16.
225
days saw continuous bombing, shelling and mortaring of the
island.
Property in the Peak, at West Point and at East
Point suffered severely.
On the night of the 17th the enemy
forced his way ashore at East Point and at Lyemun.
By the
18th he was firmly established on the island. (On this day I
was privately informed that the military situation was hopeless).
On the 19th and 20th the enemy pressed deeper into our
defences, our counter-attacks failing to dislodge the enemy
from key-positions on Wong-neichong Gap. The next few days
saw the continually reinforced enemy press our exhausted troops
back from one position to the next. The island was cut in two.
The main water reservoirs were captured, as was the power station.
Our diminished and exhausted forces, having fought continuously
for sixteen days without rest, without reserves, and without air
support were pressed into the centre of the town on the one
hand, and squeezed out toward the tip of Stanley Peninsula on
the other. On Christmas day the final enemy attack over-ran
our last defences and burst into the centre of the town. The
What troops
surrender was then at last ordered at 15.15 hrs.
we had left were dead on their feet: they could fight no
longer. It was humanly impossible to resist any more.
I have no qualifications to write of military tactics: I
can only record my impression and leave it at that. I heard
soldier after soldier complain that they could neither hear
nor see the Japanese. Many fought throughout without having
set eyes on more than ten Japanese together, though we know for
a