Diary pages from this date

When the air-raid siren sounded on the night of 13th/14th March, we just turned over and went to sleep again, but only for a moment, as short blasts on the sirens warned us that a large number of planes were approaching. Suddenly, every A.A. gun in the vicinity opened up, and the scream of diving planes were heard, then the shrill whistle of bombs falling. This raid lasted several hours- and we lost count of the number of planes to be seen in the sky, which was as bright as day from the glow of so many fires for over half of the city of Osaka was burning. Not realizing our danger, we crowded around cracks in the boarded windows, to see what was to us, a glorious sight. The Allied planes were hitting Japan - hard, and it was a never-to-be forgotten sight; the firework display of the A.A. tracer, the falling incendiaries, the ghostly planes weaving in and out of the many searchlights and, as an awe-inspiring background, the tremendous conflagration of the burning city.

By the morning, the Japanese were both dazed and bewildered.  Never had their propaganda led them to anticipate anything such as this, and I think, it was from this moment that they began to lose faith in their own invincibility and greatness. This raid caused practically all industry in our area to close down, as hundreds of thousands of civilians were made homeless, and had to be shifted to other localities, more remote from the crowded coastal areas of Japan. Labour apart from POWs could not be obtained, and shipyards, factories, workshops etc., still standing, came to a standstill, and transport was at a premium. Parties of POWs were put on building air-raid shelters for the Japanese staff.

A few days after the raid I was among a party travelling by lorry to the other side of the city to collect sand from a riverbed, and it would be hard to describe the destruction we saw. Not house upon house, street upon street, nor block upon block, but square mile upon square mile was as flat as a desert. It was possible to stand one side of the city and see people nearly five miles away, with nothing to obscure our view, overlooking an area which had previously housed nearly two million people, and with high-storeyed buildings now just ashes. It would have been possible to drive a car from one side of the city to the other over the ashes of the buildings. This was total destruction in its true sense. It was impossible to tell where the roads had been, and the only things which had stopped the whole city from getting wiped completely off the map were the canals, 100 to 150 feet in width, which criss-crossed the city, although in some instances the fires had jumped across them. Thousands must have perished, for escape had been impossible for many. Bodies still lay everywhere and those of us who had seen the destruction caused in China and elsewhere by the "Imperial Japanese Army" realised that the day had come for Japan to have a taste of what war, in all its grimness and cruelty, meant. The people of Japan had at last realised that a war was not something which happened thousands of miles from their homeland, but an event which meant that soldier and civilian suffered together, with their own homeland as the battlefront. 

As we sensed the rapidly lowering morale of the people, after this one raid, we could imagine the reaction which would be felt by the Japanese troops fighting thousands of miles away, when they heard that their homeland had been hit so hard, especially after their Army newspapers had assured them that Japan could never be bombed. We heard that Tokyo and other cities had also been hit. From this day onwards, air-raids occurred night and day. Working parties were cut down, and even when they went out to work, the sirens were blown so frequently, that the work done was practically nil, because as soon as the warning sounded, the Japanese civilians and guards disappeared into the nearest air raid shelter, which we were not allowed to use. It suited us very well, as we took the opportunity of entering the different warehouses and helping ourselves to food and anything else that was handy.

A shell whizzed over us in morning, and no one knows quite why but it was said that one of our large planes was round.

Visited Mrs Edgar (Mr E most charming and friendly); Forsters (to have Paddy and Maureen in show), and Annie (Van Der Lely) where I had tea, and Rennie announced he and Annie are marrying in April, and invited me to be bridesmaid.

Canadian private parcels taken from godown

During the last few days I have been suffering from another mood of black depression. Life in this place seems to be growing more and more damnable and I wonder despairingly how much longer it is to go on. So many stupid little things happen which, in these trying circumstances, become upsetting in a most absurd way. I suppose living in these intolerably crowded conditions has gradually worn us down till our nerves are all on edge.

Keith Mackie and Jackie Anderson, who became engaged at the end of last year, have decided to be married at the beginning of April. Keith and Tony Sank share a boiler room on the servant’s verandah of this flat and Tony very nobly offered to move out if the rest of this flat would agree to him occupying the back of the kitchen. Hitherto we have kept in the kitchen a big wooden ice chest with a large shelf fixed across the back of it, and in the chest on the shelf we have kept our food tins (in which we collect our food), plates, mugs, cutlery etc. and bottles of drinking water and sea water; also frying pan and sauce pan. Other people in the flat also kept stuff in the kitchen. Of course, we all agreed to move our stuff out, but it was very inconvenient and meant we had to put the ice chest on the verandah and dispense with the shelf – all most annoying!

At the end of last year, when I was returning one morning with the breakfast tea, I trod on the edge of my dressing gown while climbing the stairs and went sprawling. Fortunately I saved the Lammert pot but our own was smashed. There were none left in the canteen so we were reduced to our thermos. Actually, during this cold winter, it has not been too inconvenient, for the thermos certainly kept the tea hotter, though it tended to get a little stewed. We always said that one day the precious thermos would be smashed – well, today was the day! Y was carefully putting it on the floor in a corner where we have kept it for safety, when it tipped over and smashed. Well, that was that. We decided straight away to buy another as without one life would really be too difficult. I wrote out a notice and took it to Roe to have it put on the board. We said: “Wanted to buy one medium sized thermos flask”.

It will probably cost us from Y250 to Y300 - £10 or £15 (pdv £450), for I shall have to write a cheque to obtain the Yen. Thermos flasks can be purchased more cheaply at the canteen – about Y200 for a refill, I think, but as, between us, we can spend only Y150 per month, it would mean forfeiting all our food purchases for about 5 weeks.

There has been rather a lot of friction in the room of late too, which tends to make things more difficult. The weather also has been putrid! Cold and foggy of late. However, no doubt things will brighten up soon.

Clear, SE wind.

Canteen Y75. No.25.

Hosp. wall cutting.

Made Chinese balance scale for Steve.

Sat by Bung.”B” for a while aft. saw what progress Japs are making with their foxholes etc.

Allies cross the Rhine Bonn & Coblenz & Japs intern F.I.China Gov’t. [?] & troops etc. Ribbentrop’s speech although not clear indicates German trend toward surrender.

Egg from Mrs.B.