See https://gwulo.com/comment/69095#comment-69095 for details
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Mary kept a diary, written as the events were actually happening, of the days and hours leading up to the capture of her hospital. It is part of a nurse's training to make reports and keep records, but it is still astonishing and a tribute to the character of this indomitable woman that in such conditions, she made time to describe the inevitable.
| 19th Dec 1941 |
| 3 a.m. called by Night Sister to interview CO. Japanese had landed on the island. State of emergency declared. Enemy reported to be close to St Albert's Convent. Called staff. Gave orders for all to wear tin hats and Red Cross armbands. Bombing and shelling intense from 6 am. All patients evacuated from rooms to corridors. Casualties brought in off field throughout day. No road communication to Bowen Road Hospital. Queen Mary Hospital offered to take 100 severe casualties. Assisted in theatre throughout day. Both theatres working continuously. No. 1 theatre hit by shell during operation... evacuated theatres to first floor. Lighting difficulties very great, only able to operate in daylight. Field Ambulance moves into hospital. |
| 20th Dec 1941 |
| Persistent shelling and bombing round and on hospital all day... Operating continued in both theatres from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Many casualties admitted from Field. Some serious cases evacuated to Queen Mary Hospital. |
| 21st Dec 1941 |
| Told by CO capture of hospital imminent. Telephone communication shut. Water supply cut. Drinking water supplied by Field Ambulance. No rations received after 18th Dec. Rations for patients and staff cut by 50%. Field Ambulance left hospital at 7 pm. to escape capture. |
| 22nd Dec 1941 |
| No communication from outside. Trench mortars falling on building. Windows shattered and parts of walls knocked down by shell fire. Wounded Japanese officer brought in amongst casualties. Fighting takes place in hospital grounds. All staff slept in clothes. |
| 23rd Dec 1941 |
As day broke on the 23rd the Japanese were so close that one of the many snipers firing into the hospital wounded a patient in the face. At 11 o'clock it was all over. The Japanese burst into the hospital. An RAMC sergeant who bravely rushed out with his hands up shouting 'hospital' was seized and tied up. The rest of the medical staff - Mary Currie, two nurses from the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, an RAMC officer and two orderlies were tied together with their hands behind their backs and taken out into the grounds. There their tin hats were removed and they were made to sit on the ground in front of a machine gun under the eye of Japanese soldiers with fixed bayonets. They were left there until 4 p.m. while the Japanese searched the building, insisting they did not believe it was a hospital.
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| 步兵第230聯隊第二大隊 |
| 2nd Battalion, 230th Infantry Regiment |
| 大隊長 : 若松満則 少佐 |
| Commanding Officer : Maj. Wakamatsu |
| 副官 : 田中茂夫 中尉 (戰死) |
| Adjutant : Lt. Tanaka (died in battle) |
19th Dec 1941
| 十九日東海林部隊の五叉路突進直後から大坑付近高地を占領し、この日第六中隊とも遭遇したパンジ若松大隊長は軍医や参謀の勧めも聴かず、なおも担架に乗って最後まで指揮を続けた。東海林聯隊長は中條大尉を派遣して同大隊長を補佐させた。 | Major Wakamatsu continued commanding from a stretcher, even though the army doctors and staff officers advised against it. |
20th Dec 1941
| 軍は前日に続きこの日も、樋口既述のように、二十日夕、左翼隊長の来訪をうけた監物第三大隊長は、翌二十一日払暁の攻撃を約束しペプリン高地にあって各隊との連絡、部下の掌握に努めていたが、地形の峻嶮と交通不便のため容易に進捗せず、遂に二十一日天明を迎え払暁からの攻撃は不可能となった。 | The attack was planned for dawn on the 21st, but it was not possible to advance on time because the landscape was very steep and difficult to access. |
21st Dec 1941
| 左翼隊ホテル付近の戦闘( 4 )豪胆な若松大隊長は自ら軍刀を揮って奮戦中、うしろから飛来した弾丸が腰部に命中した。大隊副官田中中尉もまた戦死した。若松大隊長は頑として戦線を退かず部隊を指揮し続け、彼我死傷者が続出する中に遂にニコルソン山北方道路交叉点および同南方高地線に進出した。 | During the battle, Major Wakamatsu was shot in the waist. Adjutant Lieutenant Tanaka also died in battle. But Major Wakamatsu continued commanding and leading the troops to occupy the highlands. |
22nd Dec 1941
| 時に二十二日〇四〇〇ころであった。たちまち、暗夜の混戦乱闘が起こり、彼我手榴弾の投げ合い、白兵格闘が始まった。ャブ中隊を基幹とする後退中の英軍であった。 | At night (0400 - 22/12/1941) , a chaotic battle broke out. Both sides threw grenades at each other and fought using close combat weapons. The British soldiers were moving back. |
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References:
1. The Battle of Hong Kong 1941: a Spatial History Project
https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/1941hkbattle/en/map.php
2. 歩兵第２３０連隊 香港攻略戦戦闘詳報
3. "Sisters in arms : British army nurses tell their story" by Tyrer, Nicola
4. "戦史叢書" by Japan National Institute for Defense Studies
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