Lauren-+The+fall+of+Hong+Kong

The British fleet had gone, leaving l0,000 Commonwealth troops to defend two million people. The Canadian troops designated for the job were The Winnipeg Grenadiers. Incredibly, Canada answered England's call without making an independent assessment of the peril, accepting the mother country's assurance that the men would not be in harm's way. Few of them had ever thrown a grenade, some had never even fired a rifle. Because of their lack of training, they were officially classified by the Canadian defence department as "unfit for combat". The British reduced the Japanese to racial caricatures: only 5,000 troops, with very little artillery support, ill equipped and not used to night fighting. The contempt continued: their aircraft were obsolete, their pilots mediocre and unable to dive bomb because of poor eyesight, and it would be impossible for them to cross the half-mile of water between Kowloon and the heavily defended island, since they were prone to seasickness. However they were wrong. The Japanese attacked with 10 times as many men: 50,000 battle-ready, experienced soldiers, with superior weapons and training. The advance which British intelligence estimated would take one week took the Japanese 12 hours. The line that could be held for several weeks was taken in a few hours.
 * Japanese forces launched their attack on Hong Kong less than 8 hours after they bombed Pearl Harbor.**

Both sides believed that the island of Hong Kong was an impregnable fortress, the Japanese aware of the legend that Hong Kong was a strong castle which would take l00 years to destroy. Nonetheless, the Japanese began a five-day artillery assault on the island. And while the defenders expected and were ready for an attack from the sea, the Japanese only had to cross the harbour, which they did on December 18 -- at night.

When one soldier telephoned the British to announce that the Japanese had landed, he was told: "That's impossible. You must be dreaming." Nonetheless, running out of food and ammunition, and "outnumbered 50 to one," according to Bob Manchester the Commonwealth held out for four and a half days. Of the 7,500 men attacking, the Japanese suffered 800 casualties. Their field commander was forced to apologize to headquarters for having so much difficulty against so few resistors.

St. Stephen's College, a private school on the island, served as a temporary field hospital. At 5 a.m. on Christmas morning, the Japanese took the hospital. The doctors greeted them, ready to surrender. They were killed. Then the soldiers began bayoneting the patients. A nurse tried to stop them, but she was dragged away. The survivors were taken to a dormitory, where one after another, they were tortured and dismembered. Five of the nurses were raped and killed, and 63 patients were murdered. A number of captives were spared, but the order was to take no prisoners. At 3 p.m. on December 25, Hong Kong officially surrendered to the Japanese.


 * Hong Kong was under Japanese rule for 3 and a half years.** Japanese General Rensuke Isogai became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong after the British surrender and remained so until the Japanese themselves surrendered on August 15th 1945, after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.During the occupation, Hong Kong continued to be a bilingual island but the languages were Chinese and Japanese, not English. Shop signs and street names were changed accordingly. Lane Crawford had its named changed to Matsuzakaya. The Peninsula Hotel became the Matsumoto. Over 2000 people living in Hong Kong who were of Allied nationality were placed in an internment camp in Stanley. The Hong Kong Dollar was outlawed and being caught with HKD would result in torture. Locals were forced to exchange their HKD for Japanese war currency. But this currency became further and further devalued as the war progressed and was ultimately declared worthless. This meant Hong Kong citizens who no longer had their original HKD were made completely destitute.