Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp: View pages

With more prescience than  some Soviet officials (who refuse to believe it even after it's started) The Hong Kong Sunday Herald headlines a likely German attack on the Soviet Union in the next 48 hours.

In fact Operation Barborossa, the biggest military campaign in history, begins at about 4 a.m. this morning. Roughly 4 million Axis soldiers, 3 million of them German, attack the Soviet Union along a 750 mile front from Finland to the Black Sea.

For once Adolf Hitler is right:

The world will hold its breath.

Meanwhile conflicts over war preparations continue in Hong Kong.

Governor Sir Geoffrey Northcote quashes rumours that he's about to lift the Evacuation Decree.

In the teeth of opposition from medical practioners, the Government announces that previously ineligible doctors, surgeons and midwives can seek temporary registration.

And there's a reminder that top-level decisions will soon be in new hands. Rex James publishes a photo of the next Governor, Sir Mark Young on his 'Incidentally' page. He provides a brief CV for Sir Mark and remarks on his 'meteoric' progress through various colonial appointments, but tells his readers that the exact day of his taking office is not known.

Sources:

Hong Kong Sunday Herald:

Northcote: page 4

Medical: page 4

James: page 6

It's the first anniversary of the evacuation of women and children, and the 'bachelor husbands' hold a lively protest meeting at the Peninsula Hotel.

There are five hundred of them there, and speeches are constantly brought to a halt by prolonged applause, or by bouts of booing (whenever the Government is mentioned). Nevertheless, the Telegraph reporter assures its readers, the meeting is 'orderly and good natured'.

Most of it is taken up by a report by the Chairman, J. P. Macgregor, of his meeting with the Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote, who held out no hope of an early 'rescission' of the order by the London Government.  The Governor told Macgregor that about 1800 women had been evacuated while 900 remained in Hong Kong.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, June 30, 1941, page 3

Henry R. Luce, the owner of Life magazine, publishes a story (page 82) about his flight with CNAC from Hong Kong to Chungking - 'the most dangerous passenger airline in the world':

At 1.30 a.m. we are routed out of our beds in a Hong Kong hotel and driven to an airport....At 3 a.m. we take off on our five-hour flight in complete darkness - no lights on the plane and no smoking allowed. Pilot ((William)) Macdonald zooms the ship up through the intricate hills of  the harbor of Hong Kong where the lights of an imperial city still twinkle in rows. Soon all is black and we are over Japanese-occupied territory. In 40 minutes we pass to the right of Canton, the graveyard city where 1,000,000 Chinese have resumed living but there is no life and where Japanese pursuit planes are concentrated.

Luce was once called 'the most influential private citizen in the America of his day'. The rest of the story is a detailed report of what he found in Chungking, designed to stir up American opinion in favour of Chiang Kai-shek and his fight against the Japanese.

Ever since the Fall of France in June 1940 the Japanese have been forcing the French to make concessions in Indo-China. Today they decide that the military permissions and economic privileges they've been granted are not enough and the Imperial Conference decides to extend its military operations further into French territory so as to 'strengthen arrangements for advance to the south.'

The clock has now been set ticking: on July 26 the Americans respond by freezing Japanese assets in the USA, the next day the British abrogate Japan's commercial treaties with India and Burma. On August 1 a crucial American oil embargo is put in place, and on August 28 this is supplemented by a ban on oil and bauxite from the Netherlands East Indies. The Japanese war-machine won't be able to function for long without these commodities, so Japan now has two choices: get the best deal it can in return for a withdrawal from China or launch an all-out war.

Japanese-American talks begin, but neither side will make significant concessions, and they're still talking when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbour and Hong Kong.

From Hong Kong's point of view, as well as the general sense of increased menace, there's a particular worry: the colony's not been self-sufficient in food for a long time, and much of its rice suppy comes from South East Asia. And something the Japanese don't do will be significant when war comes: neither now or in the coming months do they occupy Kwangchowan (now Guangzhouwan) a French enclave on the Chinese mainland. This remains in the hands of the Free French, and ferry services there continue during the occupation, providing an escape or emigration route for those seeking to leave the colony until the Japanese finally invade in February 1943.

Source:

W. G. Beasley, Japanese Imperialism, 1894-1945, 1987, 230-232

A report in today's Hong Kong Telegraph states that fifteen Americans, twelve of them children, have left Hong Kong this week on the President Pierce.

They're from the Alliance Children's Hostel in Belfran Road, which is transferring to the USA. It was founded in 1932 to give American missionaries a place to leave their children to be educated in Hong Kong while they evangelised in China.

The three adults leaving are Mrs John Bechtel and Mr and Mrs C. B. Carter, and the children include Harriet and John H. Bechtel. The Rev. John Bechtel, who's been running the hostel with his wife since its opening, stays on with Miss M. E. Whitney to continue mission work.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, July 14, 1941, page 3

Note: John Bechtel was interned in Stanley and later wrote a partially fictionalised account of his time in Hong Kong called Fetters Fall.

The Straits Times (Malaya) reports on page 10 that John Pennefather-Evans, Hong Kong's Police Chief, has visited Chungking (Chongqing), capital of Free China, to study the methods used in coping with Japanese air raids. He found the morale there excellent and was deeply impressed by the 'cheerfulness' of the population. The article concludes by referring to his previous police experience in Malaya and Singapore.

With effect from today Alexander Charles Meredith, M.C., a banker, becomes Controller of Food, replacing David Locke Newbigging, who's resigned. He'd been acting Food Controller since June 28 during Newbigging's absence from the Colony.

Sources:

Hong Kong Government Gazette, August 15, 1941, 1243

Hong Kong Government Gazette, June 27, 1941, 984

With effect from today Walter Richardson Scott becomes Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Source:

Hong Kong Government Gazette, August 29, 1941, page 1293 (dated August 25)

The Hong Kong Telegraph (page 5) announces that Sir Arthur Blackburn, Counsellor at the British Embassy in Chungking, is recuperating in the Queen Mary Hospital from injuries received during an air raid.

At 3 p.m. Captain C. C. A. Hobbs is found by his wife dead at their  home in May Road with a bullet wound in his head and a revolver clutched in his right hand.

Captain Hobbs was an architect seconded to the Government Air Raid Precaution Department and earlier today he'd given evidence to the Commission appointed by the Governor to look into allegations of corruption in the Architectural Branch of the ARP.

He'd given evidence for one hour in the morning and been instructed to re-appear at 3 p.m. with 'certain documents'.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, August 25, 1941, page 3

Note:

Today's dramatic events had an impact on Stanley Camp. Whatever, the truth of the matter, many people now believed that allegations of corruption in the construction of Hong Kong's air raid system were proved, so the Government's reputation - shaken by the way some wives of important people had dodged the 1940 evacuation to Australia - suffered a further blow.

What was perceived as the Colony's swift defeat in war, compounded by the apparent promise of rescue by a Chinese army that was in fact nowhere near close enough to influence events, completed the job of discrediting the authorities. This meant that when Franklin Gimson arrived in Stanley in March 1942 he found a camp in mutiny against the old Government and had to work long and hard to assert his authority, and even then was forced to share what power there was with elected representatives. Gimson arrived to take up his appointment as Colonial Secretary the day before the Japanese attack - perhaps on the day itself - and had no role in military decisions, so he was reponsible for none of the things that led to what has been called the 'revolutionary' mood in the camp in its first few months, but this made little difference.

The truth about the ARP allegations will never be known, as the presiding Judge, P. E. F. Cressall, died in Stanley and the draft report he had with him was never found. Historian Tony Banham and Barbara Anslow (who worked for the ARP Department of the time) have both cast doubt on the widespread perception that everyone was guilty as rumoured - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stanley_camp/message/1202

However, G. B. Endacott states that the evidence of inefficiency and graft that the commission uncovered was clear enough, and 1941 also saw a worrying report into the operations of the Immigration Department, so there does seem to have been some weight behind doubts about the operation of the pre-war Governmental machine, however unfair it was that Gimson should have to bear the brunt of this disillusion. (G. B. Endacott and Alan Birch, Hong Kong Eclipse, 1978, 51-52; 13-14)

There's a coup at the Evacuation Representation Committee: a 'mass meeting' at the Peninsula Hotel passes a vote of no confidence in the committee, which resigns as a body. A new committee is elected.

On August 20 the Acting Honorary Secretary W. V. Taylor had written to the South China Morning Post making 'certain accusations' against his fellow members and announcing his intention to resign. Mr. Taylor expanded his case at the meeting, but the Chairman C. E. Terry denied the implication of 'bad faith' and was supported by the Vice-Chairman G. F. MacGregor. One committee member, policeman Jim Shepherd, gave some support to Taylor.

R. J. Banks was elected Chairman, with Taylor now confirmed as Honorary Secretary and Shepherd one of the committee members.

The meeting also resolved to present a letter demanding an end to the Evacuation Order to the Governor, but when committee members try to present it at 6 p.m. tomorrow it will not be 'convenient' to see them.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, September 1, 1941, page 3

Governor Sir Geoffrey Northcote and Dr. G. A. C. Herklots broadcast over Radio ZBW on the 'Colony's new project' - a Fisheries Research Station.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, September 8, 1941, page 3

There's a meeting of the 'bachelor-husbands' at the Rose Room of the Peninsula Hotel, sparsely attended at the start but swelling to about 350.

The mood varies from indignation to good humour as the husbands discuss how to further their case. The most militant speaker is J. Thompson, who recommends they 'down tools' for a limited period to catch the attention of the British press. At the other extreme is R. J. Clark, who recommends soft-pedalling for a month - by that time the situation in the Far East will be clarified, one way or the other.

'Immediate warm approval' meets the proposal to demand a public inquiry - not into the 'why?' of the evacuation but into the 'how?'.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, September 8, 1941, page 3

Anglican Bishop Ronald Hall leaves Hong Kong for an American lecture tour designed to raise funds for China relief. He will not return to the Colony until early October 1945.

Source:

China Mail, September 26, 1945, 3

New Governor Sir Mark Aitchison Young arrives and is given a 'rousing welcome' at Queen's Pier. Those present include Major-General Christopher Maltby, Sir Atholl and Lady Gertrude MacGregor, George Kennedy-Skipton, Maurice Frederick Key, Selwyn-Selwyn Clarke, Sir Vandeleur Grayburn and Lady Mary, J. P. Pennefather-Evans, T. E. Pearce and Mrs. Pearce, American Consul-General Addison Southard, Professor Lancelot Forster and Drs. N. Macleod and G. D. R. Black.

Within 25 minutes of leaving the Pier, he's at the King's Theatre taking the oath of office. The speech of welcome is made by J. J. Paterson, tmanaging director of Jardine Matheson, who stresses the importance of Hong Kong 'as a port and as an outpost of the British Empire'. Sir Mark replies that he's long been aware of this importance and he states he's already learnt he'll find here in outstanding measure the quality which he values above all others - 'willing sacrifice and unwearying service in support of the cause for which the Empire is at war'.

Sir Mark decides to broadcast to the Colony on his first day in office. He gives an 'inspiring' message in the course of an interview with E. I. Wynne-Jones, Post-master General and Chairman of the Hong Kong Broadcasting Studio:

...I am convinced that it is only by working together, and by working with all our might, that we can do our bare duty in this crisis of human affairs and it is only so that we shall be able to stand up as free men in the years to come.

Sir Mark hopes that the separations brought about by the evacuation will soon be over - he informs listerners his own wife and daughters are in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He assures those who have suffered 'hardship' through the evacuation measures his liveliest interest and sympathy, and acknowledges that some feel there have been 'inequalities' in the way they were applied.

In the evening a meeting of the Evacuation Representation Committee (husbands of evacuees) is held at the Peninsula Hotel. The organisation's balance sheet and 'receding financial position' are discussed at some length.

Source:

The Hong Kong Daily Press, September 11, 1941, page 1; page 5; page 6; page 7

Evacuation Committee: Hong Kong Telegraph, September 15, 1941, page 3

Phyllis Harrop, the 'popular Lady Assistant to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs,' enters Queen Mary Hospital 'for a major operation'.

Source:

Hong Kong Daily Press, September 11, 1941, page 5

A typhoon passes close to the Colony - gale force winds, but not much rain and little damage.

Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke chairs the nineteenth meeting of the Equitable Rice Sales Fund Committee at Medical Headquarters. There are four Chinese members and three British clergymen - the Reverends Alton, Brown and Wittenbach. The Committee made its way to Wanchai Market where they formally opened a communal kitchen for the sale of cooked rice. The success of the enterprise was proved by the fact that 500 bowls were sold in the half hour after the 4.30 p.m. opening and the rice was sold out in 2 hours. It was agreed that one of the Chinese members, C. C. Liao, would act as Director of the kitchen.

Selwyn-Clarke informed the Committee that a decision would be made within the current week as to a recommendation he'd made to subsidise unpolished rice.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, September 22, 1941, page 3

A mass meeting of the evacuated wives is held in Melbourne, and as a result a cable is sent to the Honorary Secretary of the Evacuation Representation Committee, W. V. Taylor:

Please transmit to the Governor the following: Wives' position very desperate; great mental distress increasing daily; lifting of ban very vital; otherwise extremely serious results.

Taylor receives the message on the 24th, and releases it to the press on the next day.

Source:

Hong Kong Telegraph, September 29, 1941, page 3

About 400 'bachelor-husbands' (officially the Evacuation Representation Committee) meet at the Peninsula Hotel, Committee Chairman R. J. Banks presiding.

Mr. Banks states that even if the evacuation should be undone immediately, he would still demand a public enquiry into its operation.

Hon. Sec. W. V. Taylor gives the meeting the apparently good news that the Governor will recommend to the Home Government the revocation of the decree at the 'earliest possible moment'. But derisory noises are made when he adds that the Governor will act on the 'counsel of his military and civil advisers', as it's felt that their opinions are known and will not change.

The meeting collects a shade under $740 for Committee funds, and when this is announced a voice shouts, 'This money might have gone to the Bomber Fund if not for the evacuation'.

The meeting, which is attended by some women, attests its patriotism by closing with the singing of the National Anthem.

Dr. Selwyn-Clarke reports that data collected over a three months period at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kennedy Town lent a degree of confirmation to the theory that malnutrition contributes to death from cholera - patients given Vitamin B1 showed a mortality rate of 20.5% and the controls 33%.

Sources:

Enquiry: Hong Kong Daily Press, September 25, 1941, page 1

All else: Hong Kong Telegraph, September 29, 1941, page 3

Selwyn-Clarke: Hong Kong Daily Press, September 25, 1941, page 9

Today is a fateful day for 2,000 young Canadians and their families: Prime Minister Mackenzie King and his cabinet make the final decision to send the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada to reinforce Hong Kong. They'll leave Vancouver on October 27 and arrive in Hong Kong on November 16. They will become the first Canadians to see action in WW11 and the 1400 or so who survive will  endure the dreadful conditions of Shamshuipo, Argyle Street and the Japanese labour camps.

Why did the Canadians get sent to Hong Kong? A New Theory

David Macri, in Clash of Empires in South China (2012) has put forward a remarkable but carefully documented theory as to why the Canadians were sent to take part in an apparently hopeless defence. The salient points of his thesis are:

1 The troops were not sent, as had previously been assumed, as part of a commitment to the defence of the British Empire (282);

2 The context for the decision to send them was the desperate struggle of the Soviet Union against the three invading German army groups in the autumn of 1941 (272-275);

3 The nightmare scenario for the British and Americans was that Chinese resistance to the Japanese would collapse and that this would in its turn bring about a failure of Russian will to continue the fight - or even a direct Japanese assault on mineral-rich Siberia (277);

4 The Canadians were sent to show Chiang Kai-shek that the British were determined to mount a serious defence of Hong Kong and thus stiffen his resolve and prevent him from making peace with the Japanese - but the real recipient of the message was Josef Stalin, who would be encouraged by a firm British defence policy in the East, and in particular support for his Chinese ally, to continue his fight with the Germans (11, 282-283);

5 Although the British were in complete agreement with this policy, the real movers behind it were the Americans - in general Canada was by now more allied to the USA than to Britain and its Empire, and Macri claims that 'Canada's policy of military intervention in China originated inside the White House' (11, 279);

6 The Canadians were not sent to deter the Japanese - in fact, Macri describes them as a 'provocation' - as both America and Britain had reasons for wanting the Japanese to be seen to begin a war they expected or even wanted (272, 279); 

7 In the event of American public opinion needing to be convinced of the necessity to commit troops to Asia, a heroic defence of Hong Kong and one involving the shedding of Canadian blood would have great propaganda value (279).

This is, to put it mildly, a radical over-turning of the usual view that the October-November reinforcement was all about the defence of the Empire, whether seen as a legitimate or unjustifiable use of the lives of young Canadians. I'm not sure that all of the points above are consistent with one another - for example, if the aim was to avoid a Japanese thrust northwards from China into Russia, then why strengthen the defences to the south, which was the obvious alternative route for an attack? But international strategy can't always be consistent because so many variables are always in play, and Macri's grasp of various 'big pictures' is impressive. Further, his detailed account of the role played by Hong Kong in assisting the Chinese war effort in the south should explode once and for all the myth that the Colony was 'a sleepy British imperial outpost' (7) in the years before the Japanse attack.* Anyone interested in Hong Kong's pre-war and wartime history should know about this book and its ideas.

* I've attempted to put an end to this myth from a different perspective in three blog posts, the first of which is https://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/pre-war-hong-kong-the-myth-…