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10. I told them I was going to shell the village, but
that I did not wish to kill anyone and that the Half hour
was nearly up. The head man asked whether I would give
half an hour longer for him to go back to the village and
see the people out of it, to which I agreed. 1 also promised
to fire a warning gun five minutes before commencing the
bombardment.
11.
The warning gun was fired at 1302 and at 1310 each of the three ships fired six rounds of high explosive into the village; "Insect" class using 3" and "100RHEN" 6 pdr. I expected the village to catch fire, but it did not. Ships then proceeded to Tai Ping Hu. The inhabitants of Shek Ki
could be seen streaming back as we left.
12. At 1350 we anchored off Tai Ping Hu. An officer
went on shore to warn the inhabitants and issue the leaflets, but the people refused to take the leaflets and turned their backs on the officer, refusing to have any communication with his interpreter. As these people would take no notice of what was said to them a few bursts of Lewis Gun were fired over the
Parties village, which partially cleared the water front. of seamen then landed and poured paraffin on some of the more prosperous looking houses which were set on fire at 1522.
13.
The flotilla sailed and dispersed at 1600. At that time I estimate that about 18 houses and 12 sampans were totally destroyed. More probably caught fire later.
14.
There was a store in Tai Ping Hu containing about 500 rifles and many bags of ammunition which were all destroyed in the fire.
15. As far as is known there were no casualties. Two prisoners in chains in Tai Ping Hu were released. They ran away so fast that it was impossible to interrogate them
which