Battle of Hong Kong order of battle explained

See main article: article and 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

• Garrison Commander & Fortress Command

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:^[1]

• 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots (Lt. Col. Simon E. H. E. White)
• 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Lt. Col. Henry W. M. Stewart)
• Royal Rifles of Canada (Lt. Col. William J. Home)
• Winnipeg Grenadiers (Lt. Col. John L. R. Sutcliffe)
• 5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment (Lt. Col. John. Cadogan-Rawlinson)
• 2nd Battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment (Lt. Col. Gerald R. Kidd)
• Hong Kong Chinese Regiment (either Major H. W. A. Mayer or Major. Rodney W. Mayer)
• Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps^[1] (Col. Henry B. Rose)

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)

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)

12th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery (Maj. Richard L. J. Penfold)

24th Coast Battery (Capt. E. W. S. Anderson)

26th Coast Battery (Lt. A. O. G. Mills)

5th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery^[1] (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^[1] (Maj. John C. Yale)

1st Mountain Battery

2nd Mountain Battery

3rd Medium Battery

4th Medium Battery

25th Medium Battery

26th Coast Battery

17th Anti-Aircraft Gun Battery

• Royal Engineers China Command^[1] (Col. Esmond H. M. Clifford^[1])

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:

• Kowloon Infantry Brigade

Brigadier Cedric Wallis

• Hong Kong Infantry Brigade

Brigadier J. K. Lawson

Headquarters and support corps

British and local forcesCanadianIndian

Civilian

Civilian forces were as follows:

• MI6
• Hong Kong Police Force (Commissioner of Police John Pennefather-Evans)

Indian Company, Police Reserve

Chinese Company, Police Reserve

• Fire Brigade (Jack Fitz-Henry)
• Air Raid Precautions
• St. John's Ambulance
• Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes

Auxiliary Services

Naval forces

Royal Navy

Commander: Captain Alfred C. Collinson

The Royal Navy presence were as follows:

• Royal Marine detachment (Maj. Farrington)^[1]
  • (Lt. Cdr. Arthur Luard Pears^[1])
• (Lt. Cdr. Hedworth Lambton^[1])
• (Lt. Cdr. Bernard Davies^[1])
• (Lt. John Douglas^[1])
• (Cdr. Hugh M. Montague^[1])
• (Lt. Cdr. Henry C. S. Collingwood-Selby^[1])
• (Lt. Cdr. John C. Boldero^[1])
• (Lt. Cdr. R. C. Creer)
• Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (Lt. Cdr. R. J. D. Vernall)
• Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service
• Royal Naval Dockyard Police
• Hong Kong Dockyard Defence Corps (Maj. D. Campbell)

Auxiliary patrol vesselsMinor vessels2nd MTB Flotilla (Lt. Cdr. Gerrard H. Gandy)^[1]

• 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:

Air forces

• Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (Lt. P. J. Milner-Barry)

Supermarine Walrus L2259

Supermarine Walrus L2819

• Hong Kong Station, Royal Air Force (Wng. Cdr. Humphrey^[1] G. Sullivan)

Vickers Vildebeest K2924

Vickers Vildebeest K2818

Vickers Vildebeest K6370

• HKVDC Flight (Sq. Ldr. Donald "Sammy" Hill)

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:^[2]

• 23rd Army

Commander: Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai

Chief of Staff: Major General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Deputy Chief of Staff: Major General Keishichiro Higuchi

• 38th Division

Commander: Lieutenant General Tadayoshi Sano

• Infantry HQ, 38th Division (Maj. Gen. Takeo Itō)

228th Infantry Regiment (Col. Sadashichi Doi^[1])

229th Infantry Regiment (Col. Ryosaburo Tanaka)

230th Infantry Regiment (Col. Toshinari Shōji)

38th Mountain Gun Regiment^[1] (Col. Takekichi Kamiyoshi^[1])

38th Engineers Regiment (Lt. Col. Tsuneō Iwabuchi^[1])

38th Logistic Regiment (Lt. Col. Shūichi Yabuta)

19th Independent Engineer Regiment (Lt. Col. Shoshirō Inukai^[1])

20th Independent Engineer Regiment (Col. Kiyoshi Suzukawa)

2nd Company, 14th Independent Engineering Regiment (Maj. Eiichi Kusagi)

21st Independent Mortar Battalion (Maj. Shigeo Okamoto)^[1]

Signal Corps (Maj. Ryōichi Itō)

• Araki Detachment (Col. Masatoshi Araki^[1])

66th Infantry Regiment – Less 1 Company

• Attached Force

10th Independent Mountain Gun Regiment^[1] (Col. Rikichirō Sawamoto^[1])

20th Independent Mountain Gun Battalion^[1] (Lt. Col. Jirō Kajimatsu^[1])

2nd Quick-Firing Gun Battalion^[1] (Lt. Col. Takeo Ōno)

5th Quick-Firing Gun Battalion^[1] (Maj. Jirō Aoki^[1])

• 1st Artillery Group^[1] (Lt. Gen. Kaneo Kitajima^[1])

1st Heavy Artillery Regiment (Col. Masayoshi Hayakawa^[1])

14th Heavy Field Gun Regiment^[1] (Col. Takeaki Satō)

2nd Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion (Maj. Kiyotoshi Kanamaru^[1])

3rd Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion (Lt. Col. Hitomi Kanmei^[1])

2nd Heavy Mortar Battalion (Maj. Deiichi Namimatsu^[1])

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^[1])
• 2nd River Crossing Material Company, 9th Division (Lt. Eda Asao^[1])
• Ordnance team (Capt. Sadaharu Koide)
• 5th Field Gas Company^[1] (Capt. Magosaburō Suzuki)
• 18th Field Gas Company^[1] (Lt. Isamu Morimoto^[1]
• 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

Naval forces

• 2nd China Fleet

Commander: Vice Admiral Masaichi Niimi

Chief of Staff: Brigadier Yasuo Yasuba

2 x Kawanishi E7K

3 x Kugisho B3Y

Bombardment Group:

Attack Group:

Air forces

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

See also

• List of orders of battle
• British Forces Overseas Hong Kong
• C Force

Bibliography

• Book: Banham, Tony . Tony Banham. Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941. 2003. UBC Press. 978-0-7748-1045-6.
• Book: Kwong . Chi Man . Tsoi . Yiu Lun . Exposed Outpost: the Battle of Hong Kong in the Pacific War. zh:孤獨前哨: 太平洋戰爭中的香港戰役 . Hong Kong . Cosmos Books Ltd. . zh. 2013 . 9789888254347.
• Book: Lai, Benjamin. Hong Kong 1941–45: First strike in the Pacific War. 2014-06-20. Bloomsbury Publishing. 978-1-78200-269-7.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Battle of Hong Kong 1941: A Spatial History Project. Kwong. C.M.. 2021. Hong Kong Baptist University Library, History in Data. 2021-08-29.
2. Web site: https://www.jacar.archives.go.jp/aj/meta/image_C13031769200 . ja: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 . Japanese . Japan Center for Asian Historical Records . National Institute for Defense Studies, Ministry of Defense . 2021-01-29.