[
    {
        "id": 208609,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 66,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n39\n\nmattresses. As the Bishop's house is built on the side of a hill, as are in fact practically all the houses in Hong Kong, the outer wall of our dugout, facing north, was on a level with the garden, so as an extra precaution against bomb fragments, a heavy loose stone wall had been built up outside as high as the ceiling. There was but one small window and this we covered up in accordance with the blackout regulations. In this emergency dugout, His Excellency, Fathers Craig and Downs slept a little more securely than in the upper rooms. Father Rosello, however, kept to his upper room. One night, during the early days of the war, we were rudely awakened by a terrific blast, which must have shaken the whole island. We could hear fragments of shells or bombs falling just outside of our improvised loose stone wall, and it seemed as if the Cathedral had been hit with a salvo of shells. We could learn nothing that night and after a while returned to our couches.\n\nLater we heard the story. It seems that the British had a large store of dynamite or TNT on Green Island and it was decided to transfer this explosive to the Hong Kong shore. For this duty a squad of volunteers was chosen, comprising some British and Chinese police. As the story goes, they were instructed to leave Green Island at a certain predetermined time, but in some way or other, they started earlier. As their boat containing this high explosive neared the Hong Kong side, someone, fearing it was an enemy vessel, fired on it, and that was the tremendous explosion that shook the whole island, and which blew all those brave volunteers into eternity.\n\nAs was remarked above, the Bishop's house is situated on quite an eminence overlooking the harbor, and consequently we had a real grandstand view of the attack on Hong Kong. From our vantage point we saw shells fall in various parts of Kowloon; saw them encircle and finally land directly on Stonecutters Island, a fortified zone in the harbor; heard them whistle over our heads and strike the Navy Yard and other points to the east, and the Peak to the South. We could not see the shelling and bombing of Mount Davis, another fortified zone, but we could hear distinctly enough. From our vantage point we watched ships burning and scuttled in the eastern approaches to the harbor; we saw planes circling over Lyemoon forts, we saw the feeble anti-aircraft actions against the marauding planes. The fire from these ack-ack guns seemed brisk",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208612,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1979",
        "page_number": 69,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "42\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nrelease, at least of a few of his most important helpers. In the meantime, Father Craig had taken up his residence with the Italian Sisters at their Canossian Convent where, in addition to their large family, there was a large number of refugees and orphans. More people were crowding into the Bishop's house as a place of comparative safety and were loath to return to their homes. Little children kept close to their mothers, and fathers walked around distractedly, not knowing what to do or to expect. All heard Mass every morning, which was celebrated in the Bishop's house after daylight, as we were not allowed to have any lights showing. We said Mass as early as we could, but very often during one's Mass planes were roaring overhead, bombs dropped, shells screeching and anti-aircraft batteries popping all around, so that Father Downs confessed that more than once his knees were pretty wobbly as he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice.\n\nNaturally during these first days of the war, all sorts of rumors were abroad. Of course we knew that the Japanese had landed somewhere in the New Territories and that the British troops had engaged them in battle, as we could hear the distant boom of guns, but with what success we knew not, until reports began to come in that the Japanese were in Shamshuipo on the outskirts of Kowloon. This heightened the fears of the populace of Hong Kong, but still everyone hoped that the British troops would succeed in holding back the enemy. However, the booming of heavy guns came nearer and nearer and finally news came that the Japanese were actually in Kowloon.\n\nOn Thursday, and on the following morning, we distinctly heard machine guns rat-a-tatting away not far from the Kowloon Star Ferry landing. We later learned that Indian troops were fighting a rearguard action at this point, and from then on all communication with Kowloon ceased, the last ferry being scuttled on the Hong Kong side.\n\nAbout this time, during an air raid, a bomb struck one of the many godowns or warehouses along the Kowloon dock area, and immediately a huge volume of yellowish-green smoke rose up from the ruins. Evidently some sort of chemicals were stored there and the fire burned for several days, casting a lurid light at night on the surrounding buildings. Shortly after, also, a string of small barges was seen slowly drifting away from the Kowloon docks and out",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938",
        "rank": 0
    }
]