12
How did the Chinese population react to the bombing e.g. were
they orderly or panicky and if the latter were they amenable to
ordinary control or whether it was necessary to resort to more severe
methods?
A.
The Chinese population behaved surprisingly well. Under both
shelling and bombing they remained calm. There was no panic and so
fer as I am aware they remained amenable to all normal methods of
control.
Q. Did the Chinese volunteers stick to their posts throughout the
whole of the siege period ?
A. On the whole, yes. During the second week there were nasty
stories of Japanese shooting Chinese in uniform and as a result of
that some of the A.R.P. Wardens discarded their uniforms. But
generally speaking, they stuck it. Heinsworth told me that during
and after the first bombing of Kowloon the A.R.P. went to work like
clockwork. My own observation showed them to be calm and efficient:
they patrolled the streets calmly and quietly, and their advice to
the public (so far as I saw) was given courteously and effectively.
They kept people off the exposed parts of the streets but did not
themselves seem greatly to mind walking on the same parts. Of the
Chinese volunteers, the A.R. P. were best, the Street Guards (who
marshalled queques etc) next, the combat volunteers close behind, and
the Police Reserve disappointingly last. Demolition work was fairly
good, but was not much required.
A.
Did the A.R.P. Scheme work especially in regard to
(a) the transmission of air raid damage reports to
A.R.P. Headquarters; and
(b) the despatch of the necessary parties to repair
damage, etc.
(a) Yes, I was told pretty well.
(b) Yes, provided the repair parties were despatched and worked
under European supervision. Otherwise they were not dependable.
Q. Were the fire brigade and auxiliary fire brigade able to compete
with all the fires ?
-
A. Yes Except in two cases of very large fires at North Point and
Test Point where they failed to gain control and the military had to
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