American planes begin two days of intense bombing of Japanese shipping in Hong Kong. Lieutenant Commander Noriteru Yatsui, in a post-war debriefing, assesses today's raids from a Japanese perspective:
In preparation for the carrier air attack, by the 15th the convoy was disposed as follows: In HONGKONG Harbor, three large tankers moored to buoys in a small group south of HONGKONG Island and surrounded by nine escort vessels in a circle around the tankers. The tankers were moored in a position of a triangle, 300 meters on the side, and the escort vessels circle was about 300 meters outside the tankers. I was in the KANJU, flagship of the Seventh Escort Convoy, anchored in the eastern part of the circle. A fourth large tanker was moored east alongside dock of the ship-building yard at HONGKONG and was protected by two escorts off shore. The fifth tanker, which was the smallest, was moored at a KOWLOON dock approximately north of the main group of tankers and was unprotected. No air cover was available. All tankers were in water ballast hence there were no serious fires. Damage in the three or four attacks on 15 January was not serious. I estimate 4 or 5 planes were shot down. Thirty or forty casualties were suffered. There were no night attacks.
Source:
http://ww2db.com/doc.php?q=203
Note:
This source also includes details of the much more serious damage that will be inflicted tomorrow. As far as I know, the Lieutenant Commander is wrong about the number of American losses, but I'd welcome more knowledgeable comments.