What happened at the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941?
Answer
About 1,975 Canadian soldiers (the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers) joined British and Indian forces defending the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong against a Japanese attack from December 8 to 25, 1941; 290 Canadians were killed in the fighting and a further 267 died as prisoners of war.
Explanation
The Battle of Hong Kong from December 8 to 25, 1941 saw about 1,975 Canadian soldiers (the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers, plus a brigade headquarters and support units) join British, Indian, and Hong Kong forces defending the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong against a Japanese attack. The Canadian Battle of Hong Kong battalions had been sent to the colony by Mackenzie King's government in October 1941 at British government request. About 290 Canadians were killed in the fighting and a further 267 died as prisoners of war (POWs) in Japanese custody.
The Canadian troops sailed from Vancouver aboard the troopship HMT Awatea on October 27, 1941 under the command of Brigadier J.K. Lawson. They arrived in Hong Kong on November 16, 1941. The Royal Rifles of Canada was a Quebec battalion; the Winnipeg Grenadiers was from Manitoba. Both battalions had been classified as 'C' (least ready) by the Canadian Army's training classification, with limited collective training and many recently enlisted personnel. The deployment proved deeply controversial after the war.
The Japanese attack on Hong Kong began at 8:00 AM on December 8, 1941 (December 7 in Hawaii, the same day as the Pearl Harbor attack). About 52,000 Japanese troops under Lieutenant-General Takashi Sakai overwhelmed the about 14,000 Allied defenders (including 1,975 Canadians, 8,919 British and Indian troops, and 1,800 Hong Kong volunteers). The mainland (the New Territories and Kowloon) fell within five days, with the defenders retreating to Hong Kong Island on December 13. The Japanese invaded Hong Kong Island on December 18 to 19. Brigadier Lawson was killed at his command post at the Wong Nai Chung Gap on December 19, 1941.
Hong Kong's Governor Sir Mark Young surrendered on December 25, 1941 (Black Christmas in Hong Kong). About 1,685 Canadian survivors became POWs. They were imprisoned at North Point and Sham Shui Po camps in Hong Kong, then transferred to Japan in 1943, where they worked in coal mines and shipyards under brutal conditions. About 267 of the 1,685 Canadian POWs died in captivity (a 16 per cent mortality rate, compared to about 1 per cent for German POW camps). After the war, Company Sergeant-Major John Robert Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the only Canadian VC of the Battle of Hong Kong; he had thrown himself on a Japanese grenade at Mount Butler on December 19, 1941 to save his comrades. Canadian Hong Kong veterans waged a long campaign for compensation, finally achieving a 1998 federal settlement of about 24,000 dollars per veteran or estate. The Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association maintains memorials and educational work.
Why this matters for your test
The Battle of Hong Kong was Canada's first major engagement of the Second World War and a tragedy of unready troops sent into an indefensible position. Recognising the December 8 to 25, 1941 dates and the about 1,975 Canadian troops gives candidates two specific anchors.
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada; Canadian War Museum
