Katie Theriault - The defense of Hong Kong
Storyboard Text
- Fortifying Hong Kong
- Who should we send to back us up at Hong Kong?
- Just send some inexperienced Canadians and Indians. It's not like anyone will attack.
- Japans expansion
- Do you want to attack Hong Kong after bombing Pearl Harbor?
- .....sure
- The first attack on Hong Kong
- In 1941 the British government asked William Lyon Mackenzie King to send over some troops to help defend one of their colonies, Hong Kong. At the urging from the public King sent over 2000 troops from Quebec city and Winnipeg joining the Indian and British troops already there. The Japanese were "never" going to attack Hong Kong so the soldiers being sent were not prepared for anything other then guard duty.
- Hong Kong island
- Japan had previously been in active warfare in China for a few years but had avoided combat with the west countries. The Japanese mindset that was very focused on expanding japan territory made it a logical decision to attack the underprepared Hong Kong as the next step.
- Black Christmas
- Japans HQ
- We succeeded!
- We surrendered
- 6 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japans 38th division attacked Hong Kong with air force support. In the air, fighter planes bombed airfields and other military supports, while on the ground the army dominated by taking over the mainland.
- Prisoners of War (POWs)
- After 5 days of fighting the ally troops fell back to Hong Kong island where the majority of the civilian population lived. For two weeks the troops were outclassed in both air forces and tactics. The soldiers were short of water, ammunition, transportation, and back up. The Canadian troops had dug themselves into the ground but they were surrounded with no help. Not soon after the HQ on the island was taken over.
- On Christmas day Canadian forces were ordered to retake the south side of the island where it had been previously taken over. This was a suicidal order that was met with disbelief from Canadian troops. Nevertheless they succeeded with 25 dead and 75 wounded, only to learn that Hong Kong had surrendered. This day would become known as Black Christmas
- While the fighting was done the battle to survive had only begun. The soldiers who had survived the fighting were put into camps and became POWs or prisoners of war. The injured were often killed and the nurses were either killed or raped. During their time in the Camps the allied troops were starved, beaten, and did hard physical labor. Hundreds of Canadians died of slow starvation or disease.
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