Download or read book Hong Kong Volunteers in Battle written by Evan Stewart and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-07 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the same day as the assault on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong. Among the colony's garrison were regiments from Britain, Canada and India as well as men from the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps: 'The Volunteers'.The HKVDC deployed a fighting strength of 1,900 officers and men. Over the next 17 days, until the surrender on Christmas Day 1941, 'The Volunteers' saw action all over Hong Kong. This is the story of their battle.
Download or read book Hong Kong Volunteers in Battle written by Evan Stewart and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hong Kong Volunteers in Battle", when originally published in 1953, was the first general account of the battle for Hong Kong in December 1941. It has served as a source for other books in the conflict and is particularly significant as it was written by a Company Commander who took part in the battle. This is the first edition to acknowledge the author, Evan Stewart, who commanded the Hong Kong Defence Volunteer Corps No.3 (Machine Gun) Company in the fighting and, although injured, continued to fight with distinction for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
Download or read book Battle For Hong Kong written by Oliver Lindsay and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2016-09-14 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable study of the Far Eastern War, Oliver Lindsay and John R Harris have provided the most thorough and searching enquiry into the debacle which led to over 12,000 British, Canadian, Indian and Chinese defenders surrendering Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941. The authors have made use of a mass of unpublished material - part of it drawn from the original war diaries which have never before been in the public domain.Although it is over 60 years since Hong Kong was liberated from the Japanese, numerous important questions regarding the war in the East and occupation of the Colony from 1941 to 1945 have not been explored until now. To what extent, for example, were Churchill and the successive Chiefs of the Imperial General Staff responsible for abandoning this outpost, which could not be reinforced when attacked or defended adequately? Is it true that fine leadership prolonged the fighting, inflicting serious casualties on the highly experienced Japanese when they struck in 1941? How useful was Britain's spying organization in China, which led to catastrophic repercussions for the POWs and Internees? What form did the Japanese atrocities take upon the helpless captives?This detailed and authoritative account of the campaign will provide a particularly compelling read for those interested in the Second World War or the history of the Far East.
Download or read book Fighting for Two Kings written by Frode Olsen and published by . This book was released on 2020-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There were just a handful of Danish people in Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked in December 1941, and they had to decide: would they fight? The Danish consul in Shanghai forbade them to swear allegiance to the British crown--required of the soldiers who joined the Hong Kong volunteer force--but they ignored him. They fought, and some of them died for the British King and for Hong Kong. The rest were confined in prisoner-of-war camps or shipped to work in coal mines in Japan. This is the story of those Danes and of their families in the British colony on the coast of China, told with heartbreaking detail from letters and interviews with the survivors. It is a story which transcends nationalities and eras, a story of heroism and tragedy, cruelty, and courage.
Download or read book Battle for Hong Kong December 1941 written by Philip Cracknell and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 25 December 1941 is known to this day by the people of Hong Kong as ‘Black Christmas’. The battle for Hong Kong is a story that deserves to be better known.
Download or read book Scouting in Hong Kong 1910 2010 written by Paul Kua and published by Propius Press. This book was released on 2024-05-05 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scouting in Hong Kong, 1910-2010: Citizenship training in colonial and Chinese contexts, originally issued in 2011 as a hardcover book when the Hong Kong youth movement celebrated its centenary, is republished with revisions in 2024 as a paperback and an ebook. The narratives and analyses developed here covered the "what, how, when and who" and the "why and so what" of the development of the Hong Kong Scout Movement from 1910 to 2010, using a large volume of primary sources. It tells the story of Hong Kong Scouting based the theme of citizenship training for youth and its defining categories, esp. that of race, class, gender, and age, both colonial and post'colonial. The book is also richly illustrated with interesting and instructive images, many of which came from the Hong Kong Scout Archives. The study, originally based on a Ph. D. dissertation, is not meant to be an institutional hagiography. Instead, it is a critical study aimed at both general readers and readers with more specific interests, and should enrich their understanding of the histories of Scouting, youth, citizenship education, the colonies, the British Empire, and decolonization, China and Hong Kong.
Download or read book Not the Slightest Chance written by Tony Banham and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2003-02-01 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 10% of Hong Kong's defenders were killed in battle; a further 20% died in captivity. Those who survived seldom spoke of their experiences. Many died young. The little 'primary' material surviving – written in POW camps or years after the events – is contradictory and muddled. Yet with just 14,000 defending the Colony, it was possible to write from the individual's point of view rather than that of the Big Battalions so favoured by God (according to Napoleon) and most historians. The book assembles a phase-by-phase, day-by-day, hour-by-hour, and death-by-death account of the battle. It considers the individual actions that made up the fighting, as well as the strategies and plans and the many controversies that arose. Not the Slightest Chance will be of interest to military historians, Hong Kong residents and visitors, and those in the UK, Canada, and elsewhere whose family members fought, or were interned, in Hong Kong during the war years.
Download or read book Escape from Hong Kong written by Tim Luard and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 25 December 1941, the day of Hong Kong's surrender to the Japanese, Admiral Chan Chak—the Chinese government's chief agent in Hong Kong—and more than 60 Chinese and British intelligence, naval and marine personnel made a dramatic escape from the invading army. They travelled on five small motor torpedo boats—all that remained of the Royal Navy in Hong Kong—across Mirs Bay, landing at a beach near Nanao. Then, guided by guerrillas and villagers, they walked for four days through enemy lines to Huizhou, before flying to Chongqing or travelling by land to Burma. The breakout laid the foundations of an escape trail jointly used by the British Army Aid Group and the East River Column for the rest of the war. Chan Chak, the celebrated "one-legged admiral", became Mayor of Canton after the war and was knighted by the British for his services to the Allied cause. His comrade in the escape, David MacDougall, became head of the civil administration of Hong Kong in 1945. This gripping narrative account of the escape draws on a wealth of primary sources in both English and Chinese and sheds new light on the role played by the Chinese in the defence of Hong Kong, on the diplomacy behind the escape, and on the guerillas who carried the Admiral in a sedan chair as they led his party over the rivers and mountains of enemy-occupied China. Escape from Hong Kong will appeal not just to military historians and those with a special interest in Hong Kong and China but also to anyone who appreciates a good old-fashioned adventure story.
Download or read book Hong Kongers in the British Armed Forces 1860 1997 written by Chi Man Kwong and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first systematic study of the experience of the more than 30,000 Hong Kong men and women who served in the British armed forces from the Opium Wars to the end of the British rule, putting them in the context of Hong Kong history, the history of the British Empire, and the military history of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Download or read book The Endless Battle written by Andy Flanagan and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Near the end of October 1941, a few hundred soldiers from New Brunswick were among the 1,975 Canadian troops who set sail from Vancouver to reinforce the British Colony of Hong Kong. Within two short months, after a hard-fought but disastrous battle against the Imperial Japanese Army, the island fell to the invaders on Christmas Day, and its defenders were ordered to surrender by the governor of Hong Kong. The survivors were taken captive. Based on the first-hand accounts of the author's father, Andrew "Ando" Flanagan, a rifleman from Jacquet River, NB, The Endless Battle explores the Battle of Hong Kong and its long aftermath, through the eyes of the soldiers. During their captivity, the POWs endured starvation, forced labour, and brutal beatings. They lived in deplorable conditions and many died from illness. But the soldiers stuck together, bound by their camaraderie, loyalty to King and Country, and collective desire to sabotage the Japanese war effort. Writing intimately and sensitively about the lingering effects of the trauma of the soldiers held in captivity, Andy Flanagan shows both the heroism of individual soldiers and the terrible costs of war."--
Download or read book The Diaspora Encounter written by Francisco Cruz and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2023-12-04 with total page 631 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mere record of a humane experience in the politics, economics and social mores of colonial life was entrenched in the heritage of a people living detached from the motherland to a frenzied Diaspora Encounter in China. One discussed relativity and the atom bomb; analyzed Marxism and Communism comparing both to Christianity and Democracy. The ships of Columbus pierced that veil and brought the vast continent into view. Today, it is the destiny of America to pierce another veil, the veil of the Middle Eastern peoples of the world. Our performance is to uplift these people to some decency of living. Ultimately, our ending of all wars whether for religious or other reasons is our task and our mission. As a historian in his own right, who is emerging as an author of alternative history, he has captured all his personal history in this memoir incorporating his life experiences throughout his many travels.
Download or read book Light and Shade written by Solomon Matthew Bard and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-01 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of autobiographical essays tells of Dr. Bard's childhood in Eastern Siberia, with a detour to Moscow and the Crimea. He moved to Shanghai in the mid-30s and spent his last school years there before moving to the University of Hong Kong to study medicine. His newly-acquired medical skills were invaluable in his years as a POW.
Download or read book Battle for Hong Kong A Day by Day Account written by Michael Gorman and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2024-11-12 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essay from the year 2024 in the subject History - Asia, , language: English, abstract: A day by day account of the Battle for Hong Kong during World War II, encompassing accounts from all sides during the buildup of hostilities, through the Japanese invasion, to the British surrender at Black Christmas, and the misery that followed. World War II is where all aspects of international society, culture, diplomacy, politics, and the dynamics that governed the world changed, this is no less true for Great Britain, China, and Hong Kong. The power dynamics of east Asia and the cultural and socio-political spheres that governed them evolved to new degrees, particularly in the Pearl River Delta. With various warlords vying for power in China, and the Chinese Civil War pitting Nationalists against Communists, the whole of the land made for a ripe target for Asias’ rising strongman, Japan. The Second Sino-Japanese War ignited in 1937 when Japan sought to expand its empire, having already swallowed Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria, it set its sights on what remained of China and the leased-territories along its coast. Hong Kong’s Governor Geoffry Northcote labeled the British crown colony neutral territory and a free port, hoping to safeguard British assets and honor from encroachment and hostility. When the European War broke out two years later in 1939, Japan allied itself with Britain’s expanding rival, Germany, thus heightening tensions between the former friendly nations, and creating and unescapable path toward December 1941, when Japan would meld the two regional wars into the greater conflict that would be known as World War II. Until then, the British colony and her people were placed under evermore pressure from Japan’s growing threat.
Download or read book Multiracial Britishness written by Vivian Kong and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-10-31 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how British subjects of different 'races' collectively shaped what it means to be British today, focusing on 1910-45 Hong Kong.
Download or read book Clash of Empires in South China written by Franco David Macri and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2015-06-05 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan's invasion of China in 1937 saw most major campaigns north of the Yangtze River, where Chinese industry was concentrated. The southern theater proved a more difficult challenge for Japan because of its enormous size, diverse terrain, and poor infrastructure, but Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek made a formidable stand that produced a veritable quagmire for a superior opponent--a stalemate much desired by the Allied nations. In the first book to cover this southern theater in detail, David Macri closely examines strategic decisions, campaigns, and operations and shows how they affected Allied grand strategy. Drawing on documents of U.S. and British officials, he reveals for the first time how the Sino-Japanese War served as a "proxy war" for the Allies: by keeping Japan's military resources focused on southern China, they hoped to keep the enemy bogged down in a war of attrition that would prevent them from breaching British and Soviet territory. While the most immediate concern was preserving Siberia and its vast resources from invasion, Macri identifies Hong Kong as the keystone in that proxy war-vital in sustaining Chinese resistance against Japan as it provided the logistical interface between the outside world and battles in Hunan and Kwangtung provinces; a situation that emerged because of its vital rail connection to the city of Changsha. He describes the development of Anglo-Japanese low-intensity conflict at Hong Kong; he then explains the geopolitical significance of Hong Kong and southern China for the period following the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Opening a new window on this rarely studied theater, Macri underscores China's symbolic importance for the Allies, depicting them as unequal partners who fought the Japanese for entirely different reasons-China for restoration of its national sovereignty, the Allies to keep the Japanese preoccupied. And by aiding China's wartime efforts, the Allies further hoped to undermine Japanese propaganda designed to expel Western powers from its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. As Macri shows, Hong Kong was not just a sleepy British Colonial outpost on the fringes of the empire but an essential logistical component of the war, and to fully understand broader events Hong Kong must be viewed together with southern China as a single military zone. His account of that forgotten fight is a pioneering work that provides new insight into the origins of the Pacific War.
Download or read book Double Threat written by Ellin Bessner and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "He died so Jewry should suffer no more." These words on a Canadian Jewish soldier's tombstone in Normandy inspired the author to explore the role of Canadian Jews in the war effort. As PM Mackenzie King wrote in 1947, Jewish servicemen faced a "double threat" - they were not only fighting against Fascism but for Jewish survival. At the same time, they encountered widespread antisemitism and the danger of being identified as Jews if captured. Bessner conducted hundreds of interviews and extensive archival research to paint a complex picture of the 17,000 Canadian Jews - about 10 per cent of the Jewish population in wartime Canada - who chose to enlist, including future Cabinet minister Barney Danson, future game-show host Monty Hall, and comedians Wayne and Shuster. Added to this fascinating account are Jews who were among the so-called "Zombies" - Canadians who were drafted, but chose to serve at home - the various perspectives of the Jewish community, and the participation of Canadian Jewish women.
Download or read book Long Night s Journey into Day written by Charles G. Roland and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sickness, starvation, brutality, and forced labour plagued the existence of tens of thousands of Allied POWs in World War II. More than a quarter of these POWs died in captivity. Long Night’s Journey into Day centres on the lives of Canadian, British, Indian, and Hong Kong POWs captured at Hong Kong in December 1941 and incarcerated in camps in Hong Kong and the Japanese Home Islands. Experiences of American POWs in the Philippines, and British and Australians POWs in Singapore, are interwoven throughout the book. Starvation and diseases such as diphtheria, beriberi, dysentery, and tuberculosis afflicted all these unfortunate men, affecting their lives not only in the camps during the war but after they returned home. Yet despite the dispiriting circumstances of their captivity, these men found ways to improve their existence, keeping up their morale with such events as musical concerts and entertainments created entirely within the various camps. Based largely on hundreds of interviews with former POWs, as well as material culled from archives around the world, Professor Roland details the extremes the prisoners endured — from having to eat fattened maggots in order to live to choosing starvation by trading away their skimpy rations for cigarettes. No previous book has shown the essential relationship between almost universal ill health and POW life and death, or provides such a complete and unbiased account of POW life in the Far East in the 1940s.
