Sunday, April 20, 2014

72 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

72 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

21 Apr 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 04:56 AM PST

Book / Document: 
Barbara Anslow's diary
Date of events described: 
Tue, 1942-04-21

Feeling grand, but Mum in pain and to see Dr Kirk tomorrow

Duck egg again.

Spring Offensive reported starting.

21 Apr 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 05:17 AM PST

Book / Document: 
Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
Date of events described: 
Tue, 1942-04-21

Diplomat Sir Arthur Blackburn is sent from Stanley to the French Hospital for leg X-rays. Both Dr Selwyn-Clarke and Dr Court impress on him that a serious humanitarian crisis is looming in Stanley and  in the rest of the Colony: the Japanese are sending food out of Hong Kong and not bringing stocks in. They forecast conditions will become desperate about the end of July and want the British Foreign Office to be told that if no relief can be provided they should arrange to have the British community repatriated. Blackburn writes a short message on these lines to John Reeves, the British Consul in Macao, and Selwyn-Clarke indicates he can get it through.

 

Maryknoll Sisters Mary Paul, Anne, Ann Mary and Maria Regis are released from camp because, although American, they've established Irish descent.

 

The London Daily Express publishes this article on page 4: 

REMEMBER HONGKONG

Starvation threat to prisoners

Express Correspondent FRANCIS LEE

CHUNGKING, Monday.

 COMPLAINTS by the British and Americans interned at Stanley Camp, Hongkong, against their meagre food allowances led to a demand by their Japanese jailers for £5,000 to cover the cost of extra rations, according to authoritative reports reaching Chungking.

 Although protests were made that the demand was illegal, the money had to be paid out of personal bank accounts, as the Japs threatened to starve out the Camp if it was not forthcoming.

 'EXTRAS'

 The internees now receive infinitesimal "extras," including an ounce of fish daily, with their tiny quota of rice. The original rations provided only 900 calories daily instead of the 2,400 required.

The internees are dreading the summer, as the Japanese have not given them any mosquito nets, and malaria is inevitable. They are unable to get clothes, shoes or soap they left behind in the city.

They have no bedding beyond what was brought in when they were rounded up. They are herded in quarters in which six to eight men, women and children are given one room.

The British internees total 2,500, but most of the able-bodied men are in a military camp. The others include older people and women and children.

The internees, lacking outside news, console themselves with reports of the imminent arrival of food ships, or the release of American Red Cross wheat supplies, of which the Japs seized 2,000 tons.

 

Source:

 

Blackburn: 'Hong Kong, December 1941-July 1942', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1989, page 82

 

Maryknoll: Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 2004, 56

 

Note:

Conditions in town did deteriorate over the summer, but those in Stanley improved as rations were increased by the Japanese and the change from having bread sent in from the uninterned bakers working at the Ching Loong to having a camp flour ration also bolstered the health and morale of the internees - the town bakers were not always able to get the supplies they needed so production and quality were erratic. 

 

21 Apr 1942, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

Posted: 13 Mar 2012 12:46 AM PDT

Book / Document: 
R. E. Jones Wartime diary
Date of events described: 
Tue, 1942-04-21

More news re Russian progress & Stalin's affirmation of war ending in Autumn.

Fine but dull.

Kitchen staff pm short for rations.
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