"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.
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.
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.
