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before fighting began in December 1941. Hong Kong was almost entirely cut off, particularly after the Japanese occupied Hainan Island early in 1939, thus threatening the sea link with Singapore. There were four regiments in Hong Kong in the summer of 1941. As war loomed, the British had several options, not all of them realistic . They could abandon Hong Kong completely: impossible because of the impact on prestige and the blow to honour. They could cut losses by removing one or two regiments, but this would have destroyed morale. They could leave status quo. Or they could strengthen the defences. They chose the last course, and two inadequately trained and equipped Canadian battalions became part of the ill-fated garrison. Before the Canadians arrived, Maj.-Gen. C.M. Maltby, an Indian Army officer who was General Officer Commanding the Hong Kong Garrison, had under his command the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots (who had been in Hong Kong since January 1938), 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (arrived August 1937), plus 5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment, and 2nd Battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment, both of the Indian Army (arrived June 1937 and November 1940, respectively). Naval strength included three destroyers, but two of these sailed for Singapore on the day the Japanese attacked, leaving only HMS Thracian. There were four gunboats, HMS Cicala, Tern, Robin, and Moth, a modest flotilla of eight motor torpedo-boats, and miscellaneous smaller vessels. There were four regiments of artillery—a Coastal Regiment of the Royal Artillery and a Medium Defence Battery manning the coastal guns, one AA Regiment, and the 1st Hong Kong Regiment of the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery. The last was responsible mainly for the mobile artillery and comprised two mountain batteries equipped with 3.7 howitzers using pack mules and with 4.5 howitzers on wheels. The coastal defences comprised 29 guns. The total complement of RAF planes were three obsolete Vildebeeste torpedo -bombers and two Walrus amphibians.4 As well, there were the almost 3,000 members of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps and the Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Reserve. Canada's “C” Force arrived 16 November 1941. Thus the garrison on 8 December 1941 amounted to 8,919 British, Canadian, and Hong Kong personnel, 4,402 Indians, and 660 Chinese.5 Medical Planning When war began in Europe in 1939, military medical officials at Hong Kong worked to bring medical defence up-to-date. The report for 1939 indicated that their efforts included the planning of first-aid posts, casualty clearing stations, and relief hospitals; recruiting and training personnel; and collecting ambulances, stretchers, instruments, dress4 / Long Night’s Journey into Day ings, and medications.6 Auxiliary hospitals were to be sited at various places (described in the next chapter). An Auxiliary Nursing Service (ANS), created in March 1939, was made a part of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. The medical personnel came from three sources. Those members of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) who were not attached to specific regiments were consolidated into 27 Company RAMC just prior to the beginning of the war in Europe in 1939.7 There were the regimental medical officers and other personnel. And there were the members of the medical section of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps; some of these men had had previous military service but they were in civilian practice in Hong Kong until mobilized in 1941. A few individuals from the first group, a Canadian medical officer from the second group, and the bulk of the third were formed into the Hong Kong Field Ambulance late in 1941. The established military medical institutions were segregated, as was routine practice at the time, with separate facilities being maintained for Indian soldiers. This segregation vanished during the fighting in December 1941. The two main hospitals were the British Military Hospital on Bowen Road, on Hong Kong Island (168 beds), and the Indian Hospital in Whitfield Barracks, Kowloon (120 beds). The latter hospital was to be replaced by the facilities on the island at Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Causeway Bay, in the event of the mainland having to be evacuated.8 Once hostilities began, St. Albert's Convent, on the Island, would provide another 400 beds. In addition, a potential 400 beds could be provided in an emergency hospital to be set up at St. Stephen's College, near the town of Stanley on the southeastern side of the island, and 200 beds in the Hong Kong Hotel, Victoria. The Army...

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