The Battle for Hong Kong 1941–1945

Although it is over 60 years since Hong Kong was liberated from the Japanese, numerous important questions regarding the Far Eastern war 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?

In this remarkable new study, Oliver Lindsay and John R. Harris have provided the most thorough and searching enquiry into the débâcle 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 The authors have made use of a mass of unpublished official material—part of it drawn from the original war diaries which have never before been in the public domain.

Oliver Lindsay CBE FRHistS is a military historian, lecturer on the war against Japan and Editor of The Guards magazine. After a career in the Army, he was a fundraiser for disabled youngsters. In keeping with family tradition, he is a member of the Queen’s Bodygurard for Scotland. His previous books include The Lasting Honour: The Fall of Hong Kong 1941 and At the Going Down of the Sun: Hong Kong and South East Asia 1941–1945. John R. Harris TD is the only survivor today of the small band of prisoners of war of the Japanese who smuggled top secret information to the British spying organization in China in 1943. He is seen here holding a replica of a bolt in which messages were hidden. After the war he became a successful architect with an international practice.