Sai Wan War Cemetery
The following is taken from a plaque on the side of the Memorial. Any grammatical or spelling mistakes are mine introduced during transcription.
The Defence of Hong Kong – December 1941
Hong Kong was regarded, in the event of war with Japan, as an outpost to be held for as long as possible. Isolated by Japanese occupation of the Mainland and command of sea and air, the garrison could hope for no outside help.
The defending force, organised in two weak brigades, comprised two battalions each of British, Canadian and Indian Infantry – the 2nd Royal Scots, 1st Middlesex, Winnipeg Grenadiers, Royal Rifles of Canada, 5/7th Rajputs and the 2/14th Punjabis – two mountain and three Medium Batteries of the HK and Singapore Royal Artillery and the 22nd and 40th Field Companies of the Royal Engineers. In addition two Coast Regiments and an anti-aircraft Regiment of the Royal Artillery were deployed statically. The regular troops were augmented by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. Other resources comprised a destroyer, eight torpedo boats, four gunboats and five obsolete aircraft which were destroyed by bombing at the start of hostilities.
The attacking force comprised the nine infantry battalions of the Japanese 28th Division with a heavily augmented artillery component which added overwhelming artillery superiority to complete control of the air. This Division was a well equipped and highly trained formation with recent battle experience; by contrast the Commonwealth troops were less well equipped, lacked both battle experience and training (the Canadians disembarked only three weeks before hostilities started) and had been hastily allocated to extemporised formations. The attackers did not greatly outnumber the defenders but their plan of attack was based upon accurate knowledge of the defences.
The long anticipated attack came early on 8th December 1941 against the fortified line on the mainland held by one Brigade (Royal Scots, Rajputs and Punjabis), the other Brigade being retained on the Island against a possible seaborne landing, The defence plan, to hold this line for at least a week to permit removal of stores and equipment from Kowloon and the destruction of the port installations, might have been achieved but for the unexpected loss, on the night of the 9th/10th, of the Shing Mun Redoubt on the left flank where the main weight of the Japanese thrust fell. In the subsequent fighting a company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, brought over as reinforcement, became the first Canadian Army unit to see action in the Second World War. The loss of the Redoubt made it doubtful whether the defence line could much longer be held and the Kowloon denial scheme was put into operation by the Navy, the port installations destroyed and all vessels scuttled. By the 12th the Royal Scots and Punjabis, with all their equipment, had been evacuated to the Island; the Rajputs withdrew to positions on the Devil’s Peak Peninsula and crossed over the next day.
That morning a Japanese emissary summoned the Governor to surrender on pain of severe artillery and aerial bombardment. The summons was refused. The continuous and intense bombing and shelling which followed caused widespread military damage as well as uncontrollable fires and rupture of the water mains in Victoria; nevertheless and attempted landing on the north-east corner of the Island was repulsed with considerable loss to the attackers. On the 17th a second summons to surrender was rejected.
Although attack from the mainland seemed the likely threat, the possibility of a seaborne attack meant that the seaward defences could not be weakened and that the whole perimeter must be defended. The Island was therefore divided into East and West Brigade commands.
During the night of the 15th December the Japanese landed in strength on the Islands North-east corner and by the 20th had captured the dominating central ground, thereby cutting the garrison in two. Over the next four days the greater part of the East Brigade was forced into the Stanley Peninsula and the West Brigade driven back to a line covering the City of Victoria and the Peak. Fighting throughout was bitter and losses on both sides were heavy. Men of many races and all services – sailors, soldiers, airmen, volunteers, policemen and prison warders – fought as infantry and continued to fight on in circumstances they knew to be without hope.
On Christmas morning a third call to surrender was ignored but by afternoon, with troops that had fought to a standstill and an exhausted water supply, further effective resistance wad impossible and the Governor formally surrendered the Colony. Hong Kong had been temporarily lost but lasting honour had been won by its defenders, of whom 4500 died in the battle or subsequent captivity.
Sai Wan Ho Cemetery and Memorial
This, the principle cemetery for the burial of those who died in the defence of Hong Kong or subsequently in captivity, contains 1578 graves – 59 Navy, 1406 Army, 67 Air force, 18 Merchant Navy, 20 local defence forces and 8 civilian. 1013 are British, 283 Canadian, 104 Indian, 33 Australian, 1 New Zealand, 1 Burmese, 53 Hong Kong, 72 Netherlands and 18 others.
At the entrance to the Cemetery stands the Sai Wan Ho Memorial bearing the names of 2071 soldiers who died during the same period but have no known grave. 1319 of these are from the British army, 228 from the Canadian Army, 287 from the Indian Army and 237 from the Hong Kong forces. The sailors and airmen whose graves are unknown are commemorated on the memorials at their home ports or on the Air Forces Memorial in Singapore.
There are also two special panels on this memorial. The first bears the names of 144 Hindus and Sikhs whose remains were cremated – 9 served in the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery, 118 in the Indian Army and 17 in the Hong Kong Police Force. The second commemorates by name the 72 Commonwealth servicemen who died at various stations in China during the two world wars and whose graves are no longer maintainable.
******************* End of Transcription ********************
The cemetery is well known to HKer’s. It was used as a location for Hard Boiled (grave scene) and an interesting fact – which I remembered from years ago watching a HK documentary presented by Clive James (the lovable antipodean broadcaster) – is that his father (Albert Arthur James – a Sergeant in the Australian Infantry) is buried here. He was killed in a plane crash whilst being flown back to safety after liberation from a Japanese POW Camp. There is some debate about whether the plane crashed in Taiwan (as Banham believes) or in Manila Bay, as Clive believes. Either way he is now buried in HK and here is a poem Clive wrote for his father: My Father Before Me. More stuff on Tony Banham here
