Diary pages from this date

Rained in the early hours of this a.m.  Jap band turned up about 1000.  Inspected Hospitals, 18 in isolation, 7 in our hosp, 12 in Indian. 

Section 8 of RAMC training manual p175 para 489.  Geneva Convention 1929.  The chief points to be noted in the C.[onvention] are that the sick and wounded must be taken care of irrespective of nationality, that med personnel must, as far as military exigencies permit, be left in charge of sick and wounded, and that when they are captured by the enemy they must continue their duty under his directions.  They will be sent back to their own side only when the enemy can arrange to do this conveniently to himself and by the route which he shall determine.  Art 9.  The personnel engaged exclusively in the collection, transport and treatment of the wounded and sick and in the administration of medical formation and establishments, and chaplains to attacked armies, will be respected and protected in all circumstances.  If they fall into enemy hands they will not be treated as prisoners of war.  The commander who remains in possession of the field must cause a search to be made for wounded, and as far as possible prevent any acts of pillage to dead or wounded.  490.  The protection afforded to the personnel of medical units is not forfeited by the fact that they carry weapons for self-defence, or hold the arms and ammunition of the wounded who are under their care. 

Cooked the remainder of breakfast (rice) with a tin of sardines, fried in our new pan; unanimous vote was that it was excellent.  Went round hospitals with General and Brigadier.  About 1500 hrs lorries began to arrive with Indian Dysentery cases from Argyle St;  in all about 120 cases came in plus 12 British including Hance [?] who is pretty bad.  Had to open other isolation hospital;  sanitary arrangements in awful mess, Indians passing motions everywhere, no buckets for them no implements to dig latrines and only one medical officer who can speak their language.  Implored Lt Sawamoto to get us more beds, medical supplies and more Indian medical help, and he said he would do what he could.  I also suggested that Argyle St should be made into a concentration camp for the sick - the dysenteries etc – and all the fit prisoners brought over here but apparently this cannot be done, most probably because Sawamoto does not want dysenteries anywhere near his hospital at C.B.S. 

He took me off to get some more med supplies;  at the CBS he gave me a beer to drink and a pear, an apple and some British army biscuits; then we went off to his flat down the stone steps at the back of the school and there Kerr (the interpreter who by the way is a lad who was at St. Giles, Tsingtao) and I watched him eat a huge basin of rice and a lovely steak.  I was given a cigarette and another drink and then subjected to some mild questioning.  This afternoon we all had to satisfy Sawamoto’s curiosity about ages and again at CBS all the ORs wanted to know all about our age, size of boots etc.  One Pte who was the humorist of the party spent a long time telling us how much better small people were at various things than large people.  In the flat there were 3 other medical officers and they ran through the same group of inquisitive questions.  The conversation was in English German and Jap (through Kerr). 

Got back eventually by car about 2200 in a slight drizzle.  Streets deserted, lanterns near every corner with Wang Ching Wei sentries.  Had a bun and jam on return and so to bed.

Father Bernard Tohill and two others had waited around at the Murray Parade Ground yesterday but were told to go home in the late afternoon. He returns today with five others and they're eventually taken to the Nam Ping Hotel at 141 Des Voeux Road Central. They are given no food by the Japanese, but are fed by a group that had arrived on the fifth. The next day they are told they have to provide for themselves, so they set up a fund to which they contribute a dollar a day.

The police had been exempted from the summons to the Murray Parade Ground, but today they're sent to the Luk Hoi Tung Hotel:

About 250 of us were packed into its forty odd rooms (meant for two each) which opened onto narrow verandahs along each of the two floors...

It was a small, dark room with plywood walls, the only ventilation being the half-size swing door that opened onto the verandah. Taking up most of the room were two small, Chinese-style double beds with wooden bed boards and straw mats over them...Two of us slept on each bed, the rest of us on the floor. I preferred the verandah despite the constant stream of visitors to the three stinking lavatories at the end of it. I found them less offensive than the rats running around the room or the cockroaches dropping from the ceiling.

Policeman Jim Shepherd has previously got a pass from the Japanese and now puts it to use:

On 6/1/42 we were put into internment in the Chinese Hotels, prior to going to Stanley, and by my efforts I retained the Commissioner of Police's car for which I received permit to use, and, with my own pass, made full use of same by taking wounded from the Hong Kong Hotel Military Casualty Clearing Station (where S. I. Whelan and Sgt. Alexander performed some fine work) - to Bowen Road Hospital.

Franklin Gimson, the newly arrived Colonial Secretary, is taken away under guard after writing a strongly-phrased letter to the Japanese authorities:

(Y)ou must realise that your occupation of the Colony can be but a temporary measure....

Sources:

Tohill: Fr. Bernard Tohill, 'Some Notes from a Diary of the Years 1941-1942'.

Police: George Wright-Nooth, Prisoner of the Turnip Heads, 1994, 79-80

Shepherd: Jim Shepherd, Silks, Satins, Gold Braid And Monkey Jackets, 1996, 55-56

Gimson: Phyllis Harrop, Hong Kong Incident, 1943, 105

Walk to town, no transport of any sort offering. Dead body under truck at bottom of Morrison Hill still there. Near Naval Hospital a dud shell partly buried in roadway – edged away as heavy truck rushed past. 

Queen's Road East lined from end to end with stalls selling all sorts of things. Much loot from abandoned homes. Then a stall that was different. A wooden bed supported on stools, and on it as though asleep an old woman, dead.

By Wellington Barracks and the Dockyard, great holes in the walls, drains blocked and water covering much of road. Beyond, more stalls on both sides of Queen's Road Central. Stalls had little of staples, and prices high. Sugar at 80 cents a pound, flour at $1.40. Peace-time prices a quarter of these. 

Whole city bedraggled, depressing. Buildings shell-marked but none seriously damaged. Large Jap flag at exclusive Hongkong Club, now naval headquarters.

Harbour empty except for vessels scuttled, and waterfront deserted. 

Visited Morning Post, greeted by dozen old staff. Japanese producing English paper there. Managing director Toshihito Eto and editor Ogura. Ogura cordial man, seemed decent. He publishing daily column wherein Europeans seeking missing friends or reporting own survival. 

Told about thousand civilians reported for internment ordered into small Chinese hotels. European staff of Morning Post and Hongkong Telegraph confined in company's building, no food supplied, then moved to Tung Fong Hotel. Three internees there allowed out daily to buy food.

Clearing up debris slowly. Nothing happened noteworthy. Reviewed our day of action for the umpteenth time. Walked around the Gaol.

Watching over the verandah - our normal occupation - we saw the Food Control lot passing by on foot, among them Olive (my elder sister) prominent in her scarlet jacket the same as mind, and her fair long hair.   We all waved and called, and every one seemed to be taking everything as a huge joke.   They were put into the Nanking Hotel, not far away from us but on the other side of the road.

We spent alot of time during the day on the flat roof where it was sunny and much warmer than down in the cubicles and on verandah; but from 7th Jan. we weren't supposed to look over the roof.

Amah came again, she was an absolute brick.  I told her where Olive was so she visited her as well.  (I would get a verbal message to say Ah Ding was at the hotel door, and went downstairs hoping the guard would let us talk, and let her pass on to me whatever she had brought in her rattan basket... and hoping the guard wouldn't help himself to the things instead of letting me have them - that never happened though.)

On one visit Ah Ding brought my Collins A5 diaries, 1939, 1940 and 1941, all with a page to a day. ((So happy to get them, especially as I was able to use spaces during internment years.))