Osprey's Hong Kong 1941-45

The first land battle of the Pacific war was the Japanese attack on the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. The Japanese had been massing troops on the Chinese side of the border with the New Territories and invaded. Against them were a mish-mash of units including Canadian troops, territorial guard, regular British units and Indian units. The leadership in Hong Kong knew that trouble was going to visit them sooner or later as the Japanese had been running rampant over China since 1937. However, the British did not have the troops or equipment to spare for Hong Kong's defense. They also did not have the money to spare for building up fortifications or training those who were already there.

Despite this, the Japanese did not have things easy. Thanks to stubborn defense and some rather inept tactical choices, the Japanese Army was considerably delayed in their take-over, not overwhelming the British resistance until more than three weeks after the start of hostilities. In fact, it took the Japanese eleven days just to be able to finally gain a foothold on Hong Kong island proper. From there, the ending was inevitable as the British had no hope of reinforcement, and when the Japanese were able to cut off water, that simply sped up the ending.

However, even with the Japanese in control, the story of Hong Kong did not simply cease. There was armed resistance all the time and much of their efforts were in getting POW's out of the hands of the Japanese. These efforts were small, but constant. Such was the situation that many POWs were crowded onto ships and sent to other places in the Japanese Empire where they were used for hard labor, many of them dying in the process or during the trip. Those who stayed in Hong Kong had to endure until the end of the war, even through Allied bombing raids, which started in 1943 and continued until the Japanese surrendered.

The author does a superlative job of telling the story of this entire campaign, especially the influence of the resistance after the British surrendered. It is pretty obvious that the author is either a resident or very familiar with the area as he is able to provide insights that others would not. It makes for a great read and combined with period photographs and excellent art work, is a gripping tale. A book that you will very much enjoy reading and one I can highly recommend. 

August 2014

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