Battle of Hong Kong

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The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the Empire of Japan attacked the British Crown colony of Hong Kong around the same time that Japan declared war on Britain. The Hong Kong garrison consisted of British, Indian and Canadian units, the Auxiliary Defence Units, and the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC). Of the three territories of Hong Kong, the defenders abandoned the two mainland territories of Kowloon and New Territories within a week. Less than two weeks later, with their last territory Hong Kong Island untenable, the colony surrendered. The fall of the city is regarded as Black Christmas as it marked the beginning of a brutal occupation by Japan that would last until its liberation in the summer of 1945.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Mainichi Newpaper, Japan, Public domain