[
    {
        "id": 211693,
        "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-1989",
        "page_number": 108,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "83\n\nMartin (H.M. Consul-General at Chungking) died on April 6th. Mrs. Martin fought the Japanese tooth and nail to keep him and herself out of the internment camp and she got her way though she was nearly put up against a wall and shot for her pains. They were allowed to remain in Queen Mary Hospital till the Japanese took it over on January 21st. They were then moved to one of the temporary hospitals (St. Stephens Girls College) in charge of a Chinese doctor, and there he died. The Japanese then again wanted to send Mrs. Martin to Stanley but she threatened to commit suicide, and the Japanese were so impressed that they allowed her to live in the French Hospital till she was sent away with the American repatriates on the strength of her American nationality of origin.\n\nThere are two questions which I am always being asked: (1) How is it that Hongkong was captured so quickly? and (2) How did the Japanese behave?\n\nAs to (1) the exasperation of the civilian population found vent in the bitterest after-the-event criticism of the conduct of affairs by both the Hongkong Government and the Defence Forces. Probably most of this criticism is ill-informed and it would be dangerous to pass it on particularly as I had no opportunity of learning the official explanation. There are however certain definite impressions left on my own mind, and these are that our troops were quite inadequate in numbers to hold the Colony against a determined enemy, that the anti-aircraft defences were completely ineffective and that both the military operations and the civilian organisation were sabotaged by Wang Ching-wei Chinese. I saw nothing of the close range fighting, but I was repeatedly told that our troops were completely bewildered by the apparent ubiquity of the enemy, as they were being fired on from all sides at once, and that, with their heavy equipment and army boots they were no match in the hills for the lightly clad and rubber shoed Japanese who clambered about as agilely as monkeys. I was also told that we lost heavily in the fighting in the New Territories, that there were no reserves to fill the gaps and that it was due to our troops being utterly exhausted by continuous fighting that the Japanese were able to effect a landing on the island so easily.\n\nI believe our forces claim to have brought down 6 Japanese planes during the eighteen days fighting, I watched the Japanese bombing Mt. Davis Fort, Stonecutters Island, Mt. Austin barracks etc. For the most part they flew at low altitudes and made no apparent efforts to dodge",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211694,
        "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-1989",
        "page_number": 109,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "84\n\nanti-aircraft fire, but as far as I could see, they were completely unscathed. The bombing seemed to me to be directed entirely against what were, or might be taken to be, military objectives, and this indeed may be said of the artillery fire also. During the 18 days fighting Queen Mary Hospital, 400 yards from Mt. Davis Fort, did not receive a single direct hit. The two hospitals on the Peak (i.e. the Matilda Hospital and the War Memorial Nursing Home) were repeatedly hit by shells, but I think this was due to the fact that the Japanese were searching for two field batteries which were located uncomfortably close to the two hospitals: this, at any rate, was the explanation given by a Japanese officer who came to the War Memorial Nursing Home while I was there after the surrender. One point which struck me very forcibly was the small size of the bombs and shells which the Japanese were using. I saw many direct hits by bombs on buildings on the Peak but in no case did I see any building completely demolished as my house in Chungking was; and the shells, which I am told were mostly from field guns and trench mortars, did not seem to have much penetrating power: they hardly scarred modern reinforced concrete buildings such as the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank building and the block of flats where my wife and I were living. I am told that the Japanese were using heavier weapons elsewhere, but my general impression was that the Japanese were mainly using what I think Mr. Hore-Belisha called “Woolworth” material.\n\nAs regards the behaviour of the Japanese in Hongkong I think I must distinguish between two phases, i.e. the actual attack and afterwards. There are many well-authenticated stories of the shooting or bayoneting of British prisoners during the attack, though how general the practice was I have no means of judging. (A Commissioner of Customs, Mr. Flanagan, who is in the \"Narkunda\", told me he had seen a number of corpses of British soldiers still with their hands tied behind their backs). There was also a very nasty affair at Stanley where two doctors, three nurses and a number of Canadian officers and possibly others were massacred. There were also apparently numerous cases of rape including a few European women and girls. The situation however was quickly brought under control and there was nothing at all resembling the licensed disorder which followed the capture of Nanking in 1937. We were indeed told by people who were in Kowloon when the Japanese came in, that the behaviour of the latter towards European women was good though numbers of Chinese and half-caste girls were taken off, obviously for ...\n\n* The staff repatriated via the \"Kamakura Maru\" were transferred to the \"Narkunda\" in Lourenço Marques. (Editor's Note)",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    }
]