Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941

Notes

INTRODUCTION 1 When numbers of ‘killed in action’ are mentioned in this work, they include those posted missing who were later declared dead. The uncertainty of the exact number is due to two main factors: firstly, some but not all of the civilians whose deaths are recorded during the fighting appear to have been involved in war-related activities. Secondly, dates of death of members of the Order of St John who lost their lives during the war years in Hong Kong are not recorded; therefore only estimations can be made of the numbers killed in December 1941. 1. THE BACKGROUND 1 In a bizarre coincidence, the wartime cruiser HMS Galatea was sunk off Alexandria with horrendous loss of life on 15 December 1941, while Hong Kong itself was being bombed and shelled during the lull between the Japanese capture of Kowloon and invasion of Hong Kong Island. 2 Kai Tak was Hong Kong’s main airport until replaced by today’s Chek Lap Kok in 1998. Pre-war it housed the RAF, FAA, and HKVDC Air Unit, as well as civilian aircraft. 3 Modern spellings of Chinese names are used throughout. 4 Many women — and their husbands — objected vocally to this evacuation. Notes 未命名5:: Some women joined the essential services to avoid it; others found ways to return to the colony. All these paid the price of internment. 5 Thus a significant number of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps were in fact conscripts. 6 They were built to prevent enemy vessels entering the harbour. However, the majority of guns were able to fire against land targets as well as sea. 7 To put this in its historical context, the retirement of Hugh Dowding — architect of victory in the Battle of Britain — was gazetted on 1October 1941. This was two months before the Japanese invasion, but a full year after the famous battle had been won over the skies of London. 2. THE BATTLE 1 The size of the garrison depends entirely on who is counted. The total of regular servicemen and women of the army, navy, and air force, plus HKVDC and HKRNVR, comes to a little over 12,000. However, if the Hong Kong Police, the Royal Naval Dockyard Police, the HKDDC, and civilians in the employ of the services are included, the total is closer to 14,000. 2 A British battalion generally consisted of four companies (comprising a total of sixteen platoons) with a staffing of 30 officers and 992 other ranks. It will be readily appreciated that through disease (malaria and VD to the forefront) and attrition, all Hong Kong’s four original garrison battalions were under strength. 3 The 5th Battalion of the 7th Rajput Regiment. 4 Irresponsible TV journalism in 1990s Canada has suggested that the posting of these two battalions to Hong Kong a month before the fighting started was a British idea. It was not. The idea was that of General Grasett, whom Maltby replaced in July 1941. Grasett, himself a Canadian, lectured the Chiefs of Staff in London, and persuaded them in turn to persuade Churchill to overrule his previous directive that Hong Kong should not be reinforced. The Chiefs of Staff’s memorandum to Churchill read, in part: ‘The Chiefs of Staff heard an interesting account on the present situation in Hong Kong from General Grasett . . . He pointed out the great advantages to be derived from the addition of one or two battalions and suggested that these might be supplied by Canada’ (10 September 1941, PRO WO 106/2409). We now know that with the Japanese strategy being what it was, even ‘if all their officers had been Napoleons and all their men veterans of the Guard’ (24: 215), the defenders could not have affected the issue. As Churchill himself had said on 7 January 1941, ‘whether there are two or six battalions in Hong Kong will make no difference to [Japan’s decision on whether or not to attack Britain]’. However, the British were perfectly capable of making worse decisions unaided, as witnessed by the debacle — on a far larger scale — at Singapore. 337 NOTES TO PAGES 6–11 未命名5:: 5 This book attempts to leave an audit trail wherever possible for future historians. The first number in parentheses refers to the quoted document, the second — where relevant — to the page. The key is in the bibliography. However, it is not unusual for a description...