I spent the afternoon at the State Library of NSW browsing through two books.
First I looked through the 61 page “A Record of the actions of the Hongkong Volunteer Defence Corps in the Battle for Hong Kong, December 1941.” It was published in 1953.
You can actually browse a well scanned 1956 edition online via the National Library of Australia at http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52880315/view#page/n0/mode/1up. This also includes at the end the two maps missing from the SLNSW copy.
It details every aspect of the complex defence of the colony by such a small force (two brigades) with limited munitions against a powerful (three divisions ) invader who also had complete control of the air and the sea.
You can track the defence of Hong Kong by the HKVDC day by day, battle by battle, up to the defeat on Christmas day 1941.
The report holds back little describing the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders, such as massacres, bayonetting wounded soldiers in hospital beds, and raping nurses.
At the end you can only feel in awe and respect of the people who kept fighting to the end.
The second book I started to read today was “Stanley : Behind barbed wire” by Jean Gitten. She was a daughter of Sir Robert Ho Tung, and this book deserves a post itself. I ordered a copy from Abebooks this evening.