एकाए में
-Times
"A JAPANESE-MADE
HELL"
FACING STARVATION IN HONG-KONG
Mr. Henry Bough, a Reuter correspond- ent who has escaped after three months in Japanese-occupied Hong-kong, sent the following dispatch from Chungking yes- terday: -
A Japanese-made hell-that is Hong-kong three months after its occupation. Starvation faces a large proportion of the population. When the Japanese occupied the island, it was estimated there was nine months' supply of food, but large supplies have been com- mandeered by the Japanese Army and shipped
away.
Food supplies to prisoners of war is poor and insufficient in quantity, and there is much sickness. Civilian internees are slightly better. as they occasionally get fish and meat, while prisoners of war are only given rice and beans. I can confirm the appalling stories of murder and rape which have been reported. Many of the worst atrocities were committed in the presence of Japanese officers. They are only 100 true. Many of the women after being attacked were shot.
Several foreign women who were not in- terned have asked to be sent to camp, as they are not allowed to buy rice or any other daily necessities at official prices.
In the early days of the occupation Japanese troops engaged in widespread looting, and men and women were stopped in the streets and watches and money taken from them. Many of these acts were committed in the presence of Japanese officers. Under the pre- text of searching for arms, Japanese troops under the command of officers entered and ransacked premises.
Everything possible is done to lower the prestige of Westerners. Britons were ordered to sweep the road, while others had to carry away dead bodies. British subjects were struck on the face on the least provocation.
All these incidents took place before the internment of British and allied subjects. Notices were printed ordering all enemy nationals to report the following morning. They were given a few hours to settle their private affairs, and only clothing and personal belongings were allowed to be taken. Internees were concentrated in several third-rate Chinese boarding-houses.
After about a fortnight all were removed to a large prison at Stanley, which is about four miles across the island from Victoria. No visitors are now allowed at Stanley. The plight of elderly people is perhaps worst of all- Reuter.
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