My Grandfather fought with Bravo Company, 1st Middlesex Regiment at the Battle of Hong Kong. He turns 100 in July (2020), a month away. He was aboard the Lisbon Maru when it was sunk by the USS Grouper (believing that they were interdicting Japanese shipping), as it was not marked as a POW ship. He spent the remainder of the War in Kobe Prisoner camp as a slave labourer. He still has the scars on his head from when the Japanese beat him to within an inch of his life when he was caught pouring rice into Japanese fuel tanks. He saw the Hiroshima atomic cloud and hair would not grow on his face for three years afterwards. In 1948, he, along with my grandmother (who is 98, was a Radar Operator during the War, and who also recently survived and made a full recovery from a stroke) moved to Canada in 1948, where they reside in my home town today. They have been married for 72 years. In October of 2018, Laurel films interviewed him and our entire family (including yours truly) about the Battle of Hong Kong, and, specifically, the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, of which he is probably the last remaining survivor. I do not know when the documentary will be released, but hope that you will see it. Thank you for this episode, Mr. Felton.
My grand father was also on the lisbon maru, i got in contact with a historian that studied the battle of hong kong, this is all the info he got for me on my grand father www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/m/html/myles-francis-burnes.htm
My mother was nine years old and living in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded. According to her, Hong Kong had many prostitutes that kept the conquering Imperial Japanese Army busy, so the occupation for the surviving civilians was not as bad as it was in mainland China. My grandmother, then in her late twenties or early thirties, was never raped or assaulted. The contribution of Hong Kong's 10,000 prostitutes to the welfare of the civilian population must not be underestimated.
Benny with the Wooden Tit. A ledgand in my time in British Army. Worked in the Red Lips bar. Myth/fact was that she held the BEM. Awarded for hiding two soldiers for the duration of the occupation. She would have lost her head if caught. Myth I do not know, it was believed by all Brit troops was fact. John
@@hgm8337 Before widespread availability of antibiotics the Japanese had suffered heavy casualties from venereal diseases including fatalities in China. One reason for the establishment of the Comfort Women system.
CSM Osborn was the son of "tinkers" and was born at Foulden, Norfolk, England, on January 2, 1899. In 1916 he saw action at Jutland as a 17 year old Seaman. Later on he joined the Royal Marines and fought in the trenches of the Western Front. Here he was taken prisoner, then escaped, was wounded, and later in war became a casualty of mustard gas. After that he was evacuated to England. In 1920, he moved to Canada (to help his poor health), where he was employed as a farmhand in Saskatchewan for a couple of years. He then moved to Manitoba, and was employed on a railway maintenance crew (either for CNR or CPR). In this capacity he met his wife at Gregg MB, and married her on May 19, 1926, later moving to St. Vital in Winnipeg MB. In 1933 he joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers as a part-time soldier and was called to active service one week before Canada declared war on Germany. The Winnipeg Grenadiers had been on garrison duty on Bermuda and Jamaica from May 1940 to October 1941. The Grenadiers disembarked for Hong Kong on 27th October 1941. The day before he left, CSM Osborn's young daughter Patricia was severely burned, and he donated a quart of blood, but Patricia was not expected to live. Before leaving, he told his two oldest sons that he did not expect to survive, and for them to take care of the family (there were 5 children). His family never heard from him again. He did not know that Patricia would go on to survive and recover from her injuries. His family did not hear until 1944, that he had been killed in action. In 1946 his family was notified that he was to be posthumously awarded with the V.C., for his actions on Mt. Butler on December the 19, 1941. He was 42 years old. CSM Osborn has no known grave, but is commemorated on Column 25 of the Sai Wan memorial. However, there are numerous memorials in Manitoba and a few in Hong Kong which remember his sacrifice. Lest We Forget.
What a brave man who never returns to see his family or new country again died saving others,, for others taken prisoners their hardship just began,, glad their story has been told, from Northern Ireland greatly appreciated thank you, ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
Osborn was awarded the Victoria Cross five years after his death because men of the Grenadiers who miraculously survived nearly 4 years in Japanese slave labour camps were able to come home & tell the story. The sad thought is how many other men down through the ages have died performing similar acts of sacrificial bravery but have gone to their graves unremarked because no one lived to tell the tale.
My dad was a private in the 1st Middlesex and surrendered on Christmas day. He also survived the torpedoing of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese freighter transporting surviving pows to Japan in October 1942. He's still alive and lives with mom in their own house, here in Canada, thanks to the efforts of my brother and sister, who live nearby. He'll be 100 years old on July 14/ 2020. Mark, I wonder if you are aware of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru?
The Lisbon Maru is worth an episode of its own. Your dad must be quite a man. He and his fellows certainly got it from both sides. First the ship was topedoed by an American submarine. Some POWs were able to escape before it sank. But then the Japanese guards fired on the men who reached the deck, and other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at the ones in the water. Later on the Japanese Government insisted that British prisoners were not deliberately killed by its soldiers. I expect your dad has a different view. I would very much appreciate hearing what he has said about that. I read all about the 1st Middlesex and Colonel "Monkey" Stewart when I was a youngster. Most of those books seem to be out of print these days. Cheers
As fewer and fewer heroes like your father remain with us, we cherish their sacrifices even more. It is our last chance to express our gratitude to him and, by extension, to the multitudes of his comrades who have already gone on.
Thankyou Mark, my grandfather Lieutenant Joaquim Guterres, 5th company HKVDC , fought and eventually died there in July 1942 in Sham shui po P.O.W. Camp. I understand that he defended Mt Davis till the last. Your video is fantastic and very much appreciated. Anthony.
@@seannybgoodes both of your grandpas were racist fascists...they weren't born in asia or asians themselves but fought for the their countries to subjugate another culture. they can burn in hell. what were canadians doing defendingn HK for other then protecting their stolen goods.
@michael boultinghouse wouldn't really called it liberating in Japanese hand given the attitude they had towards ruling over anyone; Nor are we free of "Conquerors" after 97...
@michael boultinghouse So mass murder and war crimes are how you would describe “Freeing a nation from imperialism“ ? And the disgusting ways of treating women of your subjects of aids in a modern society is acceptable in your mind？ Are these what you do when you felt betrayed and enraged？
we never really learnt about this at my school (raised in Hong Kong for 6 years), most of what I learnt came from visiting the Coastal Defence Museum. it’s often forgotten imo, especially now that CCP have taken over.
I lived in Hong Kong right there in Repulse Bay where the Canadians fought a ferocious battle against the invaders. There are still places on the island where the reminisce of the war remain.
I was 6 years old when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong. Now, there are not many octogenarians left to tell stories of this period. After 18 days of intense fighting, Hong Kong fell into Japanese hands and began the "Three Years and Eight Months" (metonym of "Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong"). I followed The Battle of Hong Kong only from newspapers and UA-cam, but nothing describe it as fully as your episode. Thank you, Mr. Felton.
At the end of World War II, the Allies, including the United States and Great Britain, indiscriminately massacred approximately 500,000 Japanese citizens through air raids and atomic bombings. You see? The Anglo-American Allies are vicious perpetrators pretending to be victims. ★★★ The Japanese people have not forgotten the heinous atrocities committed by the Allied Powers ❢❢❢
Once met a Canadian vet he told me he was captured but eventually escaped, I wish I was able to talk to him more he must have had one hell of a story to tell.
That would be one hell of a story seeing very few men were able to escape completely from the Japanese because of dense jungle, tropical diseases, can't blend in with the sometimes hostile locals.
@deplorable -- punjabs were brits' good guard dogs..the way they treated conquered chinese..most indians aren't liked by other asians bc of this and they know that they betrayed asians.
An extraordinary tale. My father's elder brother was born in December 1919, so one of the few people called up in the two pre-war militias (a good topic for another Felton piece). At the time he was training to be an optometrist, but in he. Went and was commissioned on due course into 1st Battalion Middx Regt. So.... He ended up on Hong Kong and died on 25th December 1941. Before the war, as a schoolboy, he had been active in the PPU and had gone door-to-door collection signatures for the pledge. That was curtailed by entry into the Militia. My grandparents (grandpa was a volunteer on the Great War and was active in the PPU) didn't have any animosity for the Japanese, bit on my childhood we were discouraged from watching war films about the Far East while they were visiting.
@mukund p Well, we spoke a lot about both his brother's war service and his own (he too was active in the PPU as a schoolboy prior to military servce). My father's brother, who was killed in Hong Kong with 1 Middx. did not make a decision, per se, that he would fight. He was called up. He was conscripted pre-war into the "second militia". Clearly he was not completely averse to.military service or he would not have been put up for a commission and would not have accepted one. These were desperate times and the idealism of the 30s was in part swept away by the headlong rush into the Low Countries and France. Although by then this man was already pretty firmly embedded into the military. Up to a point we have the luxury today (in NW Europe at least) of saying "I would never do this or never do that", but those were different times and were subject to different imperatives. My father (who survived the war and in later years showed some of his more.pacifist leanings) had dear childhood friends who were "Conchies". He referred to them himself as that. Not as a pejorative, but as a mark of respect. One went onto the RN and was on minesweepers and survived. One went through the war with the RAMC and survived. One refused all service, had a change of heart and died leading men off the beaches on June 6th 1944. There were others whose stories I don't know. They were terrible and complicated times and bereft of the luxuries of casual, coin-toss moral opinion forming that so many of us enjoy today. I hope that is a helpful answer. This brief response deserves more flesh to its narrative. In the mid-late 30s my father's parents had taken on a German boy who had left the country for political reasons. I do not think he was Jewish. His parents were (as I understood it) interned. He was still of school age and moved in with my grandparents and shared my father's room. He later died in the war, fighting for Britain. My father spoke quite eloquently about why he went from PPU to HO military service. It was not the treatment of persecuted minorities. It was not even the invasion of Poland, although this was seen widely as an attack on an ally of Britain - and indeed was one. The final piece of tinder to my father's volte face as he came to the end of his school days (he volinteered on school uniform on the last day of school on 1940, at the recruiting centre on Essex Road, Islington) was the invasion of France and the Low Countries and the realisation that the NS regime was quite serious about its territorial expansionism. And quite ruthless. Although he had been living for some months under the roof of a German boy his age who was a dissident from Nazi Germany, he was not fully aware of the brutality of the regime. Very few were. Nor about the extreme measures being employed. Wider knowledge of this came later. We cannot always guess what the driver was for so many of those who fought willingly despite their strong pacifist tendencies or beliefs. The times were very, very different. My father had an apocryphal tale of a young man going to his father in 1939 and saying he was going to register as a C.O. The father replied "My dear boy, are you sure you have the courage for that?" They were different times.
FIRST from a viewer in Hong Kong..? Thank you for covering this Mark, a fascinating and little-known topic, the evidence of which still can still be seen on a casual hike, hidden in the undergrowth, here in HK today.
For anyone unfortunate enough to be captured by the Japanese, their war was far from over. Something around 28% of captured Allied personnel would die at the hands of their Japanese captors. In particular, the French captured in Indochina and the Dutch troops captured in the Dutch East Indies seemed to have been lost to history entirely, and forever, with no one ever caring about whatever happened to them. Put yourself in their shoes, and this is chilling.
It was way higher than that. A plurality and maybe even absolute majority of prisoners captured by the Japanese were Chinese, and their mortality rates were even worse than Western Colonial or “Metropolitan”/White units.
@@vandeheyeric Great point - the Chinese were treated far worse than anyone else by the Japanese. I'm sure their mortality rates are akin to, or exceed those of the Soviet prisoners captured by German forces.
We did care, and we do care. Japan suffered a great, great deal for its insolence. Just off the top of my head there is the battle of Midway, the firebombing of Tokyo, the atom bomb destruction of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and then the complete and unconditional surrender of their people to the USA. As for the troops you mentioned, we don't know what happened to all of them. Many are MIA, and many are lost, but all of them are cared for, and none of them have been forgotten. For the patriot, every day is Veterans Day. Peace.
@Fender Player The conquest of the Philippines by Japan is often considered the worst military defeat in United States history. About 23,000 American military personnel were killed or captured, while Filipino soldiers killed or captured totaled around 100,000. The date for Philippine Independence and US military withdrawal was approaching, resulting in a reduction in funds from the US military to directly support the expansion of the Philippine Commonwealth Army. Twelve Million US dollars were provided to the Commonwealth for the establishment of the Philippine Army in 1936. In the early years of the Commonwealth, the Philippine Army was composed of an Active Duty and a Reserve Component. The Active Duty component was the Philippine Constabulary, which was a para-military organization. After the outbreak of the war, this was referred to as the First Philippine Division. Many of the officers of the Philippine Army and Philippine Army Air Corps came from the members of the Philippine Constabulary and Air Constabulary. On 25 July 1941, US Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson requested that US President Franklin D. Roosevelt issue orders calling the military forces of the Commonwealth into active service for the United States. Stimson explained, "All practical steps should be taken to increase the defensive strength of the Philippine Islands." The following day President Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets within the United States and issued orders to absorb the forces of the Philippine Army. That same day the War Department created the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) command, with jurisdiction over the Philippine Department and the military forces of the Commonwealth. At the same time General Douglas MacArthur was recalled to active duty and designated the commander of the USAFFE. Philippine Islands 7 December 1941-10 May 1942 history.army.mil/brochures/pi/PI.htm
To be fair, if MacArthur had stuck to the original plan to fight in the hills instead of on the shore, it may have never fallen. Leaving his planes on the ground after he got word that Pearl Harbor had been attacked didn't help, either. But I guess he start firing people for incompetence, FDR would have revealed his hypocrisy
@@jonwarner1977 the guerilla and partisan fighting in the philippines during that era were some of the fiercest of ww2, I do hope mr felton covers it soon
bigfish92672 the planes including B17 bombers were scrambled and flew in lazy circles around Manila for a couple of hours before being recalled. MacArthur got permission to bomb Formosa (Taiwan) so the B17s were being fueled and loaded with bombs when suddenly squadrons of Japanese bombers appeared and bombed Clark field and Cavite Naval yards. After the war they discovered intense fog delayed the Japanese bombers for over two hours in coming to bombs Manila.
We used to have a man on my street that was from the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He was captured after the fall of Hong Kong and survived the war in multiple Japanese PoW camps. My uncle recalled as a young boy watching him arrive home skin and bones. He weighed in no more than 100 pounds, and that was after months of rehabilitation in an American hospital. The only story he ever told of his experience in the war was when he and his mates were forced to dig an "air raid trench" by their Japanese captors. One night the Japanese decided to line the trench with what he believed was gasoline, and then after sounding the alarm for an air raid, lit the trench on fire once dozens of men had piled into it.. I can't imagine the horrors those men experienced..
Japanese Imperial Army were inhuman, I think they were worst than the Germans in many instances when their enemies surrendered. Manchuria, Unit 731, the atrocities commited make you question if some people had any ounce of compassion or empathy at all. I often hope we don't have another war that can allow such atrocities to be commited and not even talked about, excpect for from those unfortunate enough to experience it.
The real crime is that the last Shogun of Japan, General Macarthur, did not allow reprisals against the Japanese. So a lot of them went to the grave thinking what they did was right because they were powerful, and the prisoners let them go because they were too strong to challenge.
@@booradley6832 reprisals would have served no good. Victory was achieved. Sinking to their level would have been a failure on the part of the allies, and would only undermine the legitimacy of their sacrifice.
@@mortson978 The lack of reprisals has not benefitted anyone at all. While they still chase down and try low level guards at 90 years old who were concentration camp guards in Europe, the men who committed atrocities proudly in Japan were quietly swept under the rug. What has this lead to? The Japanese people today not even acknowledging their war crimes and them being something treated as hearsay. Clemency created legitimacy. That primadonna Macarthur wanted to punish the only general who bested him,. This man Masaharu Homma, was a commited pro-westerner being formerly based in the United States on several occasions. Instead of tracking down anyone who actually attacked, beat, tortured and killed POWs he took the target of his own personal shame and pinned 100% of the blame on him for Bataan. Like in any theatre of war you would expect a general to micromanage the POWs while conducting normal military operations. Not to mention how this man was actually noted calling for immediate improvements to conditions when he noticed the lack of food and proper sanitation in the camps, which was unfortunately not filled due to the sucessful US interception of the japanese maritime economy. So the Emperor who encouraged the atrocities was acquitted. The men who did the murdering were ordered not to be touched. And the man who tried to stop them was hanged despite possibly being one of the best liasons between Japan and United States during the post-war period. Now the japanese dont think Nanking was real, or that they committed any war crimes. No reprisals worked out great didnt it?
I'm ashamed to say the whole of the far east campaign seems to be nothing more than foot note in history everything was focused on the Pacific and Europe.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 I first learned about The Battle of Hong Kong in Senior High. In Canadian schools, the focus on our veterans happens on Remembrance Day (Nov. 11). Even then, most of it is about Vimy Ridge.
@@chrisholland7367 I'm glad for Indy Neidell's WW2 series. The team is covering the forgotten campaigns like the Brits vs Italians in Somaliland, Syrian campaign, The Greek defense against Italy, The 2nd Sino-Japanese War. We'll see what happens when 1941 rolls around
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 I went to a public schools. I don't know about other types of schools. I always liked history. My Grade 12 Social Studies teacher was very passionate about the subject.
Thank you Mark for reminding us this little known bloody battle. We shall never forget the atrocities (murder, rape...) the Japanese Imperial Army committed in Hong Kong against the local men and women, the British and Canadian brave soldiers and nurses. Regards A Hongkonger
Considering the utter brutality of the Japanese military towards civilians and soldiers alike, I fully understand why mercy towards the Japenese was in short supply as the tides of war turned. It is western liberalism at it's worse to label western actions towards Japan racist.
@sledge hammer And to communist atrocities too. Many people were in HK because they fled the communist uprising, "Cultural Revolution" and mass starvation in China that killed over 100 million people.
Amazing, how do you ignore that Britain was a brutal occupying imperialist army themselves. Britiain murdered tens of thousands of Chinese and caused the death of millions through war famine and literally forcing an Opium epidemic on the entire country by the force of war. What do you think the Commonwealth troops were doing there in the first place? They were occupying Chinese land they had stolen in a brutal colonial annexation 50 years earlier. This was a fight between two equally brutal and murderous Empires in which uncountable native civilians were slaughtered in their own homes.
John Osborne was born in 1899 and had been in the RN during the Great War. I think he was at Jutland. He ended up in the Naval Division and served as an infantryman on the Western front in 1918. He moved to Saskatchewan in 1920 and served in the reserves. Just before he shipped out his daughter was seriously burned and he deployed not knowing if she survived her injuries. In fact she did recover and spoke about her father in a documentary about him.
Thank You Dr. Felton. I really appreciate the video. My old neighbour was a Hong Kong veteran who served with the Winnipeg Grenadiers at Hong Kong and was captured. He spent the rest of the war as a POW, and only passed away a couple of years ago, R.I.P. Mr. Coutts, I haven't forgotten. Cheers, Dr. Felton.
Hello Mark, I hope you read this. Your analysis and delivery are both first class. There is always more in what you don't say than in what you do say. The garrison suffered from the myth that the Knights of Bushido were invincible. Just like at Singapore when the 'tanks' that were heard approaching were actually bicycles without tyres. Hindsight is always in 20:20, but it's not unreasonable to expect professional officers to do their professional duty. Excellent presentation as ever. Thanks so much.
Remembrance day ceremony is still a thing here every year but it probably won't last long as we are going to fully become China soon... And yea, at least the British rule was much better than the communists lol
Annual memorial service for the fallen is still held on the memorial day every year in Central, Hong Kong. Sadly the battle of Hong Kong is not included in our schools and little is taught to the children about this part of the history. Hong Kong was developed by the British and provided shelter to Chinese escaping from Japanese and communist aggression throughout the 20th century. Sad to see the current situation of the city state.
@@anonymous2513456 I'm Irish & don't hate the British, don't see the need for queen Elizabeth to apologise either. Thanks for keeping the godless Napoleon from invading us.
My cousin was one of the very first people killed in the Battle of Hong Kong. He was an inspector of schools and a member of the Auxiliary defence force. A civilian. He was killed by a grenade thrown into his armoured vehicle on the first day of the invasion. My Grandfather was a Police officer in the river police division and my Grandmother was a nurse. They were both captured by the Japanese and imprisoned in Stanley camp. They barely survived and lost everything. My Grandfather was a lovely gentle character but carried the scars of his imprisonment and the treatment by the Japanese throughout his life.
Awesome to see such a high-quality and substantial video on one of the lesser known but still immensely significant periods of history my home city. I hope more people learn about the Battle of Hong Kong, both in history and the current battle for freedom.
Have been following the channel for awhile. Kinda surprised to see Mark has done an episode on the battle of Hong Kong. Thanks for covering this little known battle From a Hong Konger
Thank you Mark Felton---another intriguing if not totally engrossing episode. What a remarkable document--truly mind blowing story. How fascinating! I delight in you're writing, the presentation and and the production all around, you're communication and organization is superb, first/second hand accounts, the chronological telling of history as it appears to have occurred, in fact---how marvelous. Great work---as always, it's been a pleasure. Here's to those remarkable men, and what a courageous lot they were.
After hearing all this for the 1st time it kind of makes you want to go back in time with an Aircraft Carrier like in the "Final Countdown " movie to straighten things out.
@no el Canada has good soldiers and a respectable past. However they're not better than ours. We are much bigger and have waaaaay more experience all over the world. You Canadians rarely fight. We, unfortunately, stay active all over the world. You have great snipers, it's true but no one has ever said, things are gonna change big time when/if Canada gets involved. No one gets paranoid about Canada's special forces.
Ollie Foxx Canada LITERALLY has the best special forces in the world lol. Search up JTF2 man. And the reason why we don’t fight often if because we don’t practice imperialism lol
@@jacobnewcombe5367 You did in your past, you were part of the British empire and you were a proud part of that history. Britain wouldn't have been able to expand without nations like Canada and Australia. 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇭🇲👍
Incredible. It would be appropriate for some of todays generation to indulge in the history lessons you provide Mark. Perhaps they would stop thinking they are so hard done by. Many thanks and my utmost respect to those who partook and were affected by this passage of history. Salute.
My grandfather was evacuated from Dunkirk with the BEF and posted to Singapore about 6 weeks before it surrendered He spent the rest if the war as a prisoner and to my knowledge never spoke of what happened while he was a prisoner He would never have anything that said made in Japan in the house. He suffered with stomach problems until his death in 1996 Hr was a Sargent in the Royal Corp of Signals
I salute your grandfather. My Father-in-law fought with the RCAF, based in India. He was wounded, saw his best friend's plane blown out of the sky in front of him. I married his youngest (of 5) daughter and was privileged to have him open up to me somewhat about his experiences. You mention the stomach trouble: my Father-in-law suffered from migraines for years ... sometimes he would bang his head on the wall to CHANGE the pain. We owe these men tremendous respect.
While living in HK I walked all the defences remaining many times and read everything I could. I visited Wong Nai Chung Gap, the site of vicious fighting around the police station. I have also visited “ Little Hong Kong” on the southern slopes of the Island, a former ordinance depot, now wine cellars. The story of the defence there is recorded there. A Japanese guardhouse still stands today. The cemeteries at Stanley are a stark reminder of the appalling behaviour of Japanese forces, and a fascinating insight into history and human endurance.
What an incredible story. The maps and my modest knowledge of HK really allow the imagination to describe the difficult defense of this amazing place. Thanks again
My good buddies great grandfather fought in the battle of Hong Kong. One of the few survivors taken as a POW. My buddy never understood the fact he survived was a miracle
For those who would like to know a little more about Royal Navy' torpedo boat's counter attack against the Japanese landing in HK Island, I have a video on this brave mission to share: ua-cam.com/video/_IDo9FqcqL0/v-deo.html The video was created because I am inspired by Mark's great war stories, and would like more people to know about this little known naval battle.
Thank you Mr Felton, I've really enjoyed your detailed accounts of our military history. So very well researched and clearly broadcast. Long may they continue :)
Thank you for making this! I grew up in Hong Kong in the late 90s. Many of the trails I hiked with my parents had remnants from the war. It wasn't uncommon to come across bullet shells and pillboxes. Made for a memorable childhood.
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This one I didn't really know much about,as always Mr Felton delivers perfect 👍
Thank you for the wonderfully narrated account of Black Chistmas,i see the Lei Yue strait in Shau Kei Wan on the eastern end of the bay from my apartment and i always wondered how the Japanese had crossed to Hong Kong island,ive visited the local war museum and seen the fortifications of such strategic point in HK. Also there were a series of massacres in the local hospitals in Shau Kei Wan after surrender as elsewhere in HK,how impotent they must have felt being unable to stop the Japanese onslaught.
Thanks for another good story. Though it could be nice with some graphics like circles, arrows and info-boxes that point out who battled and where. Espcially the first part.
My great grandfather Charles Manning was one of two naval personnel hurriedly made army majors leading the snappers you mentioned with the expressed order to sabotage HK. He had some great tails of his experience.
It was nice to sit back and watch a more detailed video. The British and Commonwealth casualties were mentioned in the video, but I'm curious what the losses were for the Japanese, since theirs were omitted. Thanks for making this and presenting your content in a fair and balanced manner. All the best.
Great work Mark. I'm sure you know HMS TAMAR received the White Ensign, this week, on the R. Tamar, entering the Fleet. She left Portsmouth, last week, flying the Blue Duster for reasons you mentioned. Interesting and Relatively fun fact.... The Star ferries crossing Victoria Harbour were made in Devonport Dockyard. A brass plate in the deck on each boat can be seen.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
My Grandfather fought with Bravo Company, 1st Middlesex Regiment at the Battle of Hong Kong. He turns 100 in July (2020), a month away. He was aboard the Lisbon Maru when it was sunk by the USS Grouper (believing that they were interdicting Japanese shipping), as it was not marked as a POW ship. He spent the remainder of the War in Kobe Prisoner camp as a slave labourer. He still has the scars on his head from when the Japanese beat him to within an inch of his life when he was caught pouring rice into Japanese fuel tanks. He saw the Hiroshima atomic cloud and hair would not grow on his face for three years afterwards. In 1948, he, along with my grandmother (who is 98, was a Radar Operator during the War, and who also recently survived and made a full recovery from a stroke) moved to Canada in 1948, where they reside in my home town today. They have been married for 72 years.
In October of 2018, Laurel films interviewed him and our entire family (including yours truly) about the Battle of Hong Kong, and, specifically, the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, of which he is probably the last remaining survivor. I do not know when the documentary will be released, but hope that you will see it. Thank you for this episode, Mr. Felton.
What is the name of this documentary to be?
@@yellowpete79 I do not know. It is about the sinking of the Lisbon Maru.
well waddayaknow:
ua-cam.com/video/kURSRFSfqvM/v-deo.html
Thank you for your post.
My grand father was also on the lisbon maru, i got in contact with a historian that studied the battle of hong kong, this is all the info he got for me on my grand father www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/m/html/myles-francis-burnes.htm
Several members of my family perished as civilians during the battle. Thank you for sharing this piece of history.
My uncle was among them.RIP to all.
My grandfather was captured defending hong kong, was a member of royal scots, sorry for your loss
@eric kowalski oh really? I thought it was sunshine and rainbows
😈😈😈🌞🌞🌞🌞🌈🌈🌈😎
Now will purish under CCP i hope you safe
My mother was nine years old and living in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded. According to her, Hong Kong had many prostitutes that kept the conquering Imperial Japanese Army busy, so the occupation for the surviving civilians was not as bad as it was in mainland China. My grandmother, then in her late twenties or early thirties, was never raped or assaulted. The contribution of Hong Kong's 10,000 prostitutes to the welfare of the civilian population must not be underestimated.
tiger2eye presumably by keeping the occupying Japanese soldiers bed ridden with the clap?
Who says prostitutes can't be heroes? Not his guy.
Benny with the Wooden Tit.
A ledgand in my time in British Army.
Worked in the Red Lips bar.
Myth/fact was that she held the BEM.
Awarded for hiding two soldiers for the duration of the occupation.
She would have lost her head if caught.
Myth I do not know, it was believed by all Brit troops was fact.
John
@@hgm8337 Before widespread availability of antibiotics the Japanese had suffered heavy casualties from venereal diseases including fatalities in China. One reason for the establishment of the Comfort Women system.
Those about the cock, we salute you!
CSM Osborn was the son of "tinkers" and was born at Foulden, Norfolk, England, on January 2, 1899. In 1916 he saw action at Jutland as a 17 year old Seaman. Later on he joined the Royal Marines and fought in the trenches of the Western Front. Here he was taken prisoner, then escaped, was wounded, and later in war became a casualty of mustard gas. After that he was evacuated to England. In 1920, he moved to Canada (to help his poor health), where he was employed as a farmhand in Saskatchewan for a couple of years. He then moved to Manitoba, and was employed on a railway maintenance crew (either for CNR or CPR). In this capacity he met his wife at Gregg MB, and married her on May 19, 1926, later moving to St. Vital in Winnipeg MB. In 1933 he joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers as a part-time soldier and was called to active service one week before Canada declared war on Germany. The Winnipeg Grenadiers had been on garrison duty on Bermuda and Jamaica from May 1940 to October 1941. The Grenadiers disembarked for Hong Kong on 27th October 1941. The day before he left, CSM Osborn's young daughter Patricia was severely burned, and he donated a quart of blood, but Patricia was not expected to live. Before leaving, he told his two oldest sons that he did not expect to survive, and for them to take care of the family (there were 5 children). His family never heard from him again. He did not know that Patricia would go on to survive and recover from her injuries. His family did not hear until 1944, that he had been killed in action. In 1946 his family was notified that he was to be posthumously awarded with the V.C., for his actions on Mt. Butler on December the 19, 1941. He was 42 years old. CSM Osborn has no known grave, but is commemorated on Column 25 of the Sai Wan memorial. However, there are numerous memorials in Manitoba and a few in Hong Kong which remember his sacrifice. Lest We Forget.
What a brave man who never returns to see his family or new country again died saving others,, for others taken prisoners their hardship just began,, glad their story has been told, from Northern Ireland greatly appreciated thank you, ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
Osborn, a true Canadian hero.
Osborn was awarded the Victoria Cross five years after his death because men of the Grenadiers who miraculously survived nearly 4 years in Japanese slave labour camps were able to come home & tell the story. The sad thought is how many other men down through the ages have died performing similar acts of sacrificial bravery but have gone to their graves unremarked because no one lived to tell the tale.
@@JohnCampbell-rn8rz Cheers Amigo, I had forgotten to state why Osborn's V.C. was awarded after the war had ended. I appreciate it friend.
@@danielb7117 Thank you for the full story. As the History Guy says, it's history that deserves to be remembered.
My dad was a private in the 1st Middlesex and surrendered on Christmas day. He also survived the torpedoing of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese freighter transporting surviving pows to Japan in October 1942. He's still alive and lives with mom in their own house, here in Canada, thanks to the efforts of my brother and sister, who live nearby. He'll be 100 years old on July 14/ 2020. Mark, I wonder if you are aware of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru?
The Lisbon Maru is worth an episode of its own. Your dad must be quite a man. He and his fellows certainly got it from both sides. First the ship was topedoed by an American submarine. Some POWs were able to escape before it sank. But then the Japanese guards fired on the men who reached the deck, and other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at the ones in the water. Later on the Japanese Government insisted that British prisoners were not deliberately killed by its soldiers. I expect your dad has a different view. I would very much appreciate hearing what he has said about that. I read all about the 1st Middlesex and Colonel "Monkey" Stewart when I was a youngster. Most of those books seem to be out of print these days. Cheers
It's cliche, but please thank your father for his service.
As fewer and fewer heroes like your father remain with us, we cherish their sacrifices even more. It is our last chance to express our gratitude to him and, by extension, to the multitudes of his comrades who have already gone on.
DONT HAVE HIM VAXXED!!!!!
@@durstigerhugo1312 STFU
Thankyou Mark, my grandfather Lieutenant Joaquim Guterres, 5th company HKVDC , fought and eventually died there in July 1942 in Sham shui po P.O.W. Camp. I understand that he defended Mt Davis till the last. Your video is fantastic and very much appreciated. Anthony.
@@seannybgoodes both of your grandpas were racist fascists...they weren't born in asia or asians themselves but fought for the their countries to subjugate another culture. they can burn in hell. what were canadians doing defendingn HK for other then protecting their stolen goods.
@@seannybgoodes I have a cousin buried there. He was also in the same "C" Force. He died in December of 42 in the same camp. Those poor brave men.
I’ve always considered myself knowledgeable in history but ever since I’ve started watching you I have learned so much more. Thank you!
oh well what's a few Canadians right?
As a person who as born and raised in Hong Kong, I thank you for covering this dark part of our history.
@michael boultinghouse wouldn't really called it liberating in Japanese hand given the attitude they had towards ruling over anyone; Nor are we free of "Conquerors" after 97...
@michael boultinghouse So mass murder and war crimes are how you would describe “Freeing a nation from imperialism“ ?
And the disgusting ways of treating women of your subjects of aids in a modern society is acceptable in your mind？
Are these what you do when you felt betrayed and enraged？
we never really learnt about this at my school (raised in Hong Kong for 6 years), most of what I learnt came from visiting the Coastal Defence Museum. it’s often forgotten imo, especially now that CCP have taken over.
I lived in Hong Kong right there in Repulse Bay where the Canadians fought a ferocious battle against the invaders. There are still places on the island where the reminisce of the war remain.
I was 6 years old when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong. Now, there are not many octogenarians left to tell stories of this period. After 18 days of intense fighting, Hong Kong fell into Japanese hands and began the "Three Years and Eight Months" (metonym of "Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong"). I followed The Battle of Hong Kong only from newspapers and UA-cam, but nothing describe it as fully as your episode. Thank you, Mr. Felton.
At the end of World War II, the Allies, including the United States and Great Britain, indiscriminately massacred approximately 500,000 Japanese citizens through air raids and atomic bombings. You see? The Anglo-American Allies are vicious perpetrators pretending to be victims.
★★★ The Japanese people have not forgotten the heinous atrocities committed by the Allied Powers ❢❢❢
Once met a Canadian vet he told me he was captured but eventually escaped, I wish I was able to talk to him more he must have had one hell of a story to tell.
That would be one hell of a story seeing very few men were able to escape completely from the Japanese because of dense jungle, tropical diseases, can't blend in with the sometimes hostile locals.
@Chris_Wooden_Eye
IMHO, it was hopeless, doomed project, using the colonial forces just to save face.
God Bless the Punjabis and Canucks.... and the brave men of Scotland and London.
Rajputs were the one who acted as rare guards though.
@deplorable -- punjabs were brits' good guard dogs..the way they treated conquered chinese..most indians aren't liked by other asians bc of this and they know that they betrayed asians.
@@aromirsauro9092 get over it 😄
@@davidstokes5905 he did. He changed his username..
I mfrom punjab...... many soldiers as 2.50 lakh participated in war of different fronts
An extraordinary tale. My father's elder brother was born in December 1919, so one of the few people called up in the two pre-war militias (a good topic for another Felton piece). At the time he was training to be an optometrist, but in he. Went and was commissioned on due course into 1st Battalion Middx Regt.
So.... He ended up on Hong Kong and died on 25th December 1941.
Before the war, as a schoolboy, he had been active in the PPU and had gone door-to-door collection signatures for the pledge. That was curtailed by entry into the Militia.
My grandparents (grandpa was a volunteer on the Great War and was active in the PPU) didn't have any animosity for the Japanese, bit on my childhood we were discouraged from watching war films about the Far East while they were visiting.
@mukund p Well, we spoke a lot about both his brother's war service and his own (he too was active in the PPU as a schoolboy prior to military servce).
My father's brother, who was killed in Hong Kong with 1 Middx. did not make a decision, per se, that he would fight.
He was called up. He was conscripted pre-war into the "second militia".
Clearly he was not completely averse to.military service or he would not have been put up for a commission and would not have accepted one.
These were desperate times and the idealism of the 30s was in part swept away by the headlong rush into the Low Countries and France.
Although by then this man was already pretty firmly embedded into the military.
Up to a point we have the luxury today (in NW Europe at least) of saying "I would never do this or never do that", but those were different times and were subject to different imperatives.
My father (who survived the war and in later years showed some of his more.pacifist leanings) had dear childhood friends who were "Conchies". He referred to them himself as that. Not as a pejorative, but as a mark of respect.
One went onto the RN and was on minesweepers and survived. One went through the war with the RAMC and survived. One refused all service, had a change of heart and died leading men off the beaches on June 6th 1944. There were others whose stories I don't know.
They were terrible and complicated times and bereft of the luxuries of casual, coin-toss moral opinion forming that so many of us enjoy today.
I hope that is a helpful answer.
This brief response deserves more flesh to its narrative.
In the mid-late 30s my father's parents had taken on a German boy who had left the country for political reasons. I do not think he was Jewish. His parents were (as I understood it) interned. He was still of school age and moved in with my grandparents and shared my father's room. He later died in the war, fighting for Britain.
My father spoke quite eloquently about why he went from PPU to HO military service.
It was not the treatment of persecuted minorities. It was not even the invasion of Poland, although this was seen widely as an attack on an ally of Britain - and indeed was one.
The final piece of tinder to my father's volte face as he came to the end of his school days (he volinteered on school uniform on the last day of school on 1940, at the recruiting centre on Essex Road, Islington) was the invasion of France and the Low Countries and the realisation that the NS regime was quite serious about its territorial expansionism. And quite ruthless.
Although he had been living for some months under the roof of a German boy his age who was a dissident from Nazi Germany, he was not fully aware of the brutality of the regime. Very few were. Nor about the extreme measures being employed. Wider knowledge of this came later.
We cannot always guess what the driver was for so many of those who fought willingly despite their strong pacifist tendencies or beliefs. The times were very, very different.
My father had an apocryphal tale of a young man going to his father in 1939 and saying he was going to register as a C.O.
The father replied "My dear boy, are you sure you have the courage for that?"
They were different times.
I appreciate your Uncle's sacrifice. It will not be forgotten. And, I appreciate the little snippet of family history, Cheers Amigo.
FIRST from a viewer in Hong Kong..?
Thank you for covering this Mark, a fascinating and little-known topic, the evidence of which still can still be seen on a casual hike, hidden in the undergrowth, here in HK today.
Advocate hello from HK as well
Solidarity for our HK brothers from Australia, you're welcome here whenever you need.
#StandWithHongKong The war of Hong Kong has begun once again.
@@scottski5952 i dined at a fine new Cantonese restaurant in Sydney the other day,has a pretend HK streetscape as its decoration :D
soccom8341576 soccom8341576 場仗啱啱先開始，但係我哋傷亡已經夠慘重。出師未捷身先死，長使英雄淚滿襟，從太子831到理大圍城。我哋初心仍然不變以香港二戰借鏡，以前軍民願意堅守換來昔日光輝。曾經有一代人堅守，今日堅守土地係我哋嘅責任。所以唔係有希望才堅持，而係堅持才有希望！光復香港，時代革命！
For anyone unfortunate enough to be captured by the Japanese, their war was far from over. Something around 28% of captured Allied personnel would die at the hands of their Japanese captors. In particular, the French captured in Indochina and the Dutch troops captured in the Dutch East Indies seemed to have been lost to history entirely, and forever, with no one ever caring about whatever happened to them. Put yourself in their shoes, and this is chilling.
It was way higher than that. A plurality and maybe even absolute majority of prisoners captured by the Japanese were Chinese, and their mortality rates were even worse than Western Colonial or “Metropolitan”/White units.
Yes, there should be more attention for those whom suffered under occupation and or capture in the pacific theater.
@@vandeheyeric Great point - the Chinese were treated far worse than anyone else by the Japanese. I'm sure their mortality rates are akin to, or exceed those of the Soviet prisoners captured by German forces.
We did care, and we do care. Japan suffered a great, great deal for its insolence. Just off the top of my head there is the battle of Midway, the firebombing of Tokyo, the atom bomb destruction of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and then the complete and unconditional surrender of their people to the USA. As for the troops you mentioned, we don't know what happened to all of them. Many are MIA, and many are lost, but all of them are cared for, and none of them have been forgotten. For the patriot, every day is Veterans Day.
Peace.
@@stefanschleps8758 there was no equivalent Nuremberg for the Japanese genocides and human rights abuses.
WOOHOO!!! I finally can catch one when its new! Dr. Felton in a league of his own :D
To be fair the Philippines didn't fall easy either. They lasted at least 3 months and surrendered when out of food, water, and ammo.
@Fender Player The conquest of the Philippines by Japan is often considered the worst military defeat in United States history. About 23,000 American military personnel were killed or captured, while Filipino soldiers killed or captured totaled around 100,000.
The date for Philippine Independence and US military withdrawal was approaching, resulting in a reduction in funds from the US military to directly support the expansion of the Philippine Commonwealth Army. Twelve Million US dollars were provided to the Commonwealth for the establishment of the Philippine Army in 1936. In the early years of the Commonwealth, the Philippine Army was composed of an Active Duty and a Reserve Component. The Active Duty component was the Philippine Constabulary, which was a para-military organization. After the outbreak of the war, this was referred to as the First Philippine Division. Many of the officers of the Philippine Army and Philippine Army Air Corps came from the members of the Philippine Constabulary and Air Constabulary. On 25 July 1941, US Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson requested that US President Franklin D. Roosevelt issue orders calling the military forces of the Commonwealth into active service for the United States. Stimson explained, "All practical steps should be taken to increase the defensive strength of the Philippine Islands."
The following day President Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets within the United States and issued orders to absorb the forces of the Philippine Army. That same day the War Department created the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) command, with jurisdiction over the Philippine Department and the military forces of the Commonwealth. At the same time General Douglas MacArthur was recalled to active duty and designated the commander of the USAFFE.
Philippine Islands
7 December 1941-10 May 1942
history.army.mil/brochures/pi/PI.htm
To be fair, if MacArthur had stuck to the original plan to fight in the hills instead of on the shore, it may have never fallen. Leaving his planes on the ground after he got word that Pearl Harbor had been attacked didn't help, either. But I guess he start firing people for incompetence, FDR would have revealed his hypocrisy
A few made into the country side to help fight on in a guerilla action. Would make for an interesting Felton video.
@@jonwarner1977 the guerilla and partisan fighting in the philippines during that era were some of the fiercest of ww2, I do hope mr felton covers it soon
bigfish92672 the planes including B17 bombers were scrambled and flew in lazy circles around Manila for a couple of hours before being recalled. MacArthur got permission to bomb Formosa (Taiwan) so the B17s were being fueled and loaded with bombs when suddenly squadrons of Japanese bombers appeared and bombed Clark field and Cavite Naval yards. After the war they discovered intense fog delayed the Japanese bombers for over two hours in coming to bombs Manila.
We used to have a man on my street that was from the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He was captured after the fall of Hong Kong and survived the war in multiple Japanese PoW camps.
My uncle recalled as a young boy watching him arrive home skin and bones. He weighed in no more than 100 pounds, and that was after months of rehabilitation in an American hospital.
The only story he ever told of his experience in the war was when he and his mates were forced to dig an "air raid trench" by their Japanese captors. One night the Japanese decided to line the trench with what he believed was gasoline, and then after sounding the alarm for an air raid, lit the trench on fire once dozens of men had piled into it..
I can't imagine the horrors those men experienced..
Japanese Imperial Army were inhuman, I think they were worst than the Germans in many instances when their enemies surrendered. Manchuria, Unit 731, the atrocities commited make you question if some people had any ounce of compassion or empathy at all. I often hope we don't have another war that can allow such atrocities to be commited and not even talked about, excpect for from those unfortunate enough to experience it.
@@InVinoVeratas the next war will be the last war. The mass destruction that is capable by our bombs guarantees that.
The real crime is that the last Shogun of Japan, General Macarthur, did not allow reprisals against the Japanese. So a lot of them went to the grave thinking what they did was right because they were powerful, and the prisoners let them go because they were too strong to challenge.
@@booradley6832 reprisals would have served no good. Victory was achieved. Sinking to their level would have been a failure on the part of the allies, and would only undermine the legitimacy of their sacrifice.
@@mortson978
The lack of reprisals has not benefitted anyone at all.
While they still chase down and try low level guards at 90 years old who were concentration camp guards in Europe, the men who committed atrocities proudly in Japan were quietly swept under the rug. What has this lead to? The Japanese people today not even acknowledging their war crimes and them being something treated as hearsay.
Clemency created legitimacy. That primadonna Macarthur wanted to punish the only general who bested him,. This man Masaharu Homma, was a commited pro-westerner being formerly based in the United States on several occasions. Instead of tracking down anyone who actually attacked, beat, tortured and killed POWs he took the target of his own personal shame and pinned 100% of the blame on him for Bataan. Like in any theatre of war you would expect a general to micromanage the POWs while conducting normal military operations. Not to mention how this man was actually noted calling for immediate improvements to conditions when he noticed the lack of food and proper sanitation in the camps, which was unfortunately not filled due to the sucessful US interception of the japanese maritime economy.
So the Emperor who encouraged the atrocities was acquitted. The men who did the murdering were ordered not to be touched. And the man who tried to stop them was hanged despite possibly being one of the best liasons between Japan and United States during the post-war period. Now the japanese dont think Nanking was real, or that they committed any war crimes.
No reprisals worked out great didnt it?
Thank you, your recounting of the battle was compelling listening. I feel that every single soldier there deserved the VC. Please stay safe.
I’m from Hong Kong, thank you for creating this video
3 things in life are inevitable: taxes, death, and amazing history lessons from Mark! Keep up the great work!!
Thanks for doing this, went to school with a guy whose dad was captured there, he was with the Winnipegs...
Thanks Mark
The Battle of Hong Kong only gets a few sentences mentioned in textbooks at school.
I'm ashamed to say the whole of the far east campaign seems to be nothing more than foot note in history everything was focused on the Pacific and Europe.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 I first learned about The Battle of Hong Kong in Senior High.
In Canadian schools, the focus on our veterans happens on Remembrance Day (Nov. 11). Even then, most of it is about Vimy Ridge.
@@chrisholland7367 I'm glad for Indy Neidell's WW2 series. The team is covering the forgotten campaigns like the Brits vs Italians in Somaliland, Syrian campaign, The Greek defense against Italy, The 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
We'll see what happens when 1941 rolls around
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 I went to a public schools. I don't know about other types of schools.
I always liked history. My Grade 12 Social Studies teacher was very passionate about the subject.
The victor won’t talk about their losses
My Great uncle Pete was there with the Winnipeg Grenadiers
They never stood a chance
He suffered horribly as a POW till the end of the war
👍🇨🇦
There is a memorial to John Robert Osborn, VC, here in Winnipeg at Deer Lodge Hospital, the veterans' care home.
We have a statue of him in Hong Kong Park as well.
Thank you Mark for reminding us this little known bloody battle. We shall never forget the atrocities (murder, rape...) the Japanese Imperial Army committed in Hong Kong against the local men and women, the British and Canadian brave soldiers and nurses.
Regards
A Hongkonger
Considering the utter brutality of the Japanese military towards civilians and soldiers alike, I fully understand why mercy towards the Japenese was in short supply as the tides of war turned. It is western liberalism at it's worse to label western actions towards Japan racist.
Also thanks to Mark for his fairness, which is rare these days.
@sledge hammer And to communist atrocities too. Many people were in HK because they fled the communist uprising, "Cultural Revolution" and mass starvation in China that killed over 100 million people.
Amazing, how do you ignore that Britain was a brutal occupying imperialist army themselves. Britiain murdered tens of thousands of Chinese and caused the death of millions through war famine and literally forcing an Opium epidemic on the entire country by the force of war. What do you think the Commonwealth troops were doing there in the first place? They were occupying Chinese land they had stolen in a brutal colonial annexation 50 years earlier. This was a fight between two equally brutal and murderous Empires in which uncountable native civilians were slaughtered in their own homes.
@@sisyphusvasilias3943 exactly, British empire was Horrific,like every single empire.None of em are "good" to the locals when they steal their land!
John Osborne was born in 1899 and had been in the RN during the Great War. I think he was at Jutland. He ended up in the Naval Division and served as an infantryman on the Western front in 1918. He moved to Saskatchewan in 1920 and served in the reserves. Just before he shipped out his daughter was seriously burned and he deployed not knowing if she survived her injuries. In fact she did recover and spoke about her father in a documentary about him.
Thank you for making an episode for HK!!!
Thank You Dr. Felton. I really appreciate the video. My old neighbour was a Hong Kong veteran who served with the Winnipeg Grenadiers at Hong Kong and was captured. He spent the rest of the war as a POW, and only passed away a couple of years ago, R.I.P. Mr. Coutts, I haven't forgotten. Cheers, Dr. Felton.
I cant help but shed a tear to hear how valiantly the Hong Kong defenders fought for my city. Thank you for this.
Hello Mark, I hope you read this. Your analysis and delivery are both first class. There is always more in what you don't say than in what you do say. The garrison suffered from the myth that the Knights of Bushido were invincible. Just like at Singapore when the 'tanks' that were heard approaching were actually bicycles without tyres. Hindsight is always in 20:20, but it's not unreasonable to expect professional officers to do their professional duty. Excellent presentation as ever. Thanks so much.
HK people should never forget the sacrifices of British and Commonwealth ,notability Canadian, troops
Lest we forget
They are probably the only former member of the Empire who don't hate us.
Remembrance day ceremony is still a thing here every year but it probably won't last long as we are going to fully become China soon... And yea, at least the British rule was much better than the communists lol
Annual memorial service for the fallen is still held on the memorial day every year in Central, Hong Kong. Sadly the battle of Hong Kong is not included in our schools and little is taught to the children about this part of the history. Hong Kong was developed by the British and provided shelter to Chinese escaping from Japanese and communist aggression throughout the 20th century. Sad to see the current situation of the city state.
@@anonymous2513456
I'm Irish & don't hate the British, don't see the need for queen Elizabeth to apologise either. Thanks for keeping the godless Napoleon from invading us.
My cousin was one of the very first people killed in the Battle of Hong Kong. He was an inspector of schools and a member of the Auxiliary defence force. A civilian. He was killed by a grenade thrown into his armoured vehicle on the first day of the invasion. My Grandfather was a Police officer in the river police division and my Grandmother was a nurse. They were both captured by the Japanese and imprisoned in Stanley camp. They barely survived and lost everything. My Grandfather was a lovely gentle character but carried the scars of his imprisonment and the treatment by the Japanese throughout his life.
Again: wow!
Well narrated and written.
Cheers mate!
Awesome to see such a high-quality and substantial video on one of the lesser known but still immensely significant periods of history my home city. I hope more people learn about the Battle of Hong Kong, both in history and the current battle for freedom.
36 minutes of Mark Felton? Yes please sign me up
Guess who's now staying up past midnight...
Too accurate
Excellent job Mark. So thoroughly covered!
This channel is a godsend. I'm leaving a comment because I can only hit like once.
awesome mate, very good. Thanks for this and the other great vids.
I greatly enjoy your lessons. Even better when lengthy.
Have been following the channel for awhile. Kinda surprised to see Mark has done an episode on the battle of Hong Kong. Thanks for covering this little known battle
From a Hong Konger
Mark, your readings are utter excellence. Your channel is essential! 💛🙏🏼
Thank you Mark Felton---another intriguing if not totally engrossing episode. What a remarkable document--truly mind blowing story. How fascinating! I delight in you're writing, the presentation and and the production all around, you're communication and organization is superb, first/second hand accounts, the chronological telling of history as it appears to have occurred, in fact---how marvelous. Great work---as always, it's been a pleasure. Here's to those remarkable men, and what a courageous lot they were.
Excellent work as always
As a Hongkonger, thank you for covering the most darkest time of Hong Kong history
Get lost, the beginning of 2021 is the darkest in history of HK.
@@Gonkawonga yup, it already is since the Japanese invasion
全部睇完條片嘅香港人：場仗啱啱先開始，但係我哋傷亡已經夠慘重。出師未捷身先死，長使英雄淚滿襟，從太子831到理大圍城。我哋初心仍然不變以香港二戰借鏡，以前軍民願意堅守換來昔日光輝。曾經有一代人堅守，今日堅守土地係我哋嘅責任。所以唔係有希望才堅持，而係堅持才有希望！光復香港，時代革命！
Mark Felton provides remarkably vibrant narrative on historical events. Well researched and gripping
ANOTHER quality upload Dr Felton.... Thank You!
Watched this last night, great production, You don't hear much about Canadians in the Pacific theater
Awesome, I was already “working” and then this pops up. Now I have to watch it, thanks Mark!
How are you able to make such quality videos so rapidly, it’s amazing!
As Bob Ross used to say "anything in your world is possible"
Stellar stuff as usual Mark.
After hearing all this for the 1st time it kind of makes you want to go back in time with an Aircraft Carrier like in the "Final Countdown " movie to straighten things out.
Lol. "I can't believe I'm saying this, splash the Zero".
“Volens et valens” (willing and capable) Motto of the Royal Rifles of Canada. Proud of those boys.
we make up for our military’s smaller numbers with more extensive training. There is no better sniper in the world than a Canadian.
@no el Canada has good soldiers and a respectable past. However they're not better than ours. We are much bigger and have waaaaay more experience all over the world. You Canadians rarely fight. We, unfortunately, stay active all over the world. You have great snipers, it's true but no one has ever said, things are gonna change big time when/if Canada gets involved. No one gets paranoid about Canada's special forces.
Ollie Foxx Canada LITERALLY has the best special forces in the world lol. Search up JTF2 man. And the reason why we don’t fight often if because we don’t practice imperialism lol
Why were Canadians in China?
@@jacobnewcombe5367 You did in your past, you were part of the British empire and you were a proud part of that history. Britain wouldn't have been able to expand without nations like Canada and Australia. 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇭🇲👍
Excellent work Sir, very informative ✅✅✅👍👍
Again, thank you Sir.
🎶When Dr. Mark Felton marches into a room his theme music plays. 🎵
🇬🇧🇺🇲
Incredible. It would be appropriate for some of todays generation to indulge in the history lessons you provide Mark. Perhaps they would stop thinking they are so hard done by. Many thanks and my utmost respect to those who partook and were affected by this passage of history. Salute.
My grandfather was evacuated from Dunkirk with the BEF and posted to Singapore about 6 weeks before it surrendered He spent the rest if the war as a prisoner and to my knowledge never spoke of what happened while he was a prisoner He would never have anything that said made in Japan in the house. He suffered with stomach problems until his death in 1996 Hr was a Sargent in the Royal Corp of Signals
I salute your grandfather.
My Father-in-law fought with the RCAF, based in India.
He was wounded, saw his best friend's plane blown out of the sky in front of him.
I married his youngest (of 5) daughter and was privileged to have him open up to me somewhat about his experiences.
You mention the stomach trouble: my Father-in-law suffered from migraines for years ... sometimes he would bang his head on the wall to CHANGE the pain.
We owe these men tremendous respect.
Imagine surviving what was the impossible just to be posted to Singapore, God bless ur grandfather
While living in HK I walked all the defences remaining many times and read everything I could. I visited Wong Nai Chung Gap, the site of vicious fighting around the police station. I have also visited “ Little Hong Kong” on the southern slopes of the Island, a former ordinance depot, now wine cellars. The story of the defence there is recorded there. A Japanese guardhouse still stands today. The cemeteries at Stanley are a stark reminder of the appalling behaviour of Japanese forces, and a fascinating insight into history and human endurance.
You're time put into war stories and in fact all of your content is much appreciated.
Absolutely ridiculous to ask these men to fight against these odds when you had no plan to reinforce them.
Excellent work my friend you are a gentleman and a scholar
Thanks you, this is an area of the Pacific war I need to read more about, this was a great start.
Great report sir.
Amazing and selfless defence by locals, regulars, volunteers, Chinese, Indian, Canadian, British and others.
Lest we forget.
A half hour+ of Mark Felton? Fantastic!
Finally a story about my city
How’s it going there?
sc1338 Horrible; lets just say British rule was far better than Chinese rule.
sc1338 just struggling for our autonomy for the Hong Kong people, and hope to build up the identity with our own uniqueness from other Chinese society
England is my city
@@piedpiper4588 England is a country !
What an incredible story. The maps and my modest knowledge of HK really allow the imagination to describe the difficult defense of this amazing place. Thanks again
My good buddies great grandfather fought in the battle of Hong Kong. One of the few survivors taken as a POW. My buddy never understood the fact he survived was a miracle
Listening while writing a script for an animation on this very battle, thanks Mark!
Sargent Major John Osborn of the winnipeg grenadiers the only Canadian soldier to revive the Victoria Cross during the battle of hong Kong.
Amazing, finally a story on the little known Battle of Hong Kong!
For those who would like to know a little more about Royal Navy' torpedo boat's counter attack against the Japanese landing in HK Island, I have a video on this brave mission to share: ua-cam.com/video/_IDo9FqcqL0/v-deo.html
The video was created because I am inspired by Mark's great war stories, and would like more people to know about this little known naval battle.
@@ac-studio Thank you for your contribution!
Thank you Mr Felton, I've really enjoyed your detailed accounts of our military history. So very well researched and clearly broadcast. Long may they continue :)
Thank you for making this! I grew up in Hong Kong in the late 90s. Many of the trails I hiked with my parents had remnants from the war. It wasn't uncommon to come across bullet shells and pillboxes. Made for a memorable childhood.
This one I didn't really know much about,as always Mr Felton delivers perfect 👍
really do enjoy this channel! good show once more Mr Felton.
Finally a story relevant to my home
Saw new video pop up from you Mark... Then I saw the length in the corner, and let out an audible 'eep!'
Man, I love your content!
I live in HK, you’ve inspired me to go and visit all the places mentioned
Starting with the gonorrhea racetrack?
Please do the Dutch East Indies including the Java Sea.
Our front has been neglected for too long, us dutchies exist too
@@primuspilusfellatus6501 das een goeie man
@@primuspilusfellatus6501 The Simpsons's geek :P
Many see ww2 as Poland sept 39 but did it really start to roll in Spain 36 or Manchuria? Love to see shows on those! Go intro!
Or one on Vietnam
Good one Doc.
Nice video again. Would have been nice to see more graphics and a dynamic map to follow but still a good video, thank you for sharing!!!
Very well done!
Thank you for the wonderfully narrated account of Black Chistmas,i see the Lei Yue strait in Shau Kei Wan on the eastern end of the bay from my apartment and i always wondered how the Japanese had crossed to Hong Kong island,ive visited the local war museum and seen the fortifications of such strategic point in HK.
Also there were a series of massacres in the local hospitals in Shau Kei Wan after surrender as elsewhere in HK,how impotent they must have felt being unable to stop the Japanese onslaught.
The Japanese military was unnecessarily brutal, no doubt about that.
Thanks for another good story. Though it could be nice with some graphics like circles, arrows and info-boxes that point out who battled and where. Espcially the first part.
This man needs a tv show at least!
No keep it UA-cam we have enough fake history channels on tv this guys ten times better then anything on tv stated true facts
🙂👍
why? he gets more reach on here.
Tv is dead lol
@@THatChevyguy91🖒🖒🖒🖒🖒😀🇬🇧🇨🇦🇺🇸🇳🇱🇭🇲👏👏👏👏👏
I remember learning about this at the HK museum of coastal defence.
Nice views of the harbour from the museum too
Great detail work once more. In choosing this topic was your thinking governed by the currently precarious situation in today's Hong Kong?
My great grandfather Charles Manning was one of two naval personnel hurriedly made army majors leading the snappers you mentioned with the expressed order to sabotage HK. He had some great tails of his experience.
as a guy who was born and lives in hk I feel like visiting these places
It was nice to sit back and watch a more detailed video. The British and Commonwealth casualties were mentioned in the video, but I'm curious what the losses were for the Japanese, since theirs were omitted. Thanks for making this and presenting your content in a fair and balanced manner. All the best.
Excellent presentation! Thankyou!
Outstanding as always
Great work Mark. I'm sure you know HMS TAMAR received the White Ensign, this week, on the R. Tamar, entering the Fleet. She left Portsmouth, last week, flying the Blue Duster for reasons you mentioned. Interesting and Relatively fun fact.... The Star ferries crossing Victoria Harbour were made in Devonport Dockyard. A brass plate in the deck on each boat can be seen.
Great documentary.
Bravo Mark. Very well done.
love these vids Mark. Love em keep em going!
Wow. This video was long and amazing.