Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong ( 8 – 25 December 1941 ) was one of the first battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II . On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor , forces of the Empire of Japan invaded British Hong Kong and met the stiff resistance of its garrison , composed of local troops as well as British , Canadian and Indian units . In less than a week the defenders abandoned the mainland , and less than two weeks later , with their position on the island untenable , the colony surrendered . Background . Britain first thought of Japan as a threat with the ending of the Anglo - Japanese Alliance in the early 1920s , a threat that increased with the escalation of the Second Sino - Japanese War . On 21 October 1938 the Japanese occupied Canton ( Guangzhou ) and Hong Kong was effectively surrounded . Various British defence studies concluded that Hong Kong would be extremely hard to defend in the event of a Japanese attack , but , in the mid - 1930s , work began on new defence facilities , including the Gin Drinkers ' Line . Key sites of the defence of Hong Kong included : By 1940 , the British determined to reduce the Hong Kong Garrison to only a symbolic size . Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke - Popham , the Commander - in - Chief of the British Far East Command argued that limited reinforcements could allow the garrison to delay a Japanese attack , gaining time elsewhere . Winston Churchill and his army chiefs designated Hong Kong as an outpost , and initially decided against sending more troops to the colony . In September 1941 they reversed their decision and argued that additional reinforcements would provide a military deterrent against the Japanese , and reassure Chinese leader Chiang Kai - shek that Britain was genuinely interested in defending the colony . Canadian contribution . In Autumn 1941 , the British government accepted an offer by the Canadian Government to send two infantry battalions and a brigade headquarters ( 1 , 975 personnel ) to reinforce the Hong Kong garrison . " C Force " , as it was known , arrived on 16 November on board the troopship " Awatea " and the armed merchant cruiser " Prince Robert " . It did not have all of its equipment as a ship carrying its vehicles was diverted to Manila at the outbreak of war . The Canadian battalions were the Royal Rifles of Canada from Quebec and Winnipeg Grenadiers from Manitoba . The Royal Rifles had served only in Newfoundland and Saint John , New Brunswick , prior to their duty in Hong Kong , and the Winnipeg Grenadiers had been posted to Jamaica . As a result , many of the Canadian soldiers did not have much field experience before arriving in Hong Kong . Battle . The Japanese attack began shortly after 08 : 00am on 8 December 1941 ( Hong Kong local time ) , less than eight hours after the Attack on Pearl Harbor ( because of the day shift that occurs on the international date line between Hawaii and Asia , the Pearl Harbor event is recorded to have occurred on 7 December ) . British , Canadian and Indian forces , commanded by Major - General Christopher Maltby supported by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps resisted the Japanese invasion by the Japanese 21st , 23rd and the 38th Regiment , commanded by Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai , but were outnumbered nearly four to one ( Japanese , 52 , 000 ; Allied , 14 , 000 ) and lacked their opponents ' recent combat experience . The colony had no significant air defence . The RAF station at Hong Kong ' s Kai Tak Airport ( RAF Kai Tak ) had only five aeroplanes : two Supermarine Walrus amphibians and three Vickers Vildebeest torpedo - reconnaissance bombers , flown and serviced by seven officers and 108 airmen . An earlier request for a fighter squadron had been rejected , and the nearest fully operational RAF base was in Kota Bharu , Malaya , nearly 2 , 250 kilometres away . Hong Kong also lacked adequate naval defence . Three destroyer s were to withdraw to Singapore Naval Base . The Japanese bombed Kai Tak Airport on 8 December . Two of the three Vildebeest and the two Walrus were destroyed by 12 Japanese bombers . The attack also destroyed several civil aircraft including all but two of the aircraft used by the Air Unit of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp . The RAF and Air Unit personnel from then on fought as ground troops . Two of the Royal Navy ' s three remaining destroyers were ordered to leave Hong Kong for Singapore . Only one destroyer , , several gunboats and a flotilla of motor torpedo boats remained . On 8 , 9 and 10 December , eight American pilots of the China National Aviation Corporation CNAC and their crews made a total of 16 trips between Kai Tak Airport and airports in Namyung and Chongqing ( Chungking ) in China , the war time capital of the Republic of China . According to articles in the New York Times and the Chicago Daily of 15 December 1941 , the pilots ' names were Charles L . Sharp , Hugh L . Woods , Harold A . Sweet , William McDonald , Frank L . Higgs , Robert S . Angle , P . W . Kessler and S . E . Scott . Together they made 16 sorties and evacuated 275 persons including Mme Sun Yat - Sen , the widow of the " Father of the Nation " and the Chinese Finance Minister Kung Hsiang - hsi . The Commonwealth forces decided against holding the Sham Chun River and instead established three battalions in the Gin Drinkers ' Line across the hills . The Japanese 38th Infantry under the command of Major General Takaishi Sakai quickly forded the Sham Chun River by using temporary bridges . Early on 10 December 1941 the 228th Infantry Regiment , commanded by Colonel Teihichi , of the 38th Division attacked the Commonwealth defences at the Shing Mun Redoubt defended by 2nd Battalion Royal Scots , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel S . White . The line was breached in five hours and later that day the Royal Scots also withdrew from Golden Hill . D company of the Royal Scots counter - attacked and captured Golden Hill . By 10 : 00am the hill was again taken by the Japanese . This made the situation on the New Territories and Kowloon untenable and the evacuation from started on 11 December 1941 under aerial bombardment and artillery barrage . As much as possible , military and harbour facilities were demolished before the withdrawal . By 13 December , the 5 / 7 Rajputs of the British Indian Army commanded by Lieutenant Colonel R . Cadogan - Rawlinson , the last Commonwealth troops on the mainland , had retreated to Hong Kong Island . Maltby organised the defence of the island , splitting it between an East Brigade and a West Brigade . On 15 December , the Japanese began systematic bombardment of the island ' s North Shore . Two demands for surrender were made on 13 December and 17 December . When these were rejected , Japanese forces crossed the harbour on the evening of 18 December and landed on the island ' s North - East . They suffered only light casualties , although no effective command could be maintained until the dawn came . That night , approximately 20 gunners were executed at the Sai Wan Battery despite having surrendered . There was a further massacre of prisoners , this time of medical staff , in the Salesian Mission on Chai Wan Road . In both cases , a few men survived to tell the story . On the morning of 19 December fierce fighting continued on Hong Kong Island but the Japanese annihilated the headquarters of West Brigade , causing the death of Brigadier John K . Lawson , the commander of the West Brigade . A British counter - attack could not force them from the Wong Nai Chung Gap that secured the passage between the north coast at Causeway Bay and the secluded southern parts of the island . From 20 December , the island became split in two with the British Commonwealth forces still holding out around the Stanley peninsula and in the West of the island . At the same time , water supplies started to run short as the Japanese captured the island ' s reservoirs . On the morning of 25 December , Japanese soldiers entered the British field hospital at St . Stephen ' s College , and tortured and killed a large number of injured soldiers , along with the medical staff . By the afternoon of 25 December 1941 , it was clear that further resistance would be futile and British colonial officials headed by the Governor of Hong Kong , Sir Mark Aitchison Young , surrendered in person at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel . This was the first occasion on which a British Crown Colony had surrendered to an invading force . ( British Somaliland which fell to the Italians in August 1940 was a protectorate . ) The garrison had held out for 17 days . This day is known in Hong Kong as " Black Christmas " . Massacres . Sai Wan Hill . Perhaps as many as 28 people were massacred after the fight for Sai Wan Hill . These men were members of the 5th Anti - Aircraft Battery of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps ( HKVDC ) . Salesian Mission . At Shau Kei Wan there was a Salesian mission being used as an Advanced Dressing Station . On the night of the 18 December it was surrounded by troops of the 229th Infantry Regiment . At 0700 on the 19th , Captain Martin Banfill of the Canadian Medical Corps surrendered the station . Two injured officers of the 7th Rajput Regiment were murdered upon arrival in an ambulance . The Japanese separated the male medical staff from the female ( two nurses , whose lives were spared ) . All but three of the men were killed , most of the victims were of the Royal Army Medical Corps , but also at least two men of the Royal Rifles of Canada and two civilians . Causeway Bay . Three captured persons were executed at Causeway Bay , including a female air raid warden with the local Air Raid Precautions ( ARP ) . Wong Nai Chung Gap . At Wong Nai Chung Gap , ten men of the St John ' s Ambulance were killed , as well as a policeman and a medic . Jardine ' s Lookout . Four men each of the 3rd Company HKVDC and the Winnipeg Grenadiers were massacred after battle at Jardine ' s Lookout . One Grenadier , a Private Kilfoyle , was killed on the forced march to North Point , according to witnesses . Black Hole of Hong Kong . Four men were killed in the so - called " Black Hole of Hong Kong " , including two Canadian officers . Blue Pool Road . Around thirty civilians of different ethnicities were massacred at Blue Pool Road . The Ridge , Overbays and Eucliffe . In the worst massacre of POWs of the battle , the Japanese killed at least 47 after taking The Ridge . Among the dead was Major Charles Sydney Clarke of China Command HQ , two men of the 12th and 20th Coastal Regiments of the Royal Artillery ( RA ) , six men of the Royal Army Service Corps ( RASC ) and two of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps ( RCASC ) , nineteen men of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps ( RAOC ) and three of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps ( RCOC ) , and fourteen men of the RASC Company of the HKVDC . The Japanese also executed at least fourteen captives at Overbays , men of the same units as at The Ridge , but also including three Royal Rifles of Canada and an officer of the 1st Battalion , Middlesex Regiment . A further seven were killed at Eucliffe , and another 36 known victims cannot be placed precisely at one of the three locations ( Ridge , Overbays , Eucliffe ) . Ride , who was present at the surrender , stated later that he saw fifty bodies lying by the road , including six Middlesex men among them . These men may have been some of those attached to the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment . The Commonwealth War Graves Commission report also states that five men of the Royal Air Force went missing near The Ridge on 20 December , perhaps captured and killed . Deepwater Bay Ride . Six men of the Middlesex were killed defending PB 14 at Deepwater Bay Ride ( Lyon Light ) . It is uncertain whether they were killed in action , or murdered after capture . St Stephen ' s College . The massacre perpetrated at St Stephen ' s College is the least well - known . Only thirteen victims can be confirmed at the location , but reports and estimates put the real number as high as 99 . The names of all the reported victims may never be known . Between 75 and 150 bodies were cremated by the victors in the aftermath of the battle , but this total includes the victims of the fighting around Stanley Fort , such as the men of 965 Defence Battery . Although it is the " most infamous massacre " , it " has been the hardest to match with records . " Three British and four Chinese nurses were said to have been raped and murdered , and one Canadian , Captain Overton Stark Hickey of the RCASC , murdered trying to stop the rapes . Besides the raped nurses , the medical staff suffered two deaths , a doctor shot in the head whilst attempting escape , and 25 orderlies of the Indian Hospital Corps ( IHC ) and St John ' s Ambluance personnel . The 55 St John ' s victims of the battle of Hong Kong are memorialised at the present headquarters in Hong Kong , but since no dates are given on the memorial it is impossible to identify those killed at St Stephen ' s . Four Chinese servants and one civilian , Tam Cheung Huen , were killed . Tam is the only Chinese victim of this massacre known by name . Among the soldiers receiving treatment at the college , two riflemen were mutilated and murdered and a further 56 men were reportedly bayoneted in their beds . Some of these men may have been Royal Rifles whose deaths are incorrectly reported as occurring elsewhere on 26 December . Maryknoll Mission . At least eight men — six of the Middlesex and two Royal Engineers — were killed after capture at Maryknoll Mission . Four members of the 8th Coastal Regiment RA may have been killed here as well , and the estimate of the murdered goes as high as eleven and sixteen in other estimates . Brick Hill . Twenty - six prisoners are believed to have been killed after the fighting for Brick Hill , but some of these may have died in the fight , including some of the seventeen men of the Heavy Anti - Aircraft ( HAA ) , Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery ( HKSRA ) known to have died there . Most of the soldiers here murdered were Muslims , including one religious teacher . Aftermath . Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong . This ushered in the three years and eight months of Imperial Japanese administration . Japanese soldiers also terrorised the local population by murdering many , raping an estimated 10 , 000 women , and looting . General Takashi Sakai , who led the invasion of Hong Kong and subsequently served as governor for some time , was tried as a war criminal and executed by a firing squad in 1946 . Guerrilla warfare . Although Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese , the local Chinese waged a small guerilla war in New Territories . As a result of the resistance , some villages were razed as a punishment . The guerillas fought until the end of the Japanese occupation . The resistance groups were known as the Gangjiu and Dongjiang forces . Allied dead . The Allied dead from the campaign , including British , Canadian and Indian soldiers , were eventually interred at the Sai Wan Military Cemetery and Stanley Military Cemetery . A total of 1 , 528 soldiers , mainly Commonwealth , are buried there . There are also graves of other Allied combatants who died in the region during the war , including some Dutch sailors , who were re - interred in Hong Kong post war . The nearby Sai Wan Battery , with buildings constructed as far back as 1890 , housed the Depot and Record Office of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps for nearly four decades after the War . The barracks were handed over to the government in 1985 and were subsequently converted into Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village . Prisoners . At the end of February 1942 , The Japanese government stated that numbers of prisoners of war in Hong Kong were : British 5 , 072 , Canadian 1 , 689 , Indian 3 , 829 , others 357 , a total of 10 , 947 . They were sent to : Of the Canadians captured during the battle , 267 subsequently perished in Japanese prisoner of war camps , mainly due to mistreatment and abuse . In December 2011 , Toshiyuki Kato , Japan ' s parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs , apologized for the mistreatment to a group of Canadian veterans of the battle in Hong Kong . Enemy civilians ( meaning Allied nationals ) were interned at the Stanley Internment Camp . Initially , there were 2400 internees although this number was reduced following some repatriations during the war . Internees who died , together with prisoners executed by the Japanese , are buried in Stanley Cemetery . Awards . John Robert Osborn ( 2 January 1899 – 19 December 1941 ) was awarded the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces , conferred upon a Canadian for actions during World War II . After seeing a Japanese grenade roll in through the doorway of the building Osborn and his fellow Canadian Winnipeg Grenadiers had been garrisoning , he took off his helmet and threw himself on the grenade , saving the lives of over 10 other Canadian soldiers . He was born in Norfolk , England . Gander was a Newfoundland dog posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal , the " animals ' Victoria Cross " , in 2000 for his deeds in World War II , the first such award in over 50 years . He picked up a thrown Japanese hand grenade and rushed with it toward the enemy , dying in the ensuing explosion , but saving the lives of several wounded Canadian soldiers . Memorials . The Cenotaph in Central commemorates the defence as well as war - dead from World War I . The shield in the colonial coat of arms of Hong Kong ( granted in 1959 ) featured the battlement design to commemorate the defence of Hong Kong during World War II . The arms was in use until 1997 when it was replaced by the current regional emblem . Lei Yue Mun Fort has lost its defence significance in the post - war period . After the war , it became a training ground for the British Forces until 1987 when it was finally vacated . In view of its historical significance and unique architectural features , the former Urban Council decided in 1993 to conserve and develop Lei Yue Mun Fort into the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence .