The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941) was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II.

Allied

Garrison Commander & Fortress Command General Officer Commanding, Hong Kong: Major General Christopher Maltby Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General: Brig. Andrew Peffers General Staff Officer, I: Col. Lancey Newnham

Ground forces The British ground forces consisted of the following units: 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots (Lt. Col. Simon E. H. E. White) 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Lt. Col. Henry W. M. Stewart) Royal Rifles of Canada (Lt. Col. William J. Home) Winnipeg Grenadiers (Lt. Col. John L. R. Sutcliffe) 5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment (Lt. Col. John. Cadogan-Rawlinson) 2nd Battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment (Lt. Col. Gerald R. Kidd) Hong Kong Chinese Regiment (either Major H. W. A. Mayer or Major. Rodney W. Mayer) Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (Col. Henry B. Rose) Infantry companies No. 1–7 Artillery batteries 1st–5th Field Company Engineers Signals Armoured Car Platoon Army Service Corps Company Dispatch Sections Hughes Group Field Ambulance unit (Lt. Col. Lindsay Ride) St. John's Ambulance Royal Artillery (Brigadier Tom McCleod) 8th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery (Lt. Col. Shelby Shaw) 12th Coast Battery (Maj. W. M. Stevenson) 30th Coast Battery (Maj. C. R. Templer) 36th Coast Battery (Capt. W. N. J. Pitt) 12th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery (Maj. Richard L. J. Penfold) 24th Coast Battery (Capt. E. W. S. Anderson) 26th Coast Battery (Lt. A. O. G. Mills) 5th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (Lt. Col. Fred D. Field) 7th Battery 17th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery 18th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery 5th HKVDC Battery 965 Defence Battery, Hong Kong–Singapore Royal Artillery (Maj. Basil T. C. Forrester) 1st Regiment, Hong Kong–Singapore Royal Artillery (Maj. John C. Yale) 1st Mountain Battery 2nd Mountain Battery 3rd Medium Battery 4th Medium Battery 25th Medium Battery 26th Coast Battery 17th Anti-Aircraft Gun Battery Royal Engineers China Command (Col. Esmond H. M. Clifford) HQ Fortress Engineers 22nd Fortress Company, Royal Engineers (Maj. D. C. E. Grose) 40th Fortress Company, Royal Engineers (Maj. D. I. M. Murray) Royal Engineers Services Brigades Infantry may be assigned to one of the two defensive brigades: Kowloon Infantry Brigade Brigadier Cedric Wallis Hong Kong Infantry Brigade Brigadier J. K. Lawson Headquarters and support corps British and local forces

Canadian

Indian

Civilian Civilian forces were as follows: MI6 Hong Kong Police Force (Commissioner of Police John Pennefather-Evans) Indian Company, Police Reserve Chinese Company, Police Reserve Fire Brigade (Jack Fitz-Henry) Air Raid Precautions St. John's Ambulance Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes Auxiliary Services

Naval forces Royal Navy

Commander: Captain Alfred C. Collinson

The Royal Navy presence were as follows: Royal Marine detachment (Maj. Farrington)

(Lt. Cdr. Arthur Luard Pears) (Lt. Cdr. Hedworth Lambton) (Lt. Cdr. Bernard Davies) (Lt. John Douglas) (Cdr. Hugh M. Montague) (Lt. Cdr. Henry C. S. Collingwood-Selby) (Lt. Cdr. John C. Boldero) (Lt. Cdr. R. C. Creer) Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (Lt. Cdr. R. J. D. Vernall) Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service Royal Naval Dockyard Police Hong Kong Dockyard Defence Corps (Maj. D. Campbell) Auxiliary patrol vessels

Minor vessels

2nd MTB Flotilla (Lt. Cdr. Gerrard H. Gandy) MTB 07 (Lt. R. R. W. Ashby) MTB 08 (Lt. L. D. Kilbee) MTB 09 (Lt. A. Kennedy) MTB 10 (Lt. Cdr. G. H. Gandy) MTB 11 (Lt. C. J. Collingwood) MTB 12 (Sub-Lt. J. B. Colls) MTB 26 (Lt. D. W. Wagstaff) MTB 27 (Lt. T. M. Parsons)

Merchant Navy Ships of the Merchant Navy:

Air forces Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (Lt. P. J. Milner-Barry) Supermarine Walrus L2259 Supermarine Walrus L2819 Hong Kong Station, Royal Air Force (Wng. Cdr. Humphrey G. Sullivan) Vickers Vildebeest K2924 Vickers Vildebeest K2818 Vickers Vildebeest K6370 HKVDC Flight (Sq. Ldr. Donald "Sammy" Hill) 1 x Avro 621 Tutor 2 x Hornet Moth 2 x Cadet biplanes

Japanese Ground forces The Japanese ground forces consisted of the following units:

23rd Army Commander: Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai Chief of Staff: Major General Tadamichi Kuribayashi Deputy Chief of Staff: Major General Keishichiro Higuchi

38th Division Commander: Lieutenant General Tadayoshi Sano

Infantry HQ, 38th Division (Maj. Gen. Takeo Itō) 228th Infantry Regiment (Col. Sadashichi Doi) 229th Infantry Regiment (Col. Ryosaburo Tanaka) 230th Infantry Regiment (Col. Toshinari Shōji) 38th Mountain Gun Regiment (Col. Takekichi Kamiyoshi) 38th Engineers Regiment (Lt. Col. Tsuneō Iwabuchi) 38th Logistic Regiment (Lt. Col. Shūichi Yabuta) 19th Independent Engineer Regiment (Lt. Col. Shoshirō Inukai) 20th Independent Engineer Regiment (Col. Kiyoshi Suzukawa) 2nd Company, 14th Independent Engineering Regiment (Maj. Eiichi Kusagi) 21st Independent Mortar Battalion (Maj. Shigeo Okamoto) Signal Corps (Maj. Ryōichi Itō) Araki Detachment (Col. Masatoshi Araki) 66th Infantry Regiment – Less 1 Company Attached Force 10th Independent Mountain Gun Regiment (Col. Rikichirō Sawamoto) 20th Independent Mountain Gun Battalion (Lt. Col. Jirō Kajimatsu) 2nd Quick-Firing Gun Battalion (Lt. Col. Takeo Ōno) 5th Quick-Firing Gun Battalion (Maj. Jirō Aoki) 1st Artillery Group (Lt. Gen. Kaneo Kitajima) 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment (Col. Masayoshi Hayakawa) 14th Heavy Field Gun Regiment (Col. Takeaki Satō) 2nd Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion (Maj. Kiyotoshi Kanamaru) 3rd Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion (Lt. Col. Hitomi Kanmei) 2nd Heavy Mortar Battalion (Maj. Deiichi Namimatsu) Other divisional support Armour Squadron (Capt. Jūrō Atami) 3rd Transport Regiment (Lt. Col. Otokazu Kobayashi) – Only 3 companies 19th Independent Transport Company 20th Independent Transport Company 21st Independent Transport Company 1st River Crossing Material Company, 9th Division (Lt. Hiroshi Furumori) 2nd River Crossing Material Company, 9th Division (Lt. Eda Asao) Ordnance team (Capt. Sadaharu Koide) 5th Field Gas Company (Capt. Magosaburō Suzuki) 18th Field Gas Company (Lt. Isamu Morimoto Veterinary (Vet. Maj. Jiro Hayashi) 1st Field Hospital (Dr. Maj. Toshimi Suzuki) 2nd Field Hospital (Dr. Maj. Takuzō Itō) Field Pigeon Carrier Company South China MP Platoon (Maj. Kennosuke Noma) Medical unit Medical unit, 51st Division (Col. Otokazu Hattori) – Only 1/3 of the unit 17th Field Water Purification and Supply Unit Army signal corps Two radio signal platoons One wire signal platoon

Naval forces

2nd China Fleet Commander: Vice Admiral Masaichi Niimi Chief of Staff: Brigadier Yasuo Yasuba

2 x Kawanishi E7K 3 x Kugisho B3Y

Bombardment Group:

Attack Group:

Air forces 23rd Army Air Unit, 1st Air Group 45th Flying Sentai (Col. Shuji Habu) – 29 x Kawasaki Ki-32 10th Independent Chutai (Maj. Akira Takatsuki) – 13 x Nakajima Ki-27 18th Independent Chutai (Capt. Minoru Kobayashi) – 3 x Mitsubishi Ki-15 44th Independent Squadron (Capt. Yoshio Naito) – 6 x Tachikawa Ki-36 47th Air-Field Battalion (Maj. Sadayu Uemura) 67th Air-Field Company, 67th Air Field Battalion (Capt. Nobunaga Kodama) 57th Air-Field Company (2nd Lt. Mitsuhiro Makita) – Elements 14th Flying Sentai Kanoya Air Group

See also List of orders of battle British Forces Overseas Hong Kong C Force

Notes

References

Bibliography