Hong Kong's Defences before the War

The Japanese army had drawn up an initial strategy as early as 1936 to ‘destroy Britain’s strongholds in East Asia (namely Hong Kong and Singapore)’ should hostilities between the two countries break out, and this had been fleshed out by the end of 1939 into a detailed plan for an attack on Hong Kong. In July 1940, the Ministry of War of Japan confirmed ‘southward advancement as its goal’, and the Japanese forces stationed in Guangdong immediately made preparations to invade Hong Kong.

Before the Pacific War broke out, Britain had adopted a policy of appeasement towards Japan in the hope that it might reap some benefits from the Sino-Japanese war, and no comprehensive preparations had consequently been made for conflict in the Pacific region. In particular, no measures had been undertaken to reinforce Hong Kong’s coastal defences in the decade prior to 1935. It was only after the 7 July Incident in 1937 that Britain began to construct new artillery emplacements in Stanley, Cape Collinson and Chung Hom Kok on Hong Kong Island, among other places. The fall of Guangzhou and later Hainan Island to the Japanese left Hong Kong increasingly isolated from the outside world. Realising that war was imminent, the Hong Kong Government strengthened both Hong Kong’s military and civilian defences, establishing the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment in November 1941; the same month saw 2,000 troops dispatched from Canada to Hong Kong. At the same time, however, Britain gave in to Japan’s demand to cut off the route between Burma (present-day Myanmar) and China, thus making it more difficult to transport supplies to Chinese forces. Britain’s concessions did nothing to stop Japan’s militarist ambitions: in the early hours of 7 December (Hawaiian time), Japan started the Pacific War by launching a surprise air strike on Pearl Harbour, while simultaneously attacking Hong Kong and Singapore (8 December in Asia). Preoccupied with the battlefields in Europe and in other overseas possessions, Britain was unable to send any reinforcements, and the troops defending Hong Kong were left on their own. In the face of a much more powerful enemy, the fate of Hong Kong was sealed from the beginning.