Forces With History #229--Battle of Hong Kong
Part 5 and Final for now
The British, Canadian, and Indian troops defending Hong Kong were no match for the battle-hardened and numerically superior Japanese. The Royal Air Force presence was limited to a handful of ancient flying machines. The Royal Navy had no capital ships in the Far East with the exception of HMS REPULSE and PRINCE OF WALES, which were lost off Singapore on December 10th.
The Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada were keen but undertrained. In the words of Jim Stanton, who much later interviewed survivors, “they fought like tigers.” From December 18th to 26th they were bloodied in a series of attacks and counterattacks with little sleep and scarce food and ammunition, all while under air and artillery attack.
In Forces With History #228 we saw how Brigadier John Lawson, MC, lost his life after being cornered in his headquarters. He sent a last message to say he was going to fight it out with the Japanese, destroyed his headquarters radio equipment, and led his contingent of bandsmen/stretcher-bearers on a final charge. Similar gallantry was performed by Company Sergeant Major John Osborn, who died protecting his men during a grenade attack. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first one earned by a Canadian in World War II.
When General Maltby ordered the surrender of all his forces on Christmas Day, 1941, the Winnipeg Grenadiers had been fighting and overrun on a feature called Bennet’s Hill. The Royal Rifles, desperately defending the Stanley Peninsula, performed a suicidal attack that day. The Rifles’ immediate commander, Brigadier Wallis, refused an order to surrender from General Maltby because he didn’t personally know well the officers who brought it to him. It’s not clear how many men died between that incident and his actual surrender at 0045 on December 26th; all firing stopped at 0230 hours on Boxing Day.
The Battle of Hong Kong was over. Of roughly 2,000 Canadians who had arrived on November 16, 1941, 258 were killed in action or executed by the victors. An approximately equal number died as prisoners of war in Japanese camps over the next three-and-a-half years.
Good summary! It was really a desperate situation and Japenese atrocities against those who had surrendered as well as medical personnel, doctors and nurses will not soon be forgotten by those of us who read that history. It was an early introduction to the Japanese style of Warfare. It is worthy of note that Japan has never apologized for the many terrible acts of cruelty carried out by its troops. Remember what happened to the Chinese civilian population in Nanking.