On November 6, 1941, the 23rd Army of the Japanese and Chinese Dispatch Army was ordered to formulate a plan for the capture of ** and complete operational preparations by the end of that month. At 3:51 a.m. on December 8, 1941, Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai, commander of the 23rd Army in Guangzhou, officially received an order to start a war from the Japanese General Staff Headquarters:

Circular No. 684 was distributed at 3:40 a.m. on December 8

Flowers bloom, flowers bloom.

Chief of Staff

Circular No. 685 was distributed at 3:40 a.m. on December 8

The battle on the "E" side has officially begun.

Chief of Staff

According to the telegram, Takashi Sakai ordered the flight team of the 23rd Army to bomb ** at 4:20 a.m., and Lieutenant General Sano's 38th Division crossed the border to attack Kowloon, and the battle of ** began.

Commander of the Army** garrison: Major General Mardeshi

Chief of Staff: Brigadier General Bergwards

**Infantry Brigade Commander: Brigadier General Valles (4 infantry brigades, 2 Indian brigades)

Canadian Brigade Commander: Brigadier General Roshen (2 infantry brigades)

Commander of the Royal Artillery Regiment: Brigadier General McLeod

**Commander of the Volunteers: Colonel Rhodes

The above count: about 2,680 British troops, about 3,350 Indian troops, about 750 Chinese troops, and about 1,720 volunteers (British, Indian, and Chinese)

The navy was commanded by Admiral Collinson, and included 1 light cruiser, 3 destroyers, 4 gunboats, about 10 ** boats, 3 laying ships, 1 tanker, and about 30 alert boats (there was also the US gunboat "Mindanao" docked in this port)

The Air Force has 2 land and 2 seaplanes. (About 10 civil aircraft, located at Kai Tak Airport east of Kowloon City on the other side of ** Island)

The British garrison numbered more than 14,000 men. [1] Among them, there were 11,000 Anglo-Indian troops (4 battalions, including the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scottish Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the Miduss Regiment, the 5th Battalion of the 7th Rajep Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment and artillery and engineering units), 1,973 combatants of the Canadian Corps (1,975 in one case) [20] , 1,387 volunteers in the Canadian Corps, the Canadian Corps is a large infantry battalion, most of them are recruits who lack rigorous training, and the Volunteers are temporarily recruited by foreign personnel. In addition, it is equipped with 1 S-class destroyer, 8 ** speedboats, 4 shallow water gunboats and a number of armed patrol ships"; In Stanley, Baisha Bay, Dalang Bay and other places along the coast, "a total of 29 cannons were set up; There is a RAF squadron consisting of 3 Hornante** bombers and 2 Walrus water reconnaissance aircraft [21] .

The Japanese forces consisted of the 38th Division, the 66th Regiment of the 51st Division (1 wing and 1 artillery team), and the 1st Flying Division, the 45th Squadron (27 light bombers, 9 fighters, 29 heavy bombers) and the 2nd Dispatch China Fleet were used for sea and air support. By the time the war broke out, there were more than 30,000 troops, 50 aircraft, 13 ships, and 173 cannons [19]. [3]

The Japanese offensive forces were formed

army

38th Division

38th Infantry Regiment

228th Infantry Wing

229th Infantry Wing

230th Infantry Wing

The 38th Wing of Mountain Artillery, a total of 28 mountain guns

38th Engineer Wing

38th Wing of Heavy Soldiers

Squadron of armored vehicles, 5 light tanks

Communications Corps

Health Team

Ordnance Service Corps

1st Field Hospital

2nd Field Hospital

Sick horse farm

Field communication pigeon squad, 68 communication pigeons

It is equipped with the 10th Wing of the Independent Mountain Artillery of the Army, with 24 41-type mountain guns

The 2nd Independent Rapid-Fire Artillery Brigade, 18 37 mm guns, 50 horses, 412 personnel

The 5th Independent Rapid-Fire Artillery Brigade, 2 37 mm guns (participating in the battle), 46 horses and 444 personnel

The 20th Independent Mountain Artillery Brigade, 9 mountain guns

The 21st Mortar Brigade has 36 light mortars, 280 horses, and 422 personnel

Field Gas 5th Squadron

The 18th Field Gas Squadron with 396 personnel and 181 horses

The 19th Independent Engineer Wing has 359 combat personnel, 31 horses, and 10 cars

The 20th Independent Engineer Wing has 557 participants, 61 horses and 5 cars

The 2nd Squadron of the 14th Independent Engineer Wing with 343 combatants

There are 6 squadrons of baggage troops, 2 squadrons of bridge-building, 1 radio squadron, and epidemic prevention and water supply troops

South China Gendarmerie

The 23rd Artillery Corps of the 1st Army directly under the Army

The 1st Wing of Heavy Artillery, (two brigades in total) 8 howitzers of 240 mm caliber

2nd Brigade of Separate Heavy Artillery, 8 cannons of 150 mm caliber

3rd separate heavy artillery brigade with 8 cannons of 150 mm caliber

5th Wing of Artillery Intelligence

The 3rd mechanical traction team has 145 personnel, 18 8-ton tractors and 14 13-ton tractors

Attached to the 14th Wing of Field Heavy Artillery, 6 150 mm howitzers (1 brigade)

It is equipped with 1 squadron of engineers, 1 radio squadron, 1 squadron of baggage troops, and 1 epidemic prevention and water supply unit

On 23 November, 34 planes took off from Nenjiang Airport north of Qiqihar, from Jinzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and Taiwan, and 29 planes landed at Guangzhou Airport on 7 December

The 10th Fighter Squadron of Independence, 13 "Type 97" fighters

The 18th Squadron of Reconnaissance Aircraft, 3 reconnaissance planes of the "Type 97" Command

The 3rd Squadron of the 44th Squadron of the Zhixie Team, 6 "98-type" direct cooperation aircraft

47th Aerodrome Brigade

67th Squadron of the 1st Flight Field Brigade

1st Brigade of the 57th Air Field

14th Wing of Telecommunications

Two squads for wireless and 1 squadron for wired

Baggage 3rd Wing

The 4th Brigade of the 5th Wing of the Railway, 3 Automobile Squadrons

The 5th Military Station includes 1 squadron sent from the 66th Wing to serve as a guard, a 1 regional team from the military station, a 1 land troop transport team, a Shenzhen branch of the hospital, a wounded soldier transportation team, a sick horse farm, a supply depot, and a post office of the 213th Field Army

The South China Ministry of Water Transport, a department of the Ministry of Transport, an engineer squadron, a 14 berthing yards, and a number of personnel and ships

66th Infantry Wing

Affiliation: 1 brigade of the 14th Wing of the Field Artillery, 3 squadrons of engineers, 1 squadron of baggage soldiers and horses, 1 squad of automobiles, 1 health team, 1 field hospital, 1 epidemic prevention and water supply unit, 1 sick horse farm, 2 radio squadrons, 1 supply depot, and the post office of the 205th Field Army.

The Navy's 2nd Dispatch Fleet has a total of: one "Isuzu" light cruiser; 3 destroyers "Thunder", "Den" and "Tsuga"; **4 boats "bulbul", "magpie", "male" and "goose"; 3 gunboats "Hashidate", "Uji" and "Koga"; about 300 marines; There were two water reconnaissance aircraft and three shipboard attack aircraft. In order to disrupt the cable communication, the two operation ships "Chiyo Maru" and "Akitsu Maru" were assigned to the 2nd Dispatch China Fleet to cut off the submarine wires of **.

At 7:20 a.m. on December 8, 1941, it was born by the captain of the team

The 45th light bomber squadron of the 23rd Army Flying Group led by Zuo carried 6 pieces of 50 kg type ** per aircraft under the cover of the 10th Zhan Niu Squadron, with the goal of bombing Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon, attacking British aircraft and ** surrounding British ships, and flew directly at Guangzhou Tianhe Airport.

Under these circumstances, under the command of Captain Gao Yueguang Shaozuo, the fighters who were on the cover mission took advantage of the favorable opportunity when the British fighters did not take off, conducted a low-altitude search, and found that 14 planes (including 5 military planes) were scattered near the airport. The first sortie of the Japanese air force caused the British planes to be completely lost, and they completely lost air supremacy.

At the same time as the Japanese Air Force attacked the Kai Tak airfield, 38 under the command of the commander of the infantry regiment, Major General Takeo Ito

The first line of the division (Ito Detachment) 2 wings (228th, 229th, 230th Wing) Under the cover of Lieutenant General Kitajima's artillery unit, they divided their troops near Shenzhen and advanced towards the Shenzhen-New Territories border. The British defending forces on the Kowloon Peninsula were Brigadier General Valles' ** Infantry Brigade and Brigadier General Roshen's Canadian Brigade, and at 5:30 a.m. on December 8, after receiving a telegram that the Japanese army had landed in Malaya, the British troops stationed in Hong Kong immediately entered a wartime state. At 7:20, a small number of alert troops on the border blew up the Tai Po Highway and the Kowloon-Canton Railway in accordance with Valles's retreat order, and used the gunboat Cicada to bombard the shore in an attempt to delay the Japanese advance, and then retreated to the main position in the south-central part of the peninsula. As a result, the Ito detachment broke through the border and advanced southward without bloodshed, arriving at the line of Kam Tin, Chuk Hang, Tai Po Tau, and Nam Hang north of Tai Mo Shan that night. At 10:30 the next day, Commander Takashi Sakai issued an order in Canton to attack the British Army's drunken defensive line south of Tai Mo Shan, and the preparation time for the attack was scheduled for one week.

At about 21:30 on December 9, 1941, the 228th Wing of Doi Daisa, the main force of the 38th Division, arrived at the front of the Chengmen Bunker located in the middle of the left flank of the "Drunken Bay Defense Line".

Fortifications of the British army

With machine gun bunkers with reinforced concrete structures to resist desperately, the two sides fought fiercely for 2 hours, and at 23:30 the Japanese occupied the high ground; Then the Japanese broke into the 303 heights, the main position of the British army, and were blocked by strong resistance, and the troops suffered heavy casualties. After the news of Doi's solitary action being blocked reached the headquarters of the 38th Division and the 23rd Army, the division commander Sanno issued a continuous retreat order at 4:20 a.m. and 6:05 a.m. on the 10th.

The British troops defending the drunken defense line used the fortifications in Ligu, the mountain artillery in the position, the naval guns on the sea surface and the long-range artillery in Stanley and other places on ** Island to counterattack again and again; At the same time, the authorities used imprisoned Chinese soldiers, about 500 of them. At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, when fighting the Japanese army in South China, he was disarmed by the ** side because he crossed the border of Shenzhen and was temporarily imprisoned [24] .

On December 10, 1941, after the British commander learned of the loss of the Fortress at Shing Mun Bunker, he ordered the Stonecutters Island Fort to fire at the Bunker at Shing Mun Bunker in an attempt to suppress the Japanese offensive. At this time, the Japanese troops occupying the city gate bunker took the opportunity to set up mountain artillery and bombarded the Jinshan defenders, resulting in heavy casualties among the Jinshan defenders.

When Umii refused to withdraw his troops and confronted the defenders, Sano had no choice but to give orders

The 10th Separate Artillery Wing of the Japanese Army attacked the defender's stronghold at Braemar Hill.

The 230th Wing attacked the main British position from the west of Tai Mo Shan and assisted the 228th Wing to encircle and annihilate the British troops defending the defensive line, one of which quickly moved back to the south and captured Tsing Yi Island, while the 229th Wing crossed Chaoshui Bay on the east side of the Kowloon Peninsula and quickly attacked Lei Yue Mun Kok in the southeast of Kowloon, forming a fan-shaped encirclement of the Kowloon defenders, and the situation began to be unfavorable to the British army. After reporting to Governor Yang Muqi, the commander of the British army, Matterby, ordered at 12:30 on December 11 to withdraw the "Peninsula Brigade" from Kowloon to ** to organize the defense. The Stonecutters Island Fort continued to fire artillery to cover the withdrawal of British troops, and most of the fort facilities were destroyed in the fierce exchange of fire with the Japanese. On the afternoon of the 11th, after the ** volunteers destroyed the fort, they crossed the Victoria Harbour by boat and arrived safely at ** Island. At this time, the Japanese "Fifth Column" active in Kowloon City seized the opportunity to carry out subversive and sabotage activities, looting weapons and ammunition, causing explosions, and hanging the Japanese sun flag on the top floor of the Peninsula Hotel, the tallest building at the southern tip of Kowloon. The defenders of Kowloon City, who had not yet retreated, "suddenly looked up and saw the sun flag rising over the southern end, thinking that they had been flanked and had no way to retreat, and there were pursuers behind them, so they scattered in a panic."

With the retreat of the British army, the main force of the Japanese army in the middle drove straight into Kowloon City, and on December 13, the Kowloon Peninsula was occupied by the Japanese army.

**Battle of the Island (December 18-25)

After the Japanese captured the Kowloon Fortress in 5 days, they burned and looted in Kowloon City

plunder, and at the same time the troops were replenished for rest and recuperation, and preparations were made for crossing the sea to attack ** island.

On the night of December 12, 1941, Britain and Japan shelled each other across the sea of Victoria Harbour, and Japanese artillery fired aimlessly. At about 9 o'clock in the morning of the next day, a small boat with the white flag of "Messenger of Peace" carried the Japanese military envoy Tada Nakasa and three others and Mrs. Lee, the private secretary of the governor of **, who was taken hostage, sailed to ** Island at Yau Ma Tei Pier in Kowloon to persuade them to surrender. Hong Kong Governor Yeung Mu-ki refused.

On December 14, 1941, the Japanese flying team was dispatched to bombard the Davis Fortress Fort and Victoria Street at the western end of **.

On December 17, 1941, the Japanese army sent troops to persuade them to surrender to no avail. At 20 o'clock on the 17th, the command post of the 23rd Army issued an order for landing operations.

On December 18, 1941, the Japanese 2nd Dispatch Fleet appeared in the south of Hong Kong Island.

The Japanese army took the wife of the governor's private secretary as a hostage and surrendered to the defenders.

Landing from the south side, interfering with the judgment of the British army. At 20:40, the three infantry wings of the 38th Division took the dense artillery fire as a cover, divided into three voyages to start the sea-crossing operation, and chose to land from Taikoo, North Cape and other places on the north shore of ** Island, and launched a fierce attack on the Indian Rajp Battalion, which was weaker in the defenders. That night, the defenders, with fixed fortified units and mobile units, engaged in hand-to-hand combat and street fighting with the Japanese near the landing site with the cooperation of tanks. In the fierce fighting that night, the Japanese army successively occupied the Lei Yue Mun Fortress and Sai Wan Fort, and advanced to Nan Tai Tam and Repulse Bay. Lieutenant Colonel Lu Lianchen, commander of the Rajip battalion, led the Indian army to retreat along the Berja Hill Road.

At dawn on December 19, 1941, two British boats sank several Japanese ferries, and the artillery of the whole island also concentrated their firepower to bombard the Japanese landing ground in Causeway Bay. The Japanese troops who occupied the landing position transferred troops to Hong Kong Island, occupied the eastern coastal positions and 3 hills on Hong Kong Island, and the British Eastern Brigade retreated to the south, and the brigade headquarters moved to Stanley. The Japanese army gathered superior forces and launched a fierce attack on the British West Brigade with exposed flanks and holes in the defensive line, and fierce competition broke out between the British and Japanese sides, and at about 10 o'clock in the morning of the 19th, the Japanese 230th Wing occupied the command post of the West Brigade.

From December 20 to 25, 1941, the Japanese concentrated the North Island heavy artillery unit, flying

The line and Vice Admiral Shinmi's 2nd Naval Dispatch Fleet cooperated with the infantry to carry out large-scale storms; The defenders used the 145 permanent and semi-permanent firepower points built on the island to resist layer by layer, and the mobile troops attacked with cameras, consuming the Japanese troops who were delaying the attack, and the two sides suffered heavy casualties and the battle situation was in a stalemate. The British army successively lost defensive lines such as Fortress Hill, Cameron Gorge, Majixian Gorge, and Leighton Hill, and basically shrank to some positions in Taiping Shan and the area around Stanley Peninsula.

The Japanese base camp originally thought that the British army would surrender once the landing was successful, but until the third day after the landing (21st), the battle situation was still uncertain, and they were extremely anxious and dissatisfied. On the afternoon of 21 July, Lieutenant General Kyoji Tominaga, director of the Personnel Bureau of the Ministry of the Army, came to the command post of the 23rd Army in Kowloon to accuse the army of ineffective operational command and to send a telegram to Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister and Minister of the Army, to remove the relevant commander.

On December 22, 1941, the Japanese army decided to launch a general attack on ** island on the afternoon of the 25th. The Jiangtou Shaozuo Brigade of the 230th Wing of the Japanese Army, which immediately crossed the sea and marched south, and the defenders of Valles carried out on the Stanley Peninsula at the southern tip of ** Island

On December 24, the 20th Wing of the Japanese Independent Engineer Corps occupied ** Street

On December 25, 1941, Takashi Sakai immediately assumed the post of Governor of **.

Offensive and defensive battles, to the evening of the 24th, the Japanese army occupied the 168 heights in the middle of the Stanley Peninsula, and the Japanese army in the north of ** island formed a north-south flanking trend, on the eve of Christmas, the Japanese reconnaissance personnel hidden in the city of ** found that there were many places where the British army was organizing a ball to celebrate, so the artillery team of the 23rd Army completely carried out disruptive shooting on the night of the 24th. That night, the Japanese army sent the detained retired British artillery officer, the person in charge of the Kowloon Shipyard, Manas, and the executive member of the ** Council of the Council, Xi Luzlie, to the Hong Kong Governor's Mansion for the last informal persuasion.

On the afternoon of December 25, 1941, the Japanese army launched a general offensive, and the 23rd Army Flying Team and all artillery carried out concentrated bombing and artillery bombardment on the Depot Mountain Gorge, Wan Chai Mountain Gorge, Gefu Mountain, Tuqi Mountain, and Xigao Mountain

Japanese occupation**

The main positions of the British army were lost one after another, and there were few heavy weapons left. At the same time, the Japanese army also occupied the Huangnichong reservoir on ** Island, cut off the water source of the British army, and completely cut off the east and west brigades of the British army. The British commander Marteby felt that he could no longer resist, and Hong Kong Governor Yang Muqi also "felt that defeat was a foregone conclusion based on the situation that Britain and the United States had lost contact with Shanghai, Tianjin and other places, and had become an island without help, so he decided to stop resisting", and at 17:50 sent an envoy to the 38th Division to discuss the surrender with Abe Daisa, chief of staff of the Japanese division, and at 18:20 Hong Kong Governor Yang Muqi personally went to the headquarters of the 38th Division and officially expressed his unconditional surrender. At 19 o'clock, Takashi Sakai, commander of the 23rd Army, signed the "Armistice Agreement" at the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon.

Brigadier General Wallis, commander of the British Eastern Brigade stationed in Stanley, received an order to surrender and asked for further confirmation, but communications were cut off and there was no news from the British command. Wallis continued to command the three 9.2-inch cannons of the Stanley Fort to bombard the Japanese army, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. It was not until the early morning of the 26th that Wallis's adjutant brought back the surrender warrant, and the Eastern Brigade announced its surrender and surrendered all its weapons.

On December 25, 1941, after Hong Kong Governor Yang Muqi signed the instrument of surrender at the Peninsula Hotel, the commander of the Japanese army, Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai, promulgated the "Boji Zuo Meijia No. 225" on December 28, and established the Military Administration Department the next day, ** officially entered the Japanese occupation period.

On December 8, 1941, Zhou Enlai, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Southern Bureau, sent a telegram to Liao Chengzhi, director of the Eighth Route Army's office in **, to quickly make contingency preparations to rescue these people and transfer them to the rear through Macao, Guangzhou Bay (now Zhanjiang Port) or the Dongjiang River. The Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas immediately dispatched members of the armed forces and traffic officers into the Hong Kong and Kowloon areas. Beginning on January 5, 1942, the members of the Wugong team first sent this group of people to the Kowloon Traffic Station in batches. On the 11th, dozens of cultural figures, including Mao Dun, Zou Taofen, and Ge Sovereign, left the urban area of Jiulong, passed through the Japanese blockade line, and safely arrived at the Baishilong anti-Japanese base in Bao'an. More than 800 people from cultural circles, democrats, and their families were rescued, in addition, more than 10 Kuomintang officials and their family members, and nearly 100 international friends were also rescued and returned to the rear safely.

** A total of 18 days after the battle, its casualties were: 683 Japanese killed (692 in one way) and 1,314 wounded (1,662 in one case); The British lost 1,555 killed (1,679 in one account), 1,042 missing, and 10,818 captured.