29th December.1941.
9.
This morning went over to see the C.S. did a little work there but everything is at a standstill.
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Streets are filthy and several sewer mains in places have broken giving off a dreadful stench.
Hawker stalls have appeared on the streets for the last two days and tinned food can be bought at extravagant prices. Gambling stalls and gambling dens are opening up rapidly.
The Japs. got the auxiliary fire pumps working today and at last we have been able to get water by going down into the streets with a bucket. It is not mi salty and cah be used for drinking when boiled.
This evening went over to Murray Barracks. Had received a message that the men were imprisoned there and that they were being moved over to the mainland tomorrow morning. Got into the barracks and saw C. he told me that of the Royal Engineers. only two officers had been killed. His Chinese Sappers had done magnificently and had fought well. I heard from other sources that C. also had done a good job. He looks terribly tired but otherwise 0.K.
30th December. 1941.
Cars are being hauled off the streets and taken away. Trucks and buses are also going. It seems strange to see our military trucks being driven by the Japs. It is also amazing to see the number of their own cars and trucks on the island which shows they must have had an efficient ferry service.
I watched for several hours the procession of our troops being taken away to Kowloon. A Japanese bank was playing mattial music whilst they were being loaded on to the ferries at Queens Pier. I have never seen any thing to equal the pathetic sight of our own men being marched off as prisoners of war.
J.A.F. seems to favour the idea of my moving back to my own department. He is afraid the Japs. might connect me with the police and the Chungking people, which means that I shall have to sleep over there with them, at Princes Building. where they have been quartered by the Japs. North has asked me to go and stay with him on the Peak, says I am looking terribly tired and am not fit enough for all this strain after having just come out of hospital, decided against it and told him I will hold the fort for him. He too is anything but fit.
Tonight is the first time I have taken off my clothes since the first week of the fighting.
31st December. 1941.
Moved over to join C.S. staff. 19 of us altogether. We have had quite a large number of enquiries regarding casualties, but it is impossible to give any information. We can get no help in that direction and we cannot compile the necessary lists. Rumour has it so far that No. 1 and 3 machine gu: companies (Vols.) have suffered very heavily, but we have no definite news. The Royal Scots have als o lost a large number of men.
More and more hawker stalls have started business. Shops still remain closed with the exception of those used for gambling.
Streets are still filthy and nothing has been done to clean them up or to remove the large heaps of rubbish. Flies abound everywhere. In pedder street and Des Voeux Rd. sewage pipes have broken and it is running into the gutters. Instructed to keep off streets as much as possible tomorrow to avoid unpleasantness. Tonight isNew Year's Eve, who could have thought of what we have been through in the last few weeks. A toast was druk in the mess tonight to the King and to the Governor, who is a prisoner at the Peninsula Hotel.
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