|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
March 8, 2014 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
battle_name=Battle of Hong Kong |campaign= |image=Image:HKbattle.png|300px| |caption=Map showing how Hong Kong came under Japanese rule in December 1941. |conflict=Pacific War |date=8 December 1941 - 25 December 1941 |place=Wuhan and proximity |result=Japanese victory |combatant1=British Army, Canadian Army, British Indian Army |combatant2=Imperial Japanese Army |commander1= |commander2=Sakai Takashi |strength1=15,000 troops |strength2=50,000 troops |casualties1=1,500-2,400 killed |casualties2=700 killed; 1,500 wounded |
The Battle of Hong Kong took place during the Pacific |Pacific campaign of World War II. It began on December 8, 1941 and ended on Christmas Day with the then British colony of Hong Kong under the control of Imperial Japan. The Japanese attack began on the morning of December 8, 1941 (Hong Kong Time|Hong Kong local time), less than eight hours after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. British Army|British, Canadian Army|Canadian and British Indian Army|Indian forces, supported by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Forces, resisted the Japanese invasion, commanded by Lieutenant General Sakai Takashi, to the best of their abilities, but were outnumbered. 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 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 on fought as ground troops. The majority of the Allied naval forces were placed in the seas around Hong Kong, in an effort to achieve superiority in a potential naval battle, meaning the land forces on the mainland were surrounded and outnumbered. The British and their allies decided against holding the Sham Chun River, for it was too long and might cause many perils, and instead established most of its force along the Gin Drinkers' Line across the hills. On December 13, they retreated from the Gin Drinkers' Line and consequently from Kowloon under heavy aerial bombardment and artillery barrage. The Japanese forces crossed the harbour on December 18. Fierce fighting continued on Hong Kong Island and the only reservoir was lost. Canadian Winnipeg Grenadiers fought at the crucial Wong Nai Chong Gap that secured the passage between downtown and the secluded southern parts of the island. Japanese Occupation History of Hong Kong
On December 25, 1941, 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. Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong. This ushered in the three years and eight months of Imperial Japanese administration. After the surrender, Japanese soldiers terrorised the local population by murdering many, raping an estimated 10,000 women,fn|1 and looting.
In November 1941, Canada sent 1,975 soldiers to help garrison the British colony of Hong Kong. They were not fully equipped and still undergoing training. They fought against the 50,000 strong Japanese Imperial Army. This situation lead to the deaths of 557 soldiers (130 from the Grenadiers). The Canadian soldiers all surrendered to the Japanese on Christmas Day. The survivors were all taken prisoner. It should be noted that most of the soldiers in the Canadian divisions were in need of retraining or were not combat-ready. * The defence of Hong Kong saw the first commitment by Canadian troops to battle during the War. According to Veterans Affairs Canada, on 11 December 1941, the "D" Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers became the first Canadian Army to fight in the Second World War. It was also in Hong Kong that Canadian troops suffered their first casualties of WWII. On December 8, 1941, Japanese aircraft reached Hong Kong, destroying its targets including a nearly-empty camp at Sham Shui Po where two men of the Royal Canadian Signals were wounded. The Canadian units involved in the defence of Hong Kong consisted of:
Key sites of the defence of Hong Kong included:
Prisoners of war were sent to:
The Canadian dead were interred at the Sai Wan Military Cemetery on the northeastern corner of Hong Kong Island amongst 1,528 Commonwealth soldiers who defended the Colony. A Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously to Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers for his actions during the battle. The Japanese were throwing grenades at the position that he and his men were defending. He managed to catch most of them and lobbed them back to the enemy. However, he missed one, and the grenade landed on the ground. He shouted at his men to get out of the way and threw himself on top of the grenade, absorbing the full impact of the blast, and thus saving the lives of his men. A statue of Osborn can also be found in Hong Kong Park. Surviving Canadian servicemen from this battle formed the Hong Kong Veterans Association. Hong Kong was liberated in 1945.
Although Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese, but there occurred alot of small guerilla warfare in New Territories by ethnic Hong Kong Chinese. However because of the resistance some villages was razed down to ashes as a punishment. The guerillas fought until the end of the Japanese occupation. Sadly these Chinese war heroes hasn't been mentioned in any historical books in the West as they been overlooked by the British forces. The resistance group is called Gangjiu and Dongjiang force. fnb|1 Estimate from Philip Snow's, The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China, and the Japanese Occupation (see below) via http://www.economist.com/cities/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1825845
Category:World War II Category:History of Hong Kong Category:Battles and operations of World War II Category:Military of Hong Kong under British rule Category:World War II operations and battles of the East Asian Theatre|Hong Kong zh:??????????????? This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Battle of Hong Kong".
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
![[F]](/images/site.gif){kind=small}
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
All informatin on the site is © FamousChinese.com 2002-2005. Last revised: January 2, 2004 Are you interested in our site or/and want to use our information? please read how to contact us and our copyrights. To post your business in our web site? please click here. To send any comments to us, please use the Feedback. To let us provide you with high quality information, you can help us by making a more or less donation: |