Not the Slightest Chance is focused on a single month of Hong Kong’s short but exotic history — December 1941. The hundredth anniversary of the Crown Colony, this was also the moment when its ownership changed hands for the second of three times in its history.

This work has three aims. The first is to bring together into one volume the salient points of all known accounts of the eighteen-day battle between the Japanese invaders and Hong Kong’s garrison, so that the various different versions of the story can be compared and — hopefully — reconciled into a single comprehensive narrative.

The second...

As an island and tiny peninsula on the south coast of China, Hong Kong’s one and only asset in the middle of the nineteenth century was the remarkable deep-water harbour for which the ‘Fragrant Harbour’ was named. It was just what the British needed, as Guangzhou — at that time the only Chinese port at which trade with foreigners was permitted — was a little further up the Pearl Estuary, and they were looking for a good harbour on its doorstep as a staging post for their latest ‘merchandise’. This ever-exotic colony was founded on the opium trade

By Britain’s military might...

Responsibility for the defence of Hong Kong and its grotesquely swollen wartime population lies squarely on the shoulders of Major General C. M. Maltby. Maltby, a highly respected career soldier of the old school, has a garrison of some 14,000 men behind him.¹

There are six infantry battalions² in the Colony. Two, the 5/7th Rajputs³ and the 2/14th Punjabis, are from the old Indian army that Maltby himself — he is fluent in Hindustani — has served with for some thirty years. Two are famous British names, the 1st Middlesex (the ‘Die Hards’) and the 2nd Royal Scots (the ‘First of Foot’)....

The task of the Mainland Brigade is expressed in very simple terms: hold the Gin Drinkers Line as long as possible (134).

Once the Japanese cross the front line, the Royal Engineers, covered by the Punjabis and elements of the HKVDC, begin their delaying action. Interestingly, even at this time the delay seems to be for delay’s sake. All preparations have been made already, and with the simultaneous attacks on Malaya and other areas, no reinforcements can be expected to rush to Hong Kong’s aid from Singapore.

The strongest point of the line is the Shing Mun Redoubt. However, ‘Redoubt’...

It had been hoped that the Gin Drinkers Line would hold for at least a week. However, the forcing of the Shing Mun Redoubt within some forty hours of the start of the attack has made the line untenable. In fact, it is fair to question why the Japanese took so long to capture the Mainland.¹

Of the garrison’s approximately 14,000 personnel, it is strange that only some forty-five were allocated to the defence of the Shing Mun Redoubt, and that of the three men who died there, one apparently died later of wounds and the other two were killed...

The siege has cost the garrison a further fifty-four dead and thirty-eight wounded. More important, it has greatly damaged the defences on the north shore and has tired (and in some cases demoralized) the defenders.

The streets, particularly in the area from Shau Kei Wan to North Point, are covered with debris. Many field telephone lines have been cut (though engineers are later commended for the speed with which they replaced them),¹ and large fires have been started in several parts of town.

Although the defences have been split into West and East Brigades, it is no coincidence that Maltby’s...

One hundred and forty men have been killed on 18 December, in the first few hours following the invasion. A further 451 will be killed this day, the biggest single loss of the fighting. On top of this, some 200 more¹ will be captured.

To understand this phase of the battle, one first needs to understand the defence. The west side of the valley is held by Lawson’s headquarters. The bottom is held by the headquarters of D Company Winnipeg Grenadiers, and a medical section. The east side of the valley is held by 3 Company HKVDC, with 7 Platoon...

The Japanese attacking Hong Kong, like the Russians attacking Berlin four years later, had realized that there should be a focus for their attack. In Berlin it was the Reichstag; in Hong Kong, Victoria. Both attacking forces correctly surmised that the capture of their objective would lead to almost immediate surrender. To the Japanese, while splitting east and west had been strategic, taking Stanley was simply a sideshow to the real attack on Central.

The initial Japanese focus is on consolidating their hold through the centre of the Island. Although East and West Brigades never succeed in joining up after...

On Saturday, 27 December, the Japanese flag is raised in Central. However, they are still not fully in control of the Island. Lewis Bush HKRNVR, a fluent Japanese speaker with a Japanese wife, is sent at the request of the Japanese to the Little Hong Kong ordnance depot near Aberdeen, where some Royal Engineers are still refusing to surrender. Eventually they emerge and the Japanese take them to Aberdeen, treating them as heroes (95: 163).¹

Security is lax, and for those willing to take a gamble escape is possible. Corporal Salter of the Royals Scots declined to report to POW...

Post-war, the Battle of Hong Kong was largely forgotten about. In British eyes, the fall of Hong Kong had been overshadowed by many greater tragedies closer to home. Hong Kong people themselves either wanted to put the whole experience behind them, or simply had little time for history in the struggle to survive as China went through its upheavals of civil war and communism. For the Indians, the pain of partition in the wake of British withdrawal dominated the immediate post-war period.

In the mid-1950s, the first general account of the fighting was written by Stewart of 3 Company, HKVDC...

Hong Kong really took off from a base of being the most looted city in the world—there wasn’t a piece of wood to be seen in Hong Kong when I got back from Shanghai where I’d been a prisoner of war. And the whole city was, well, there was one cable across the harbour, there was some light in one or two buildings on this side (Hong Kong-side) and there was some light at the Peninsula Hotel, which was the Japanese headquarters. But other than that there wasn’t any light at all in the place. And it was black....