Battle for Hong Kong, December 1941

Resource Information

The work Battle for Hong Kong, December 1941 represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Battle for Hong Kong, December 1941

Statement of responsibility

Philip Cracknell

Creator

• Cracknell, Philip

Author

• Cracknell, Philip

Subject

• Sieges -- China -- History -- 20th century
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- China | Hong Kong
• Hong Kong (China) -- History -- Siege, 1941
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Chinese
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Japanese
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, British
• Hong Kong (China) -- History, Military -- 20th century

Language

eng

Summary

On the same day as the Pearl Harbor attack, forces of the Japanese Empire attacked the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong without warning. Philip Cracknell provides a research-driven narrative about the Battle for Hong Kong in 1941, which commenced on 8 December and lasted for three weeks until the surrender on Christmas Day 1941. Hong Kong had become a strategic liability, an isolated outpost. It would be sacrificed but not without a fight. The main priorities for the British in Asia were Malaya and Singapore. The Crown colony was gallantly defended but it was a battle against overwhelming odds. Crucially, as a resident of Hong Kong for thirty years, the author knows every inch of the ground. He challenges some assumptions, for example the whereabouts of A Coy, Winnipeg Grenadiers on 19 December, when the company was destroyed during a fighting retreat. What exactly happened and where were the actions fought? One can still see so much evidence, in the form of pillboxes, gun batteries and weapons pits. Bullets and other relics can still be picked up lying on the ground. The defending troops mainly consisted of British, Canadian, Indian and Hong Kong Chinese. Dozens were massacred, including over fifty St John s Ambulance personnel - a grim pointer to the hell of the Pacific war that followed. Over the following nearly four years of occupation, an estimated 10,000 Hong Kong civilians were executed. The battle for Hong Kong is a story that deserves to be better known

Cataloging source

YDX

Dewey number

940.54251

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps
• portraits

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction