By all accounts, an air raid over Hong Kong last night, and there have been planes around all day.
Mabel fed up and spotty. Pulse better after concert.
Selwyn-Clarke was expected, but didn't turn up, which may mean that raiding is real. I'm afraid for the boys perhaps working at Kai Tak.
The American bombing of Hong Kong continues.
Requested not to look up at sky.
No paper from town.
1.30 am - HK raided
Awakened at 1.30 a.m. Bombs and gunfire. Reportedly Whitfield Barracks in Kowloon hit. Fire Lai Chi Kok way still burning. Palace Hotel said wrecked. Cameron Road where many Japanese live received stick of bombs. Bomb in Shanghai Street killed many. Percy Ismail says 1.30 a.m. raid was North Point. Bomb hit road. Tram tracks out of action. Aw Boon Haw Mansion reportedly hit. Nuisance raids. More nuisance to us civilians than to Japs. Big crater Jordan Road. House in Hankow Road demolished. Six reported killed. Ferry boat and gunboat reportedly hit.
The weather recently has been warm and overcast, but three nights ago the wind veered to the N.E. and blew half a gale from that direction. It seemed to blow the clouds right out of the sky and the thermometer dropped about 15 – 20 degrees so that, from sleeping in thin silk night attire (a pair of shorts in my case) and covered only with a sheet, we were still cold last night with two blankets and flannelette pyjamas. Today the wind had dropped to a stiff breeze and the sunlight was simply sparkling; the cold nip has had a wonderful tonic effect, though unfortunately it makes our mouths water for beef steaks and Irish stews and other good, satisfying food.
Yvonne and I decided to take our tea down to the beach this afternoon and sit on the rocks in the sun, sheltered from the cold wind. This beach has a S.E. aspect and is well sheltered from the winter winds. It was beautifully warm in the sun and we wished we had come prepared to bathe. While we were eating our tea we heard a drone of aeroplane engines and then a little while later we heard some distant thuds.
“Did you hear those bombs dropping?” Y said,
“I thought they were ack ack guns”, said I and we both laughed.
There has been a great deal of aerial activity about lately - Japanese planes out on patrol as far as we could make out.
Presently the whistle was blown to clear the beach and we started on our way back. At the Governor’s bathing shed (this beach used to be the Governor’s private beach in pre-war days) we saw Billy Hackett attending to a man who appeared to have had a fainting fit. They were laying him down on a stretcher and I saw it was Alan Johnson of the PWD. Then I saw that his shoulder had been dislocated. He had been bowled over by a wave whilst bathing and had fallen awkwardly on the sand, putting his shoulder out. I helped carry the stretcher up the steps and along the path to the gate where the trolley from the hospital had been brought.
When we reached our room, Elsie told us that a Mr Buchanon, while watching a bowls match this afternoon, suddenly collapsed and died of heart failure. He had had a weak heart for some years so he might have died had he not been in camp. He has a daughter, Nina, who was evacuated to Australia. She left in HK, a father, a brother and a fiancée. Her father died of heart failure; her brother was blown up in the awful accident that occurred when our own troops fired upon the lighter that was bringing over dynamite from Stone Cutters Island when we abandoned that fort; and her fiancée, Ernie Lammert, was beheaded by the Japanese. Poor girl, she may not yet have had the news of any of these deaths and it is possible she will hear of them altogether.
People were all agog with the news of the planes that came over this afternoon. They had seen the planes diving in the Kowloon direction and had heard the thud of the detonations (the same that we had joked about on the beach) and seen puffs of AA shells bursting in the sky. We were all very excited about it as can be imagined. Was HK being attacked at last? Were we near the end of our imprisonment? After the evening meal we heard more droning and dashed out to gaze skyward with a few hundred other internees. We could make out, very high up, a flight of seven planes. Then following them another flight of six. As they wheeled they reflected the sun and shone like gleaming silver streaks high above us. They disappeared and later came around again in another big circle - Japanese patrols, obviously. Well, it shows they are agitated about something. There is just the possibility that it may have been a big anti-air attack practice for HK, but I doubt it. In any case, the paper had scheduled the practice for Wed. 28th and this is only Monday. Tomorrow’s paper will be interesting!
1.30 AM. Planes raided HK & K. Saw flash of bombs & A.A.fire. Planes active all day.
No paper.
Lorry coolies ordered to hold no conversation with Internees.
http://www.usaaf.net/chron/42/oct42.htm says:
(Tenth Air Force): CHINA AIR TASK FORCE (CATF): P-40's continue to hit the Hong Kong-Canton area, using dive-bombing tactics for first time in the area.
OBJECTIVE: Bomb the North Point power station
TIME OVER TARGET: ~Midnight (American military documents, BAAG reports, and eyewitness accounts disagree on the time of the raid, which is said to occur somewhere between 23:00 on Oct. 25 and 01:30 on Oct. 26.)
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 500-pound bombs and 17-kg fragmentation bombs
RESULTS: No damage to power station, despite American claims to the contrary. Some civilian casualties in residential areas near the plant.
AMERICAN SQUADRONS AND AIRCRAFT: Six B-25s from 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group, China Air Task Force)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
JAPANESE SQUADRONS AND AIRCRAFT: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None
SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama
Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).
OBJECTIVE: Tien Ho airfield at Canton is the primary target, but when ground fog obscures the airbase, the bombers hit gasoline storage facilities and godowns instead.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~4:15 a.m.
AMERICAN SQUADRONS AND AIRCRAFT: Three B-25s from 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group, China Air Task Force)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 50-kg incendiary bombs and 17-kg fragmentation bombs
RESULTS: Unknown, though bomber crews report up to twenty fires resulted from the bombing
JAPANESE SQUADRONS AND AIRCRAFT: Nightfighters from an unknown squadron attempt to intercept without success
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None
SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama
Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).
OBJECTIVE: Reconnaissance over Canton and Hong Kong
TIME OVER TARGET: ~9:00 a.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One P-43A Lancer on loan to the 23rd Fighter Group (China Air Task Force) from the Chinese Air Force
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Major Bruce K. Holloway
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None
RESULTS: Pilot reports no apparent damage from strikes on October 25 and 26, 1942, and this assessment is confirmed by aerial photographs of Kowloon taken during the mission.
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None
SOURCES: Original mission report in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama
Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).