During World War II, Canada did help a lot on the major battle such as the battle of Britain, battle of Ortona, battle of Dieppe and of course the main topic the Battle of Hong Kong. Battle of Hong Kong happens on December 8, 1941, to December 25, 1941. Before the Battle started the Japanese arrived in Hong Kong on November 16, 1941. Canada, Britain, and India were trying to defend Hong Kong when the Japanese attack, but they did not succeed to fight against the Japanese. At the battle why and how Britain and Canada did not succeed in the battle of hong kong, also why Canada did not supply enough men or soldier to fight against Japan.
And after the battle, Japan ruled Hong Kong why the people called that period Three years and eight months “. We will Find out the reasons why Canada and Britain fail to fight over Japan and did not supply enough men for this battle. On November 16, 1941, when Japanese arrived Hong Kong, the Japanese attack Hong Kong three weeks later, and within ten days the Japanese win the Battle of Hong Kong and helped by the extra soldier. That shows that Japanese came to Hong Kong three weeks early to understand the Hong Kong geography, and they might collect some information to know how many troops and equipment that hong kong has to fight over during the war.
So that they would know how many troops they need to fight for the battle of hong kong, the Japanese started the attack Hong Kong, Japanese was so prepared or they have a plan for the battle. When Britain and Canada defended Hong Kong they (Britain and Canada) were underestimated Japan’s power at that time Hong Kong troops they were not well trained to compare the Japanese troops. ( 1. veterans) On the day, Japanese attack Hong Kong 8 hours before on 7 December 1941 Japanese launched the attack on the United States Hawaii at Pearl Harbor, On 8 December 1941 Japanese army suddenly goes across the border to attack Hong Kong. why will the Japanese attack Hong Kong without any signs? ( Paul) For the Battle of Hong Kong survivor said On the day before the battle started it was normal she gets to work and she heard someone told her that Japanese attack Pearl Harbor yesterday, on 8 December 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked Kai Tak airport they easily damaged the few aircraft of the Royal Air Force after the Japanese damaged the aircraft they attacked the nearly-empty camp at Sham Shui Po and two men of the Royal Canadian Signals were wounded. The Japanese were prepared for this battle before they attack Hong Kong they attack Pearl Harbor so Hong Kong will not think the Japanese will attack another country so that when Japan attacking the Border of Hong Kong they do not have well prepared also the Japanese already destroyed the air force so Britain has no control of the air and the troops were out of number, therefore the battle of Hong Kong is becoming a difficult combat early.
( C. Peter + 1. veterans) The third reason was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked Canada to send troops to help defend Hong Kong. But Canada did not have much military because Canada population was small also the Canadian military wasn’t preparing for war or battle. During the World war I Canada Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King sent large number of troops to oversea to fight and lot of Canadian dies, so Mackenzie King was afraid that would happen again but Mackenzie King agree to the Britain prime minister Winston Churchill to sent troops to help Hong Kong battle and Mackenzie King sent out two large group of army that was ready for battle the people that Mackenzie King sent was around 15,000 mostly from Quebec’s Royal Rifles and the winnipeg Grenadiers, on November 16 Canadian troops arrived at Hong Kong Britain has around 20,000 armies that defend Hong kong and we don’t know how many armies that India has but we know the army that we had was less than the Japanese army, the Japanese army that they had 52,000 people and before we go to the battle the air force got destroyed by the Japanese we lost the control on the air so that it makes it even harder for Britain, Canada, and India to fight and defend the battle. ( 2.
veterans + c. peter) The surrender happen twice, once is happened on 13 December 1941, the Chinese troops against Japanese troops earlier on the same day the last Britain troops on mainland Kowloon were removed on to Hong Kong island, the Japanese demand for the surrender of Hong Kong was rejected. Another surrender happened on December 17, 1941, the Japanese repeated their surrender again, of course, it got rejected again but the situation was getting very grim, two of Britain and Malaya relief ship sink and United State were not able to help defend Hong Kong because of United States was crippling at Pearl Harbor the United States have to fight and defend it so there was no hope of relief Hong Kong, and China can’t give help to Hong Kong. On December 18, 1941, Brigadier Wallis visited the Rajput Regiment headquarters and Brigadier Wallis wrongly assured the Indian military that Japanese were not going to attack Hong Kong and Brigadier Wallis grossly underestimated the fighting ability of the Japanese. ( 1.
veterans, C.peter, Kennedy) On December 25, 1941, Battle of Hong Kong was over Britain government Sir Mark Young surrender Hong Kong colony to Japan and Britain signed the agreement after at the Japanese field headquarters at the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel. Japan and Britain ended this 18 days of battle also this is the first time that Britain crown colony had to surrender to the invader. Japanese was taking over Hong Kong it was the worst time when Japanese taking over Hong Kong, Hong Kong people called this period as three years and eight months because Japanese ruled Hong Kong three year and eight months. Until today, December 25, 1941, was referred as Black Christmas, after the battle of Hong Kong 2,133 soldiers from the British Commonwealth was killed and 1,300 were injured, the Canadian troops approximately 290 were killed and 493 were injured and rest of the people are in prison, Japan lost 3,000 troops. On February 20, 1942, General Rensuke Isogai became Hong Kong’s first Japanese governor, Hong Kong became Japan wasn’t enough for the Japanese they celebrated it in a cruel and repulsive way, such as the Japanese people stabbed the injured soldiers, they hit over 10,000 women including girls also they treated the prisoner inhumanely. (CSC, wiki) In conclusion, in Hong Kong people eyes Canada, Britain helped defend Hong Kong but they did not get success on the battle, Hong Kong people still remember how Canada and Britain to help defend Hong Kong. At Hong Kong Park there is a plaque that remembers people that die during the battle of Hong Kong.
After this battle Canadian and Britain got experience from this battle, but Britain can’t get Hong Kong back and in 1943 because of the food supply problem China was disappointing. On August 14, 1945, Japan announced they are going to unconditional surrender Britain formed a naval task group to sail towards Hong Kong, when the Britain Hong Kong government Sir Mark Young return in early May 1946, he pursued a political reformed so that he think that would make the same mistake that they make during the battle. For example, they underestimate the Japanese power they thought the Japanese were weaker than our power but during the battle, Britain and Canada were not able to fight over them and Japan always surrenders but all of these are only their plan to take over Hong Kong. Even Though, Britain and Canada did not win the Battle of Hong Kong but this war was still an important battle for China because this was the first war that Canada fought in the Pacific war.