of the gunner officers are living in the Girl Guides hut, the troops in and around the detention barracks.  The Indians are living in the married families’ quarters by the entrance to the Ordnance Depot.   On the whole the troops seem pretty cheerful.  It is a heaven sent opportunity to wear the most outlandish clothes.  They have taken full advantage of it.  A few of the wives have managed to get down from The Peak to see their husbands at the entrance to the Detention Barracks.

((This is the end of the extracts from Monro's diaries here on Gwulo, but you can read more of his story, including his escape from Sham Shui Po POW camp, in his daughter's book: Stranger In My Heart.))