Battle of Hong Kong

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Pacific Campaign 1941-42
Pearl Harbor – Malaya – Singapore – Wake Island – Thailand – Hong Kong – Philippines – Borneo – Rabaul – Balikpapan – Ambon – Singapore – Makassar Strait – Palembang – Darwin – Badung Strait – Timor – Java Sea – Java – Christmas Island – Indian Ocean – Bataan – Doolittle Raid – Coral Sea – Corregidor – Sydney – Midway

For the movie, see The Battle of Hong Kong (film).

The Battle of Hong Kong took place during the Pacific campaign of World War II. It began on December 8, 1941 and ended on Christmas Day with Hong Kong, at the time a British colony, under the control of Imperial Japan.

Background

Britain first began to consider Japan a threat in 1922 with the ending of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. This risk increased with the expansion of the Sino-Japanese War. On October 21 1938 the Japanese occupied Canton and Hong Kong was effectively surrounded. Various British Defence studies had already concluded that Hong Kong would be impossible to defend in the event of a Japanese attack but in the mid-1930s work had begun on new defences including the Gin Drinkers' Line. By 1940, the British had determined to reduce the garrison to a symbolic scale only. However, Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Far East Command argued that limited reinforcements could allow the garrison to delay a Japanese attack, gaining time elsewhere.

Overview of the Battle

The Japanese attack began shortly after 8 am on December 8, 1941 (Hong Kong local time), less than eight hours after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. British, Canadian and Indian forces, commanded by Major-General Maltby supported by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Forces, resisted the Japanese invasion by the 38th Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Sakai Takashi, but were outnumbered two to one and lacked their opponents' recent combat experience.

The Japanese achieved air superiority on the first day of battle as two of the 3 Vickers Vildebeest torpedo-reconnaissance aircraft and the two Supermarine Walrus amphibious planes of the RAF Station, which were the only military planes at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport, were destroyed by 12 Japanese bombers. The attack also destroyed several civil aircraft including all but two of the aircraft used by the Air Unit of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp. The RAF and Air Unit personnel from then fought on as ground troops. British naval vessels were ordered to leave Hong Kong for Singapore.

The Commonwealth forces decided against holding the Sham Chun River, which was quickly forded by the Japanese using temporary bridges, and instead established three battalions in the Gin Drinkers' Line across the hills. These defences were rapidly breached at the Shing Mun Redoubt early on December 10, 1941. The evacuation from Kowloon started on December 11, 1941 under aerial bombardment and artillery barrage. As far as possible military and harbour facilities were demolished before the withdrawal. By December 13, the Rajputs, the last Commonwealth troops on the mainland, had retreated to Hong Kong Island.

Maltby organised the defence of the island, splitting it between an East Brigade and a West Brigade. On December 15 the Japanese began systematic bombardment of the island's North shore. Two demands for surrender were made on December 13, and December 17. When these were rejected, Japanese forces crossed the harbour on the evening of December 18 and landed on the island's North-East. They suffered only light casualties. That night, approximately 20 gunners were massacred at the Sai Wan Battery after they had surrendered.

On December 19 fierce fighting continued on Hong Kong Island but the Japanese annihilated the headquarters of East Brigade and could not be forced from the Wong Ne Chong Gap that secured the passage between downtown and the secluded southern parts of the island. Again there was a massacre of prisoners, this time of medical staff, in the Salesian Mission on Chai Wan Road. From December 20 the island became split in two with the Commonwealth forces still holding out around the Stanley peninsula and in the West of the island. At the same time water supplies started to run short as the Japanese captured the islands resevoirs.

By the afternoon of December 25 1941, it was clear that further resistance would be futile and British colonial officials headed by the Governor of Hong Kong Mark Aitchison Young surrendered in person at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of (the hotel) The Peninsula Hong Kong. This was the first occasion on which a British Crown Colony was surrendered to an invading force. The garrison had held out for 18 days.

On the morning before the surrender, Japanese soldiers had entered the British field hospital at St. Stephen's College, torturing and killing over 60 injured soldiers, along with the medical staff.

Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong. This ushered in the three years and eight months of Imperial Japanese administration. Japanese soldiers also terrorised the local population by murdering many, raping an estimated 10,000 women,¹ and looting. This day is known in Hong Kong as "Black Christmas".

War Time British Land Force Units

See also: British Forces Overseas Hong Kong

• Infantry

  This article is part of the History of Hong Kong series
  '''Timeline Prehistory Imperial China''' First contacts with the West Opium Wars     First Opium War     Second Opium War British colony (pre-war)     Founding of crown colony     Early 20th century     Battle of Hong Kong Japanese occupation British colony (post-war)     1950s | 60s | 70s | 80s | 90s     Transition to PRC rule After 1997 '''Economic history Military history Aviation history Bus history Postal History '''Declared monuments See also: '''    History of China     History of the UK

  • *2nd Battalion, The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
  • *1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment
  • *5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment
  • *2nd Battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment
  • *The Winnipeg Grenadiers
  • *The Royal Rifles of Canada
  • *Hong Kong Chinese Regiment
  • *Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps
  • Artillery
  • *8th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery
  • *12th Coast Regiment
  • *5th Anti-Air Regiment

  British Defensive Positions

  Key sites of the defence of Hong Kong included:
  • Wong Ne Chong Gap
  • Lye Moon Passage
  • Shing Mun Redoubt
  • Gin Drinkers' Line
  • Devil's Peak

  Canadian Involvement

  The defence of Hong Kong saw the first commitment by Canadian troops to battle during the Second World War. In Autumn 1941, the British government accepted the Canadian Government's offer, mediated by a former General Officer Commanding in Hong Kong and Canadian, Major-General A. E Hassett to send two infantry battalions (1,975 personnel) to reinforce the Hong Kong garrison. The force departed North America on October 27 and arrived November 16. They did not have their full equipment: a ship carrying all their vehicles was diverted to Manila when war began. The soldiers were still undergoing training and acclimatisation. The major Canadian units involved in the defence of Hong Kong were:
  • Winnipeg Grenadiers
  • Royal Rifles of Canada
  The Canadians were initially held in reserve on the Island. On December 8, Japanese aircraft destroyed a nearly-empty camp at Sham Shui Po where two men of the Royal Canadian Signals were wounded, the first Canadian casualties in the Pacific theatre, and the first Canadian army casualties in combat. On 11 December, the Winnipeg Grenadiers became the first Canadian Army unit to fight in battle in the war, with D Company acting as a rearguard during the retreat from Kowloon.

  In the subsequent fight for Hong Kong island, the Canadians lost 290 personnel, 130 from the Grenadiers, including their commander, Brigadier John K. Lawson. The remaining Canadian soldiers surrendered to the Japanese on Christmas Day. A Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously to Company Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, who threw himself on top of the grenade, saving the lives of the men around him. A statue of Osborn can also be found in Hong Kong Park.

  Surviving Canadian servicemen from this battle formed the Hong Kong Veterans Association. They planted two maple trees in Sham Shui Po Park in memory of their comrades.

  Japanese occupation

  

  

  Japanese soldiers marching along Queen's Road on Hong Kong Island in December 1941.

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