WWII- The Fall of Hong KongNarrativeOn December 8, 1941 at 8:00 a.m., just six hours after the disaster at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched a devastating attack on Hong Kong almost defenseless. This attack, however, was not preceded by a declaration of war and therefore violated international law. The two opposing camps were: the British, Canadian and Indian forces defending Hong Kong (led by Major General Christopher Maltby) with a camp of only 14,000,000 troops, against the stronger and trained 52,000 Japanese troops. to war (led by Lieutenant General Christopher Maltby). General Takishi Sakai). The reason the Japanese attacked Hong Kong was because Winston Churchill was using it as his main outpost in Asia, and it was useful to him in repelling attacks from the Japanese. However, previously many chiefs of staff in London had called this an "undesirable military engagement". But they could not withdraw British troops because it would weaken their already weakened oversight of Asia. The first attack on Hong Kong took place on December 8 at 8 a.m., the Japanese bombed Kai Tak airport. In the devastating attack, two of the three Vickers Vildebeest submarines and the two Walrus Amphibians were destroyed, leaving Hong Kong without any air defense. The only planes that remained were two of the planes used by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Corp's air unit. After the attack on the airport, two of the three destroyers were ordered to leave Hong Kong for Singapore, leaving only HMS Thracian, a few gunboats and torpedo boats to defend Hong Kong by sea. On December 9, the defense was pushed back towards the “Gindrinkers line”. The Gindrinkers...... middle of paper ......e The Japanese attack fiercely south towards the Stanley Peninsula (the least protected part of Hong Kong). Slowly, General Maltby's troops ran out of ammunition and fresh water and victory against the approaching Japanese tide was almost impossible. Meanwhile, to the west of the island, a little Canadian was trying to protect Wong Nei Chong Gap. However, they failed and the Japanese had to have a large force to hold back. After this defeat, General Maltby sent all the reserves he had to attack Wong Nei Chon Gap, but after six days of fierce fighting they were destroyed and the battle ended abruptly on Christmas Day. At this point, General Maltby believed that continuing to fight would result in unnecessary slaughter and would serve no purpose. The surrender took place at 6:00 p.m. and the 6,500 survivors were taken into captivity where thousands more would die..