HONG KONG 1941-45 WW2 BATTLE SURRENDER OCCUPATION LIBERATION CANADIANS INDIANS VOLUNTEER DEFENSE FORCE KOWLOON SHING MUN REDOUBT NORTH POINT POWER STATION WONGNEICHONG GAP CHRISTMAS 1941 BRITISH ARMY AID GROUP BAAG LISBON MARU ANNIHILATION OF EAST BRIGADE

OSPREY CAMPAIGN No.263 SOFTBOUND BOOK by BENJAMIN LAI

On 8th December 1941, as part of the simultaneous combined attack against Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) invaded the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia and the British colony of Hong Kong. After only 18 days of battle the defenders, a weak, undermanned brigade, were overwhelmed by a superior force of two battle-hardened IJA divisions. What defines the battle of Hong Kong was not the scale just 14,000 defended the colony but the intensity of this battle, fought not only by the British Army, Navy and Air Force but also Canadians, Hong Kong's own defence force, the Indian Army and many civilians. The campaign itself is characterized by a fierce land battle, with long artillery duals and as well as fast naval actions with intense actions at the Gin Drinkers Line as well as the battle of Wong Nai Chung Gap where a handful of defenders took on an entire Japanese regiment. Less known but equally important are individual acts valour such as CSM John Robert Osborne winning a posthumous VC, throwing himself over a Japanese grenade to save fellow combatants.

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Additional Information from Internet Encyclopedia

As part of a general Pacific campaign, the Imperial Japanese launched an assault on Hong Kong on the morning of 8 December 1941. British, Canadian, and Indian forces, supported by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Forces attempted to resist the rapidly advancing Imperial Japanese but were heavily outnumbered. After racing down the New Territories and Kowloon, Imperial Japanese forces crossed Victoria Harbour on 18 December. After fierce fighting continued on Hong Kong Island, the only reservoir was lost. Canadian Winnipeg Grenadiers fought at the crucial Wong Nai Chung Gap that secured the passage between Victoria, Hong Kong and secluded southern sections of the island. Finally defeated, on 25 December 1941, British colonial officials headed by the Governor of Hong Kong Mark Aitchison Young surrendered at the Japanese headquarters. To the local people, the day was known as "Black Christmas".

The capitulation of Hong Kong was signed on the 26th at The Peninsula Hotel. On 20 February 1942 General Rensuke Isogai became the first Imperial Japanese governor of Hong Kong.[16] Just before the British surrendered, drunken Imperial Japanese soldiers entered St. Stephen's College, which was being used as a hospital. The Imperial Japanese then confronted two volunteer doctors and shot both of them when entry was refused. They then burst into the wards and attacked all of the wounded soldiers and medical staff who were incapable of hiding in what was known as the St. Stephen's College incident. This ushered in almost four years of Imperial Japanese administration.

Throughout the Imperial Japanese occupation, Hong Kong was ruled under martial law as an occupied territory. Led by General Rensuke Isogai, the Japanese established their administrative centre and military headquarters at the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon. The military government; comprising administrative, civilian affairs, economic, judicial, and naval departments; enacted stringent regulations and, through executive bureaus, exercised power over all residents of Hong Kong. They also set up the puppet Chinese Representative Council and Chinese Cooperative Council consisting of local leading Chinese and Eurasian community leaders.

In addition to Governor Mark Young, 7,000 British soldiers and civilians were kept in prisoner-of-war or internment camps, such as Sham Shui Po Prisoner Camp and Stanley Internment Camp. Famine, malnourishment and sickness were pervasive. Severe cases of malnutrition among inmates occurred in the Stanley Internment Camp in 1945. Moreover, the Imperial Japanese military government blockaded Victoria Harbour and controlled warehouses.

Early in January 1942, former members of the Hong Kong Police including Indians and Chinese were recruited into a reformed police called the Kempeitai with new uniforms. The police routinely performed executions at King's Park in Kowloon by using Chinese for beheading, shooting and bayonet practice. The Imperial Japanese gendarmerie took over all police stations and organised the Police in five divisions, namely East Hong Kong, West Hong Kong, Kowloon, New Territories and Water Police. This force was headed by Colonel Noma Kennosuke. The headquarters was situated in the former Supreme Court Building. Police in Hong Kong were under the organisation and control of the Imperial Japanese government. Imperial Japanese experts and administrators were chiefly employed in the Governor's Office and its various bureaus. Two councils of Chinese and Eurasian leaders were set up to manage the Chinese population.

In order to cope with a lack of resources and the potential for Chinese residents of Hong Kong to support the allied forces in a possible invasion to retake the colony, the Japanese introduced a policy of forced deportation. As a result, the unemployed were deported to the Chinese mainland, and the population of Hong Kong dwindled from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945.

Furthermore, the Japanese modified the territory�s infrastructure and landscape significantly in order to serve their wartime interests. In order to expand the Kai Tak Airport, for example, the Japanese demolished the Sung Wong Toi Monument in today's Kowloon City. Buildings of prestigious secondary schools such as Wah Yan College Hong Kong, which is one of the two Jesuit schools in Hong Kong, Diocesan Boys' School, the Central British School, the St. Paul's Girls' College of the Anglican church and de La Salle brothers' La Salle College were commandeered by occupying forces as military hospitals. It was rumoured that Diocesan Boys' School was used by the Japanese as an execution site.

Life was hard for people under Japanese rule. As there was inadequate food supply, the Japanese rationed necessities such as rice, oil, flour, salt and sugar. Each family was given a rationing licence, and every person could only buy 6.4 taels (240 g (8.5 oz)), of rice per day. Most people did not have enough food to eat, and many died of starvation. The rationing system was abolished in 1944.

According to eyewitnesses, the Japanese committed atrocities against many local Chinese including the rape of many Chinese women. During the three years and eight months of occupation, an estimated 10,000 Hong Kong civilians were executed, while many others were tortured, raped, or mutilated.

During the occupation, hospitals available to the masses were limited. The Kowloon Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital were occupied by the Japanese army. Despite the lack of medicine and funds, the Tung Wah and Kwong Wah Hospital continued their social services but to a limited scale. These included provision of food, medicine, clothing, and burial services. Although funds were provided, they still had great financial difficulties. Failure to collect rents and the high reparation costs forced them to promote fundraising activities like musical performances and dramas.

Tung Wah hospital and the charitable organisation Po Leung Kuk continued to provide charity relief, while substantial donations were given by members of the Chinese elite. Po Leung Kuk also took in orphans, but were faced with financial problems during the occupation, as their bank deposits could not be withdrawn under Japanese control. Their services could only be continued through donations by Aw Boon Haw, a long-term financier of Po Leung Kuk.

The Japanese promoted the use of Japanese as the lingua franca between the locals and the occupying forces. English shop signs and advertisements were banned and, in April 1942, streets and buildings in Central were renamed in Japanese. For example, Queen's Road became Meiji-dori and Des Voeux Road became Sh�wa-dori. Similarly, the Gloucester Hotel became the Matsubara. The Peninsula Hotel, the Matsumoto; Lane Crawford, Matsuzakaya. The Queen's Theatre was renamed first the Nakajima-dori, then the Meiji. Their propaganda also pointed to the pre-eminence of the Japanese way of life, of Japanese spiritual values and the ills of western materialism.[citation needed]

Government House, the residence of English governors prior to occupation, was the seat of power for the Japanese military governors. During the occupation, the buildings were largely reconstructed in 1944 following designs by Japanese engineer Siechi Fujimura, including the addition of a Japanese-style tower which remains to this day. Many Georgian architectural features were removed during this period. The roofs also continue to reflect a Japanese influence.

The commemoration of Japanese festivals, state occasions, victories and anniversaries also strengthened the Japanese influence over Hong Kong. For instance, there was Yasukuri or Shrine Festival honouring the dead. There was also a Japanese Empire Day on 11 February 1943 centred around the worship of the Emperor Jimmu.

In December 1941, a group of Japanese soldiers killed ten Red Cross stretcher bearers at Wong Nai Chung Gap despite the fact that the stretcher bearers all wore the red cross armband. These soldiers captured a further five medics who were tied to a tree, two of whom were taken away by the soldiers, never to be seen again. The remaining three attempted to escape during the night, but only one survived the escape. A team of amateur archaeologists found the remains of half of a badge. Evidence pointed to its belonging to Barclay, the captain of the Royal Army Medical Corps, therefore the archaeologists presented it to Barclay's son, Jim, who had never met his father before his death.

Other notable massacres also include the St. Stephen's College massacre, and a mass murder at Mui Wo called the Silver Mine Bay massacre by some locals. After the Japanese surrender, fifteen Japanese soldiers killed seventy people at Mui Wo. They burned three villages and captured three hundred villagers, many of whom were found dead.

East River Column

Originally formed by Zeng Sheng in Guangdong in 1939, this group mainly comprised peasants, students, and seamen, including Yuan Geng. When the war reached Hong Kong in 1941, the guerrilla force grew from 200 to more than 6,000 soldiers. In January 1942, the Guangdong people's anti-Japanese East River guerrillas was established to reinforce anti-Japanese forces in Dongjiang and Zhujiang Pearl River deltas. The guerillas' most significant contribution to the Allies, in particular, was their rescue of twenty American pilots who parachuted into Kowloon when their planes were shot down by the Japanese. In the wake of the British retreat, the guerillas picked up abandoned weapons and established bases in the New Territories and Kowloon. Applying the tactics of guerrilla warfare, they killed Chinese traitors and collaborators. They protected traders in Kowloon and Guangzhou, attacked the police station at Tai Po, and bombed Kai Tak Airport. During the Japanese occupation the only fortified resistance was mounted by the East River guerillas.

Hong Kong Kowloon brigade

In January 1942 the HK-Kowloon brigade was established from the Guangdong People's anti-Japanese guerilla force. In February 1942 with local residents Choi Kwok-Leung as commander and Chan Tat-Ming as political commissar, they were armed with 30 machine guns and several hundred rifles left by defeated British forces. They numbered about 400 between 1942 and 1945 and operated in Sai Kung. Additionally, the guerillas were noteworthy in rescuing prisoners-of-war, notably Sir Lindsay Ride, Sir Douglas Clague, Professor Gordan King, and David Bosanquet. In December 1943 the Guangdong force reformed, with the East River guerillas absorbing the HK-Kowloon brigade into the larger unit.

British Army Aid Group

The British Army Aid Group was formed in 1942 at the suggestion of Colonel Lindsay Ride. The group rescued allied POWs including airmen shot down and workers trapped in occupied HK. It also developed a role in intelligence gathering. In the process, the Group provided protection to the Dongjiang River which was a source for domestic water in Hong Kong. This was the first organisation in which Britons, Chinese and other nationalities served with no racial divide. Francis Lee Yiu-pui and Paul Tsui Ka-cheung were commissioned as officers.

Air raids on the Hong Kong area (1942�1945)

United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) units based in China attacked the Hong Kong area from October 1942. Most of these raids involved a small number of aircraft, and typically targeted Japanese cargo ships which had been reported by Chinese guerrillas. By January 1945 the city was being regularly raided by the USAAF. The largest raid on Hong Kong took place on 16 January 1945 when, as part of the South China Sea raid, 471 United States Navy aircraft attacked shipping, harbour facilities and other targets.

The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong ended in 1945, after Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945. Hong Kong was handed over by the Imperial Japanese Army to the Royal Navy on 30 August 1945; British control over Hong Kong was thus restored. 30 August was declared as "Liberation Day", and was a public holiday in Hong Kong until 1997.

General Takashi Sakai, who led the invasion of Hong Kong and subsequently served as governor-general during the Japanese occupation, was tried as a war criminal, convicted and executed on the afternoon of 30 September 1946.