"D" Company, Royal Rifles of Canada, Gander, Newfoundland, 1941.
A brief historical background.
"D" Company, The Royal Rifles of Canada
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This is, in part, the story of "D" Company of the Royal Rifles of Canada. It
is about one hundred and sixty men who fought a battle more than half a
century ago that hardly anyone remembers any more, and don't much care
about either.
It is a story about Canadians put in harm's way by men of ambition, by
politicians for political and economic reasons, and by military leaders who
knew that if a battle were to ensue it could not be won, but wanted in on
the action anyway. I have chosen to focus my story on the Royal Rifles of
Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers. To attempt to tell the whole story
of all the allied troops who fought the battle of Hong Kong would do none
of them justice, and historical justice they deserve. Hong Kong is an
almost forgotten chapter in Canadian Military history, and the men and
women who fought, were wounded, died, or survived to spend years in
captivity. It is a brutal story that words cannot precisely describe.
is about one hundred and sixty men who fought a battle more than half a
century ago that hardly anyone remembers any more, and don't much care
about either.
It is a story about Canadians put in harm's way by men of ambition, by
politicians for political and economic reasons, and by military leaders who
knew that if a battle were to ensue it could not be won, but wanted in on
the action anyway. I have chosen to focus my story on the Royal Rifles of
Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers. To attempt to tell the whole story
of all the allied troops who fought the battle of Hong Kong would do none
of them justice, and historical justice they deserve. Hong Kong is an
almost forgotten chapter in Canadian Military history, and the men and
women who fought, were wounded, died, or survived to spend years in
captivity. It is a brutal story that words cannot precisely describe.
In the early 1800's Hong Kong, a name meaning Fragrant Harbour, was a
tiny fishing village with an excellent seaport. England made Hong Kong its
gateway to the treasures of Asia. It quickly became a thriving center of
trade and commerce and England's source of tea, luxurious silks,
porcelain, and fine bone china. It also became a bone of contention
between the Chinese and the English.
The English discovered that paying for china from China with cheap opium
from India was much more profitable than paying for it with silver, which
was the form of payment the Chinese Government wanted. But, the
English traders did business directly with the Chinese merchants and paid
for the goods with what the merchants wanted ... opium. The merchants
sold the opium to the people and became rich. The Chinese people
became opium addicts.
So many Chinese became addicted that the economy of China suffered
from lack of hard currency and an over abundance of opium addicts. The
Chinese Government banned the drug, destroyed huge quantities of it, and
sunk a British ship carrying a large cargo of opium into Hong Kong. The
British considered this unfair business practices, and war like. In 1842
England and China fought the first of two wars called, appropriately, "The
Opium Wars, One and Two."
England was victorious in 1842 and China ceded Hong Kong Island to
the English that year with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. More
battles were fought over the years, with the second major conflict, Opium
War number Two, being fought in 1860. The Brits were again victorious.
This time China ceded Kowloon and other lands called "The New
Territories" to Britain. In 1898 England, tired of bickering, negotiated a
lease with China, and Hong Kong became theirs to run for 99 years. This
agreement put an end to the squabbling and Hong Kong continued to
grow into a center of world trade that profited both the Chinese and the
British into the next century. It also became a territory coveted by the
Japanese who set out to capture the Colony in December of 1941, having
conquered a lot of China in the previous several years.
On December 8th, 1941, (December 7th, in Canada), Japan launched an
all out assault against The New Territories, Kowloon, and the island of
Hong Kong. They used 60,000 battle-hardened troops who had been
fighting a murderous war against China since 1932. In that clash the
14,000 untried troops they attacked put up a fierce resistance, but in the
end, after 18 bloody days, Japanese troops captured Hong Kong, and its
defending troops on Christmas Day. Among them were "D" Company of
the Royal Rifles of Canada, and my Dad.
tiny fishing village with an excellent seaport. England made Hong Kong its
gateway to the treasures of Asia. It quickly became a thriving center of
trade and commerce and England's source of tea, luxurious silks,
porcelain, and fine bone china. It also became a bone of contention
between the Chinese and the English.
The English discovered that paying for china from China with cheap opium
from India was much more profitable than paying for it with silver, which
was the form of payment the Chinese Government wanted. But, the
English traders did business directly with the Chinese merchants and paid
for the goods with what the merchants wanted ... opium. The merchants
sold the opium to the people and became rich. The Chinese people
became opium addicts.
So many Chinese became addicted that the economy of China suffered
from lack of hard currency and an over abundance of opium addicts. The
Chinese Government banned the drug, destroyed huge quantities of it, and
sunk a British ship carrying a large cargo of opium into Hong Kong. The
British considered this unfair business practices, and war like. In 1842
England and China fought the first of two wars called, appropriately, "The
Opium Wars, One and Two."
England was victorious in 1842 and China ceded Hong Kong Island to
the English that year with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. More
battles were fought over the years, with the second major conflict, Opium
War number Two, being fought in 1860. The Brits were again victorious.
This time China ceded Kowloon and other lands called "The New
Territories" to Britain. In 1898 England, tired of bickering, negotiated a
lease with China, and Hong Kong became theirs to run for 99 years. This
agreement put an end to the squabbling and Hong Kong continued to
grow into a center of world trade that profited both the Chinese and the
British into the next century. It also became a territory coveted by the
Japanese who set out to capture the Colony in December of 1941, having
conquered a lot of China in the previous several years.
On December 8th, 1941, (December 7th, in Canada), Japan launched an
all out assault against The New Territories, Kowloon, and the island of
Hong Kong. They used 60,000 battle-hardened troops who had been
fighting a murderous war against China since 1932. In that clash the
14,000 untried troops they attacked put up a fierce resistance, but in the
end, after 18 bloody days, Japanese troops captured Hong Kong, and its
defending troops on Christmas Day. Among them were "D" Company of
the Royal Rifles of Canada, and my Dad.
