Battle_of_Hong_Kong_order_of_battle

Battle of Hong Kong order of battle

Battle of Hong Kong order of battle

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Main article: Battle of Hong Kong

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

Allied

Maj. Gen. Christopher Maltby, Garrison Commander
  • Garrison Commander & Fortress Command[1][2]
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:[3][4][5][6]

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[7])
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[lower-alpha 1])
12th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery (Maj. Richard L. J. Penfold[lower-alpha 2])
24th Coast Battery (Capt. E. W. S. Anderson[lower-alpha 1])
26th Coast Battery (Lt. A. O. G. Mills[lower-alpha 1])
5th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery[6] (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[6] (Maj. John C. Yale[lower-alpha 3])
1st Mountain Battery
2nd Mountain Battery
3rd Medium Battery
4th Medium Battery
25th Medium Battery
26th Coast Battery
17th Anti-Aircraft Gun Battery
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:[1]

  • Kowloon Infantry Brigade
Brigadier Cedric Wallis[9]
  • Hong Kong Infantry Brigade
Brigadier J. K. Lawson[9]

Headquarters and support corps

British and local forces[10]

Canadian[11]

Indian[11]

Civilian

Civilian forces were as follows:[12]

Indian Company, Police Reserve
Chinese Company, Police Reserve

Auxiliary Services[12]

  • Auxiliary Services
  • Auxiliary Communications Service
  • Auxiliary Conservancy Corps
  • Auxiliary Civil Pay and Accounts Service
  • Auxiliary Fire Service
  • Auxiliary Labour Corps
  • Auxiliary Medical Corps
  • Auxiliary Nursing Service
  • Auxiliary Ordnance Corps
  • Auxiliary Quartering Corps
  • Auxiliary Public Works Corps
  • Auxiliary Rescue and Demolition Corps
  • Auxiliary Supply Corps
  • Auxiliary Transport Service

Royal Navy

HMS Thracian

Commander: Captain Alfred C. Collinson[8][16]

The Royal Navy presence were as follows:[8][17][18]

Auxiliary patrol vessels[20]

  • APV Minnie
  • APV Margaret
  • APV St. Aubin
  • APV St. Sampson
  • APV Indira
  • APV Henriette
  • APV Shun Wo
  • APV Han Wo
  • APV Frosty
  • APV Poseidon
  • APV Ho Hsing
  • APV Teh Hsing
  • APV Chun Hsing
  • APV Perla

Minor vessels[20]

  • APV Stanley
  • APV Britannia
  • HMS Barlight
  • HMS Aldgate
  • HMS Watergate
  • HMS Cornflower
  • Naval Armament Tug Gatling
  • Jeanette
  • RFA Ebonol
  • C410
  • Minelayer Man Yeung
  • HMT Alliance
  • Poet Chaucer
  • Waterboat Wave
  • SS Matchlock
  • Diesel Launch Ah Ming

2nd MTB Flotilla (Lt. Cdr. Gerrard H. Gandy)[8][18][21][6]

  • 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:[22]

  • SS An Jou
  • SS Apoey
  • SS Ben Nevis
  • SS Cheng Tu
  • SS Fausang
  • SS Fook On
  • SS Glen Moor
  • SS Henry Keswick
  • SS Hsin Fuli
  • SS Kanchow
  • SS Kau Tung
  • SS Mausang
  • SS Nanning
  • SS Patricia Moller
  • SS Shun Chih
  • SS Soochow
  • SS St. Vincent De Paul
  • SS Tai Ming
  • SS Taishan
  • MV Tantalus
  • SS Tung On
  • SS Whithorn
  • SS Yat Shing

Air forces

  • Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (Lt. P. J. Milner-Barry)[8][21]
Supermarine Walrus L2259
Supermarine Walrus L2819
  • Hong Kong Station, Royal Air Force (Wng. Cdr. Humphrey[6] G. Sullivan)[8][23][24]
Vickers Vildebeest K2924
Vickers Vildebeest K2818
Vickers Vildebeest K6370
  • HKVDC Flight (Sq. Ldr. Donald "Sammy" Hill)[8][24]
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:[25][26][27][28]

Lt. Gen. Takashi Sakai, Commander of the 23rd Army
Commander: Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai
Chief of Staff: Major General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Deputy Chief of Staff: Major General Keishichiro Higuchi
Commander: Lieutenant General Tadayoshi Sano
228th Infantry Regiment (Col. Sadashichi Doi[6])
229th Infantry Regiment (Col. Ryosaburo Tanaka)
230th Infantry Regiment (Col. Toshinari Shōji)
38th Mountain Gun Regiment[6] (Col. Takekichi Kamiyoshi[6])
38th Engineers Regiment (Lt. Col. Tsuneō Iwabuchi[6])
38th Logistic Regiment (Lt. Col. Shūichi Yabuta)
19th Independent Engineer Regiment (Lt. Col. Shoshirō Inukai[6])
20th Independent Engineer Regiment (Col. Kiyoshi Suzukawa)
2nd Company, 14th Independent Engineering Regiment (Maj. Eiichi Kusagi)
21st Independent Mortar Battalion (Maj. Shigeo Okamoto)[6]
Signal Corps (Maj. Ryōichi Itō)
  • Araki Detachment (Col. Masatoshi Araki[6])
66th Infantry Regiment – Less 1 Company
  • Attached Force
10th Independent Mountain Gun Regiment[6] (Col. Rikichirō Sawamoto[6])
20th Independent Mountain Gun Battalion[6] (Lt. Col. Jirō Kajimatsu[6])
2nd Quick-Firing Gun Battalion[6] (Lt. Col. Takeo Ōno)
5th Quick-Firing Gun Battalion[6] (Maj. Jirō Aoki[6])
  • 1st Artillery Group[6] (Lt. Gen. Kaneo Kitajima[6])
1st Heavy Artillery Regiment (Col. Masayoshi Hayakawa[6])
14th Heavy Field Gun Regiment[6] (Col. Takeaki Satō)
2nd Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion (Maj. Kiyotoshi Kanamaru[6])
3rd Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion (Lt. Col. Hitomi Kanmei[6])
2nd Heavy Mortar Battalion (Maj. Deiichi Namimatsu[6])

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[6])
  • 2nd River Crossing Material Company, 9th Division (Lt. Eda Asao[6])
  • Ordnance team (Capt. Sadaharu Koide)
  • 5th Field Gas Company[6] (Capt. Magosaburō Suzuki)
  • 18th Field Gas Company[6] (Lt. Isamu Morimoto[6]
  • 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
Seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru
Commander: Vice Admiral Masaichi Niimi
Chief of Staff: Brigadier Yasuo Yasuba
2 x Kawanishi E7K
3 x Kugisho B3Y

Bombardment Group:[29][30]

Attack Group:[30][31]

  • Uji
  • Hashidate
  • Saga
  • Arashiyama Maru
  • Tsukushi Maru
  • Asashi Maru
  • Momo Maru
  • Ryujin Maru
  • Choun Maru No. 7
  • Shinsei Maru
  • Sozan Maru
  • Azuchi Maru
  • San Luis Maru
  • Shinko Maru
  • Toen Maru

Air forces

  • 23rd Army Air Unit, 1st Air Group[29][32]
    • 45th Flying Sentai[6] (Col. Shuji Habu) – 29 x Kawasaki Ki-32
    • 10th Independent Chutai[6] (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[6]
  • Kanoya Air Group[6]

See also

Notes

  1. Made temporary Major[1]
  2. Made temporary Colonel[1]
  3. Made temporary Lieutenant-Colonel[8]
  4. Designated as "combatants" through the Police (Militia Status) Ordinance, Sept 1941[13]
  5. Left for Singapore on the evening of 8 December[8][19]

References

  1. [1]
    Lai 2014, p. 22.
  2. [2]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, pp. 116–127.
  3. [3]
    Banham 2003, pp. 298–301.
  4. [4]
    Lai 2014, pp. 22–23.
  5. [5]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, pp. 117–126.
  6. [6]
    Kwong, C.M. (2021). "The Battle of Hong Kong 1941: A Spatial History Project". Hong Kong Baptist University Library, History in Data. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
  7. [7]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 124.
  8. [8]
    Lai 2014, p. 23.
  9. [9]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 376.
  10. [10]
    Banham 2003, p. 298.
  11. [11]
    Banham 2003, p. 301.
  12. [12]
    Banham 2003, pp. 304–305.
  13. [13]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 321.
  14. [14]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 323.
  15. [15]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 326.
  16. [16]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 127.
  17. [17]
    Banham 2003, pp. 301–302.
  18. [18]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, pp. 130–131.
  19. [19]
    Banham 2003, p. 31.
  20. [20]
    Banham 2003, p. 302.
  21. [21]
    Banham 2003, p. 303.
  22. [22]
    Banham 2003, pp. 303–304.
  23. [23]
    Banham 2003, p. 304.
  24. [24]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 132.
  25. [25]
    Lai 2014, pp. 23–24.
  26. [26]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, pp. 132–136.
  27. [27]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, pp. 364–365.
  28. [28]
    Ref.C13031769200、第３８師団香港攻略戦 戦闘詳報 昭和１６年１１月３０日～１６年１２月２９日. Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (in Japanese). National Institute for Defense Studies, Ministry of Defense. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  29. [29]
    Lai 2014, p. 24.
  30. [30]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, p. 137.
  31. [31]
    Lai 2014, p. 25.
  32. [32]
    Kwong & Tsoi 2013, pp. 138–139.

Bibliography
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