The Battle For Hong Kong 1941
7th Dec Hong Kong 1100: The 2nd Battalion in the Hong Kong Garrison ordered to "stand to"
8th Dec Hong Kong 0725: War diary states "We are at war with Japan."
Simultaneous to the Pearl Harbour attack, at 8am 3 Divisions of 38,000 Japanese battle-hardened soldiers cross the frontier. With the support of 80 aircraft they destroy the Hong Kong airfield leaving no active aircraft. 12,000 men were left in defence - some raw recruits - The Royals on the mainland alongside Punjabis, Rajputs and Volunteer battalions.
"At 7am December 8th 1941, the Japanese simultaneously attacked Hong Kong and Pearl Harbour as well as Thailand and Malaya. ...There were only three battalions of British Troops with no air or artillery support, facing an enemy three divisions strong with well supported troops with about ten years' experience in the war against China. We faced impossible odds, so our lines soon crumpled and we faced a ‘Dunkirk' thousands of miles from Britain." William Spooner 2nd Battalion The Royal Scots
9th Dec Hong Kong midnight: key mainland defence the Shingmum Redoubt is attacked.
"All it consisted of was five machine guns and disused pill-boxes, built in 1937, and placed wrongly, although they were inter-connected. The guns were unable to be sited properly. The Japanese overran them and consequently it became a hand to hand fight, culminating in some men fighting with bare fists." George Wilkinson
2335: War diary LCpl Laird reported that he was on sentry at the wire fence outside the redoubt when he saw lights in front. He shouted a warning to Pill Box 401. Then the enemy opened fire on the pill box who replied with bursts from LMGs. The enemy then got right up to the pill boxes and started using dynamite and hand grenades, which they put through the grille of the PB. Sgt Robb and 13 men were able to get out of the redoubt and on top, where they took up positions. L/Cpl Laird also warned Capt Jones and the signal exchange but they could not get out. Lt Thomson and one man tried to get out by way of the grille but were driven back."
2340: War diary Attack on redoubt appears to be slackening, due to fire from Sgt Robb and his 13 men.
10th Dec Hong Kong: The Shingmun Redoubt is captured - General Kitajima later said it had 3 serious weaknesses - the approach was not properly patrolled, there was no obstacle and it was not held in sufficient force.
"The enemy had cut between the Platoons, got on top of the Redoubt and dropped grenades down the air vents. The only way out was by the tunnels, and they blasted everyone who tried that way." Sgt Barker
The Royals pulled back to Golden Hill where few weapon pits and wire defence meant many positions were in the open.
11th Dec Hong Kong 7:30am: The Japanese attack the whole line of Golden Hill. A brisk close quarter fight developed. In a difficult position under heavy mortar fire C and B Companies fall back. D Company was hit in the flank and by mortars, and by the middle of the afternoon D Company was withdrawn to the Taipo Road and all companies moved to Hong Kong after dark.
0945: War diary Lt Col White phoned D Coy and told them they would not withdraw but would fight to the last.
1040: War diary Capt Pinkerton, D Coy established just north of Pill Box 306. Forty per cent casualties owning to enemy machine gun and mortar fire.
1600: War diary D Coy ordered to withdraw.
12th Dec Hong Kong island is repeatedly shelled, destroying most of the beach Pill Box defences. Air raids also continued during daylight hours.
"These constant attacks, with continuous shelling from the mainland, and a million or so Chinese in an area the size of a European city, must be visualised as a background to these events." Capt Pinkerton
18th Dec Hong Kong: After dark the Japanese attack in great force along the north east sector, overrunning the Rajputs and making rapid progress inland. This cut the island in two. The Royals made their stand facing east to prevent the enemy penetrating into Victoria.
19th Dec Hong Kong 0700: A Company is sent to relieve Brigade HQ. By midday it had to withdraw, as it was down to 20 men under Sgt Whippey. The Royals moved to Wong Nei Chong Gap. The key to the Gap was the Police Station. D Company began a frontal assault. A dog fight developed over 100 yards of open ground.
20th Dec Hong Kong 1230: enemy attack B Company and 2/14th Punjabs.
1730: D Company attacked in considerable force and after 30mins forced to withdraw to Battalion HQ, low in ammunition and high on casualties.
21st Dec Hong Kong: Churchill orders ‘The enemy should be compelled to expend the utmost life and equipment. ...Every day that you are able to maintain your resistance you and your men can win the lasting honour which we are sure will be your due.'
0630: B and C Companies attacked in force with mortar fire. Sgt Taylor proved the superiority of 3 inch mortars over the enemy until his ammunition ran out.
22nd Dec Hong Kong 1130: heavy mortar fire on all Battalions. The enemy withdrew unable to penetrate any of the positions.
1500: Fortress HQ ordered withdrawal during the night, to block Island Road and because the enemy had worked their way to the rear of the Royals. It was agreed to give ground around St Albert's Hospital to avoid fighting in that area.
23rd Dec Hong Kong 0200: The Royals had no communication with the rest of the garrison except by runner. Both flanks laid open and any withdrawal might prove fatal. Ordered to lie "doggo" and avoid all movement and after dark to rejoin Battalion HQ in Wanchai Gap. 0900: the enemy attacked along the whole of the Battalion front.
1415: 150 strong party of enemy passed right flank of D Company who were also heavily mortared at 1730, forcing withdrawal.
"On 23rd December the Japanese launched a heavy mortar attack during which I was wounded in the arm and shoulder. I managed to get to the field hospital where I was given morphine and anti-tetanus injections and was put on a truck to go to the Queen Mary Hospital. As we left the field hospital by the back door the Japanese entered and massacred everyone, an incident too grim to recount." George Wilkinson
24th Dec Hong Kong: the seven survivors of D Company rejoin Battalion HQ.
25th Dec Hong Kong: Christmas Day began with ‘Hold Fast‘ from General Maltby. 1550: the order was ‘Fly the White Flag‘ Hong Kong surrenders. Four officers and 98 soldiers answered the roll call in disbelief, thinking it was going to be a ‘fight to the finish‘. The battalion had lost 88% of its officers and 54% of its effective soldiers. 107 killed, 230 wounded.
0900: War diary Message from G Operations state no offensive action to be taken unless attacked up to 1100 hours, maybe 1130 hours, whilst negotiations are going on under a flag of truce in Happy Valley.
1125: War diary During the period of truce, the enemy moved forward, bombed, shelled and mortared all known present positions and other positions. Artillery fire was called on for a mortar position being dug between Wanchai Gap and Black's Link. Guns were laid on and ready to fire but C R A forbade fire till further orders.
1245: War diary Armistice ceased. By this time they had made considerable forward dispositions.
1330: War diary Bombing, shelling and mortaring continuing, and now enemy are machine gunning all positions. Enemy playing merry hell. As result of above C Company forced out of their positions.
1530: War diary Arrived at West Brigade HQ, 515 The Peak. On route to Brigade HQ, a retrograde movement by Canadians was noticed down Garden Road. Col Field asked battalion commanders their intentions and Col White stated RS would fight it out in present positions. Immediately afterwards, Fortress HQ spoke to Col Field and told him that GOC had ordered that the garrison must surrender.
1640: War diary Col White returned to unit and explained to Capt Ford, Capt Glasgow and RSM what had happened.
"At 1643 the white flag was put out. This appeared to draw the enemy fire and his air force was particularly active. All arms were unloaded and a roll taken of all ranks still in action. This came to 4 officers and 98 other ranks." Lt Col White, Commanding Officer.
Winston Churchill as Minister of Defence, wrote to his Chief of Staff, General Ismay on 7th January 1941, "...there is not the slightest chance of holding Hong Kong or relieving it. Instead of increasing the garrison it should be reduced to a symbolic scale... We must avoid frittering away our resources on untenable positions."
He was later to write that his orders had been obeyed in spirit and to the letter. "The garrison, under Major General Maltby, were faced with an impossible task that from the outset was beyond their powers. The Colony had fought a good fight and they had won indeed the lasting honour."
The Japanese forces were commanded by Sakai, and his Chief of Staff Tadamichi Kuribayashi. The Battle for Hong Kong did not proceed as quickly or as smoothly as Sakai had planned, and he was forced to request an extension to his deadline. He had been given 10 days. The Governor of Hong Kong Sir Mark Young surrendered all British forces on 25 December 1941 after 18 days of fighting. Sakai's frustrations over the unexpectedly strong British resistance may have been reflected by the extreme brutality which characterized the campaign and subsequent occupation.
Check Wikipedia for more information on the aftermath. There are also a number of websites devoted to remembering the pain and suffering of those who survived the battle, only to be interred for years afterwards in brutal conditions in the prison camps.
Capt James Allan Ford MC, who died in March 2009, was also stationed in Hong Kong when war broke out. He was awarded the MC for action during the battle for Hong Kong and wrote ‘The Brave White Flag' a novel based on the battle for Hong Kong. Jim's brother Douglas was tortured and killed whilst a prisoner of war in Japan. You can read about Douglas, who was awarded the George Cross posthumously, on this website. There are some excerpts below from Jim's novel:
"It was to be a beastly, secluded and - it was hoped - a glorious little war of extermination. With artillery of corps calibre, the advancing enemy fell first upon the Royal Scots (many of them sick with malaria) and got such a hammering that General Kitajima said afterwards the Japanese thought they had been at grips with a formation much larger than one infantry battalion supported by only a few howitzers."
Their primary defence the Pill boxes were "spread far apart a "skeleton system of defence". From the outside, these pillboxes looked comfortably compact, reassuringly solid. Inside the first, on the right of the road, Morris was reminded of the stairs of an Edinburgh tenement in winter, of dank stone and plaster and clinging air."
"PM to Governor, Hong Kong ...There must however be no thought of surrender. Every part of the island must be fought and the enemy resisted with the utmost stubbornness. The enemy should be compelled to expend the utmost life and equipment. There must be vigorous fighting in the inner defences, and, if the need be, from house to house. Every day that you are able to maintain your resistance you help the Allied cause all over the world, and by a prolonged resistance you and your men can win the lasting honour which we are sure will be your due."
"This was an art of war that had been neglected in his training: the art of defence by simple endurance. You needed no weapons, you offered no violence. You lay on the ground, a few yards away from your neighbours, and kept your head down, while the enemy spent his ammunition."
James McHarg Miller, who died, aged 94, in October 2010, was a Royal Scot from Glasgow who was stationed in Hong Kong when war broke out. A member of the 2nd Battalion he survived both the battle for Hong Kong and the sinking of the Lisbon Maru which happened in October 1942 when some of the prisoners were being shipped to Japan. Of the 1,816 men who embarked 840 prisoners drowned and only 3 escaped. 181 of these men were Royal Scots.
You can read James Miller's story on the Far Eastern heroes website:
http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/james_mcharg_miller/index.htm
