This book is no King Rat -like epic narrative, nor a heroic tale in the style of The Bridge over the River Kwai. Instead, it is a simple chronological account of what happened to thousands of ordinary people caught up in the Japanese invasion and occupation of Hong Kong.

It is told not in my words, but in theirs. My role is as a journalist, or even an editor, responsible for the structure of the work — and for conducting ‘interviews’ (whether through direct correspondence, or finding primary sources elsewhere) — but preserving objectivity through my own silence.

Here I have observed...

Hong Kong, when it was attacked by Japan on Monday, 8 December 1941, was garrisoned by approximately 11,000 regular soldiers, backed up by some 2,000 members of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, and 1,000 members of other disciplined services. Although — theoretically — all the families of the British garrison had been evacuated to Australia in 1940, several thousand non-Chinese civilians were also present.

Some 1,550 of the defenders had lost their lives² by the time the Governor, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the Colony on the afternoon of Christmas Day. Stunned by their change in circumstances, those who survived took stock....

As 1942 began, just seven days after the surrender, the Japanese occupying forces were still attempting to gain control of their new conquest. Initially, POWs were spread arbitrarily between Shamshuipo, Argyle Street, and North Point, with many still in other locations and the hospitals. While efforts at concentration had begun, the majority of non-Chinese civilians were still at large, and many local Chinese members of the garrison had shed their uniforms and merged with the population at large.¹

The initial Japanese focus, therefore, lay in rationalizing the camps and hospitals, and taking a census of the ‘European’ civilians. In consultation...

The year 1942 had not been kind to Hong Kong’s garrison. Some 1,468 of them had died during the year — a number almost equal to the 1,500 or so who had been lost in the December 1941 fighting. Some 822 of these deaths had been immediately caused by the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, with others dying shortly after of the effects of the sinking. The remainder — bar those who had died of wounds incurred during the attempted defence of Hong Kong, or who had been executed after failed escape attempts — had largely succumbed to disease. Dysentery had been the...

By the beginning of 1944, the POWs in Hong Kong occupied the Bowen Road Hospital, Shamshuipo Camp, Argyle Street Camp, and Ma Tau Chung. In China, the stragglers from the Lisbon Maru were still at Kiangwan (now Jiangwan), and there were many Indians in Guangzhou and on Hainan Island.

And of the 4,000 men who had been shipped to Japan, nearly 2,750 were still alive and spread across some twelve camps:¹

Tokyo Main Camp (Omori)

Tokyo #3 Branch Camp (Yokohama Stadium)

Tokyo #3 Dispatched Camp (Tsurumi Shipyard)

Tokyo #5 Branch Camp (Niigata-Rinko)

Osaka #1 Branch...

By now, the Hong Kong POWs were reduced to just one hospital — Bowen Road, with just 145 patients at the beginning of the year — and two camps: Shamshuipo for the remaining British and Canadians, and Argyle Street for the Indians. The civilians still languished at Stanley Military Internment Camp, Ma Tau Wai, and Rosary Hill.

Kiangwan (now Jiangwan) in China was still holding Hong Kong POWs at the start of the year.

The Indian POWs were still in a wide variety of locations across Hong Kong and South China.

In Japan, the survivors were now spread across thirteen camps (plus...

And so the camps were finally emptied, or turned to other purposes.

During 1945, some 178 more of Hong Kong’s POWs and internees had perished. This would bring the totals, from 1 January 1942 to the end of the war and the journey home, to some 2,340. More, of course, would continue to die of the war’s effects in 1945, 1946, and every year that followed.

Those 2,340 added to the 1,550 who had perished in the initial Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. The Garrison — never more than 15,000 strong, however one chooses to count — had suffered badly; almost 4,000...