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8.
Throughout the period under consideration, there was an increasing tendency for Japanese soldiers to confiscate any motor conveyance they wished; in fact by the 30th it was impossible to go anywhere without an official permit. The result was that the narrow strects were complete chaos for a day or two, soldiers of all ranks and of varying proficiency in driving were travelling or stalling in all directions in every conceivable type of vehicle, in other words there was not very much attempt made to control the troops by the Japanese officers. It was almost as dangerous to be on the road then as it was during hostilities. Organized and unorganised looting by the Japanese was universal; I witnessed a party under the orders of an officer, smash open all the lockers and drawers in the University medical departments and take away all microscopes and instruments of any value. The irony of the thing was that many of the students who were members of the Field Ambulance were compelled to help carry away their own property.
9.
PERIOD 30th DECEMBER TO 9th JANUARY.
Orders were for units to march on markers on the Murray Parade Ground at 0715 hours on the 30th, but arrangements were so chaotic that it took us about five hours to go from Kennedy Road to the parade ground and there some attempt was made to form us into fives and count us. As we lay in Garden Road civilians were allowed to come and talk to us, but in Des Voeux Road which we reached by about 1300 hours we were kept on the harbour side, the other side of the road being lined with Chinese spectators and an occasional European searching for friends. We embarked on ferries at Queen's Pier and were landed at the Kowloon wharf. No attempt was made by the Japanese to keep units together, and in Kowloon one or two armed Japanese who could not speak English would take a group of about 500 men and maroh them off down the road past the Peninsula Hotel; some wandered along Chatham Road but fortunately we persuaded our guide to turn along Nathan Road, and it was obvious that our guarda knew less about our destination than they knew of our posts a few days previously. At Jordan Road we heard the words Sham Shui Po and thither we guided our guards.
10.
On arrival at the camp we swarmed through the gates and were let There was loose just like a flock of sheep being driven into new fields. no one in charge of the camp, no one to allot areas or huts to units. Our staff were about the last to arrive, the General having been compelled to walk through the streets with his belongings on his back like the rest of his command. We had been warned to bring just what we could carry and that this should include 24 hours rations, but not knowing whether we were going to Japan or Kowloon, most people brought heavy loads with the result that many were on the verge of exhaustion when we arrived.
State of the Camp. The state of the camp was almost indescribable. Except for Jubilee Buildings, there were no windows or doors left in any of the huts. All furniture and beds, taps, basins, baths, cooking utensils eto, had been removed and most of the woodwork in the huts ruthlessly ripped off by looters. Some buildings had been destroyed, others martly burned; rubbish, broken glass, tiles, bricks, paper and litter of all sorts lay around in utter confusion everywhere. Most of the latrine buckets and seats had disappeared and the flyproof wooden doors at the back of the latrines were in many cases missing. No beds or blankets were provided for the 6000 men they knew they were imprisoning there.
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