Is this diary the only Chinese eyewitness account of the D-day landings at Normandy? Insights and humour revealed in surprise find
Discovery may be only first-hand account of Chinese participation in Normandy invasion
A journal that could be the only surviving first-hand account of Chinese involvement in the Normandy landings in 1944 has been discovered in a rundown flat in Sai Ying Pun.
One of the biggest seaborne invasions in history, the D-day landings heralded the end of the second world war in Europe.
The diary is that of Lam Ping-yu, a naval commander and one of 21 officers sent to Britain by China's then-Nationalist government in 1943 as they tried to rebuild China's naval forces annihilated during the Japanese invasion of the mainland, said history enthusiast Kelvin Hang Yun-kuen, 33, who was involved in the discovery of the diary in an undisclosed location in Sai Ying Pun.
"They found a huge hand-made flag of the Republic of China inside the flat, and that aroused our interest in finding out more about who used to live there," Hang said.
The black notebook, believed to be only one of the many volumes of a diary Lam kept throughout his life, detailed his days at the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, England, as well as his observations on board HMS when the Allies landed at Normandy to open the second front against Nazi Germany in June 1944.
In his entry on June 5, the day before the Normandy landing, Lam wrote: "In the morning, [we all] gathered at the hall of officers, and were briefed the details of the mission … The objective is to cover the landing of ground forces and open the second front.
