ENG-1958 — Page 371

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

December 1941 the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbour, powerful units of the Japanese Army, supported by the Japanese Air Force based on Canton, invaded the Colony from the main- land. The first attempt to land on Hong Kong Island was repulsed on the night of 15th-16th December, but a second attempt, on the 18th-19th night, could not be held. After several days of severe fighting, in which many thousands of Commonwealth troops lost their lives, the Colony was surrendered to the Japanese on Christmas Day.

All members of the fighting services, which included the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, were interned as prisoners-of-war, many being subsequently sent to Japan to work in mines and docks. The majority of British-born civilians were interned in a civilian camp at Stanley. Those who remained free experienced throughout the Japanese occupation a steady deterioration of conditions. Trade was at a standstill, currency steadily losing value, and in neighbouring Kwangtung a food shortage culminated in 1944-5 in famine conditions. Large numbers of civilians moved over to Macau, the Portuguese Colony hospitably opening its doors to them. Toward the latter part of the occupation the Japanese, unable to obtain food for the existing population, organized mass deportations from Hong Kong.

In the face of increasing oppression the fundamental loyalty of the population to the Allied cause was not in doubt. Parts of the New Territories remained in the hands of Chinese guerrillas throughout the war, in spite of vigorous punitive measures taken against them. Allied personnel escaping or evading capture were assured of assistance from the rural population.

As soon as news of the Japanese surrender was received, a provisional government was established under the Colonial Secretary, Mr., now Sir, Franklin Gimson, assisted by civil servants released from prison camps and by leading citizens of all races, maintaining the essential form of Government until 30th August 1945, when powerful units of the British Pacific Fleet reached the Colony.

SINCE THE WAR

A brief period of military administration was followed by the formal re-establishment of civil government in May 1946. From