Why Did Hong Kong Fall so Easily?
Why did Hong Kong Fall so Easily?
Hong Kong is world widely known for being the world’s financial hub and for being the world’s richest city; most people don’t know that before being a financial city, it had a rich history behind it. It went through one of the greatest, harshest wars in history, the Second World War. There are many reasons why the Japanese were so successful in capturing Hong Kong; they invested most of their money into the Japanese Army. While they had latest guns and weapons, the local Hong Kong civilians only had out of date rusty rifles. While the Canadians were taught to survive, the Japanese wanted to honour their families and their emperor; so they were willing to sacrifice their lives for their nation and their emperor. It would be shameful to their families and their country if they did not win; they had high determination and morale.
On December 8th, Japan invaded Hong Kong. Winston Churchill quoted, “If Japan ever attacked Hong Kong, and Hong Kong would have no chance in defending it.” The others people said saving it was worth a try to save Hong Kong, so Winston Churchill told the Canadian troops to deal with it because the British thought that Hong Kong wouldn’t be attacked. The attack started at 07.30 on December 8th 1941. The Japanese air force destroyed what aircraft the British had at Kai Tak airport and engineering units quickly repaired destroyed bridges. The British underestimated the Japanese, telling their troops that the Japanese only had 5,000 troops when in fact the Japanese sent 50,000 soldiers, the British only had 6,000 soldiers. The British also estimated that it would only take a week for the Japanese to arrive but in fact it only took twelve hours to reach Hong Kong from China. It was recorded that the Japanese had been singing on their way to the border of Hong Kong. On November 16th 1941 Britain, sent Winnipeg (Canadian) soldiers arrived in Hong Kong as they were “unfit for combat.” They had
Hong Kong is world widely known for being the world’s financial hub and for being the world’s richest city; most people don’t know that before being a financial city, it had a rich history behind it. It went through one of the greatest, harshest wars in history, the Second World War. There are many reasons why the Japanese were so successful in capturing Hong Kong; they invested most of their money into the Japanese Army. While they had latest guns and weapons, the local Hong Kong civilians only had out of date rusty rifles. While the Canadians were taught to survive, the Japanese wanted to honour their families and their emperor; so they were willing to sacrifice their lives for their nation and their emperor. It would be shameful to their families and their country if they did not win; they had high determination and morale.
On December 8th, Japan invaded Hong Kong. Winston Churchill quoted, “If Japan ever attacked Hong Kong, and Hong Kong would have no chance in defending it.” The others people said saving it was worth a try to save Hong Kong, so Winston Churchill told the Canadian troops to deal with it because the British thought that Hong Kong wouldn’t be attacked. The attack started at 07.30 on December 8th 1941. The Japanese air force destroyed what aircraft the British had at Kai Tak airport and engineering units quickly repaired destroyed bridges. The British underestimated the Japanese, telling their troops that the Japanese only had 5,000 troops when in fact the Japanese sent 50,000 soldiers, the British only had 6,000 soldiers. The British also estimated that it would only take a week for the Japanese to arrive but in fact it only took twelve hours to reach Hong Kong from China. It was recorded that the Japanese had been singing on their way to the border of Hong Kong. On November 16th 1941 Britain, sent Winnipeg (Canadian) soldiers arrived in Hong Kong as they were “unfit for combat.” They had