((Date is approximate. I don't like to identify Mr A and Mrs B here, as some of the family may still be alive.))
I got to a tribunal (held in a little room in the Married Quarters which was the office of the British Community Council) to settle differences between neighbours Mr. A and Mrs B, the latter having alleged that Mr A had threatened 'to knock her block off'.
Rained & temp. dropped remarkably am.
OBJECTIVE: Reconnaissance flight over Canton airfields
RESULTS: Due to poor weather, pilots are only able to observe the satellite field for White Cloud airbase, where they note the runway is in good repair but no enemy aircraft are visible.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:30 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Two P-51s from the 76th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Lt. Croughan; Lt. Wilson
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None
Glad to say that I am now all right again. I have seen both Dr Yaroogsky Erooga and Prof Digby. I had thiamine injections for 17 days and feel the better of them. Prof Digby has seen my piles but doesn't wish to operate on me just yet, maybe early July. We'll see.
Wittenbach / Sandbach
Drown
Overcast, low cloud, showery.
Collected congee from A1-3 kitchen. Some residents still dissatisfied re routine, quantity etc.
Posted June card to Marj indicating need for holiday similar to the one they had down on a farm last year.
Rained too much for wood cutting.
Disconnected electrical hotplates etc as the amount of elec. now allowed will not permit their use.
No paper today so we are sans news.
Ferry service, so called, from HK discontinued.
Hot plates are off! Alack and alas! Why must things get more difficult than they are already? We were told on Tuesday that for the rest of the week we should all be allowed only half our normal quota and that after Saturday they were to be used no more – no electrical appliances whatsoever; that means kettles, saucepans, irons etc. This is due to drastic retrictions which have recently been made in town where there are no longer any trams (including Peak Tram) or lifts working.
Planes over 3.20am.
Rained heavily 7am.
Saving on cigs, we have no means of lighting them. Demonstrates in a small way how efficiently the Japs are managing the production in all their captured territory. Typhoons, earthquakes, plagues, loqusts [sic] & Japs are all in the same category for their destructive qualities.
Brightened somewhat during the forenoon. Wood-chopping, rice grinding & food carrying.
Some plane activity during the day.
Issue of sugar
Issue of Y2.50
Overcast, bright intervals.
Congee musty & rice half-cooked.
Soap 12 to a bar issued, very welcome, ex. Govt. stores.
Paper news 3 days behind & the usual Jap rot.
Steve to practice pm.
No canteen today due to lack of goods.
Planes over 11.30pm.
Main switches in HK pulled at mnt.[Midnight?]
Planes over at 2am.
Heavy rain storm 4am. Overcast all day.
Switch pulling at mnt. to continue & all shops, cafes etc to be vacated by 11pm by order of Chief of Gendarmerie. Leads one to think that our radio news is too good & true for the Japs to allow the public to listen to. Our progress is obviously good.
Anglo U.S. now 80 mls N. of Rome.
Pris. Ind. escaped from Gaol.
With Steve pm.
4 razor blades, curry.
At 7.00 a.m. American forces begin to land on Saipan in the Mariana Islands. A bridghead is established by dusk and a night-time Japanese counter-attack is beaten off.
Issue of Y12.50
((Following text not dated:))
Rained all night. Must be a record year for rain so far.
Roll-call cancelled due to rain.
Wood for chatties much in demand now that electrical appliances are forbidden.
Filed up a couple of canvas needles.
OBJECTIVE: Bomb military godowns, arms factory, railroad repair facilities, and Shell Oil facility at Canton
RESULTS: Haze and darkness make accurate bombing difficult. An estimated sixty percent of bombs fall within target area. Some errant bombs may have landed on barracks near Tien Ho airbase.
TIME OVER TARGET: 8:17 to 9:15 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Twenty-three B-24Js from the 373rd, 374th, 375th, and 425th Bomb Squadrons (308th Heavy Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Unknown
A week ago a labour squad was organised to re-surface the road from the pier below the Prep School to the camp, along which the Jap lorry brought our dry stores – rice, oil, firewood etc. To obtain the broken bricks which were used as a foundation for the surface, we demolished a small disused Chinese temple on the shore. I was with the demolition party and during operations we knocked down some old and dry China fir poles that had supported the roof.
Dull, overcast, raining.
Got canteen gear.
Ground rice for bread.
Chopped wood.
Jap paper quite as usual, we’re losing everything, sez them!
With Steve pm.
Cherbourg captured?