Date."
+
• District.
Time.
33.
ham Shui Po.
11.45
to 12.30
34.
35.
Kowloon City.
Sham Shui Po.
12.00
12.30
36.
Kowloon Police Headquarters.
21.
11. 12.41
36
state that he had been informed that the enemy were still held in the hills he found the telephones to be dead.
Acting Sub Inspector Wallingford reported that the Officer Commanding the Royal Scots' position at the junction of Tai Po and Castle Peak Roads had in- formed him that the enemy were in the world Pencil Factory and that a detachment were cutting through Cheung Sha Wan Road to take Sham Shui Po Camp. The Officer stated that the British troops would fall back slowly towards Tsim Sha Tsui taking up posi- tions for street fighting on the way. Acting Sub Inspector Wallingford then returned to his post. L. S. A. 115 Watson and L. S.A.114 Ross were posted at Sham Shui Po Camp to watch for the enemy's advance. L. S. A. 7 Dempsey shortly afterwards reported that firing was taking place between the Royal Scots near the Tai Po Road and the enemy on the hillside above the Basel Mission. Further information was received that heavy firing had been heard coming from the vicinity of the Police Training School. L. S. A. 136 MacPherson reported that the enemy were above So Uk Village and the Tai Hang Rubber Factory. Rifle and Machine Gun fire was by now intermittent. (Inspector Saunders, Divisional Inspector Sham Shui Po state that he endeavoured to keep the Senior Superintendent of Police, Kowloon and his Sub Area Commander informed of the situation as often as pos- sible but it was very difficult due to the heavy overloading of the telephones.)
The telephones were discovered to be out of order.
The telephones were found to be dead. Inspector Saunders, Divisional Inspector Sham Shui Po, could get no contact with Kowloon Police Headquarters or with his Sub Area Commander, so in view of the pre- vious evacuation of the Police Training School, of which he learnt when he rang up the Police Training School to enquire from them their situation shortly before they moved off and the local situation he gave the order to evacuate the Station on his own initiative. On the way to the Vehicular Ferry it was noticed that troops were in position at street junctions in Sham Shui Po ready for street fighting. 12.30(:) The Senior Superintendent of Police, Kowloon, rang
up the Commissioner of Police and reported the situa- tion at Sham Shui Po, Police Training School and Mong Kok, and received instructions to evacuate Kowloon combining phases "A" and "B". (Kowloon Police trans- port evacuate to Hong Kong and Kowloon Police main body evacuate to Hong Kong together.) The Senior Superintendent of Police, Kowloon and Chief Inspec- tor Smith both tried in vain to get in touch with the Yaumati grouping line, and also Sham Shui Po, both on the public and Government lines. Sham Shui Po telephone bell rang but no answer was obtained. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Kowloon, gained the impression that the enemy had probably already captured Sham Shui Po and that the Yaumati telephone clerks had absconded. He had previously prepared· with assistance from Chief Inspector Smith two sets of orders for each station covering the two evacua- tion movements, phases "A" and "B" separately. These were now scrapped and he wrote out new orders, covering evacuation in one stage, instructing Officers in Charge of Stations that immediate eva- cuation should take place and that they were to go in an orderly manner as quickly as possible to the main gate in the Kowloon Godowns near Haiphong Road. He called the despatch riders waiting in