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TRIDENT, NOVEMBER 1, 2004 R E M E M B R A N C E D A Y S P E C I A L11Not the Slightest Chance: The Defense of Hong Kong,1941Betweenthe Linesby Laurel HalladayDNewsUniversity of British ColumbiaPress, Vancouver, Jan 2004.ISBN: 0774810459. Author: TonyBanham, 431 pages, $29.95 CDN(paperback).Although he would later order itheld as long as possible, in thespring of 1941 Winston Churchillsummed up the prospects of successfullydefending Hong Kongagainst a Japanese attack with thewords “not the slightest chance.”Tony Banham’s amazingly wellresearched book adopts this phraseof gloomy foreshadowing as itstitle, and in methodical detailrelates what happened when, in thelast month of 1941, the Japanesebegan their assault on this Britishcolony. In addition to being in completecontrol of the air and sea, thealready blooded Japanese hadnumerical superiority in men andweapons, and Hong Kong fell tothem in just 18 days.Not the Slightest Chance beginswith a short history of Hong Kongin the hundred years prior to thisevent and with an exploration of thecauses leading to the inevitable warwith Japan. Banham explains thatthe strategic goals of the Japanesefrom the turn of the century centredon gaining imperial power overmuch of Asia, and to do so they hadto wrest control over the sea-lanesfrom oil-rich Indonesia. In 1941and early 1942, the Japanese conductednear simultaneous attackson “the Anglo-American navalbases” at Pearl Harbor, Manila, Singapore,Wake and Hong Kong.Banham correctly points out that noincreased number of British militarypersonnel in Hong Kong wouldhave deterred the Japanese fromachieving their strategic goal in thearea. Hong Kong, because it was akey harbour, was essential to theJapanese strategy, and strengtheningthe garrison further would onlyhave forced the Japanese to dedicatea larger force to capture it.The author then looks briefly atthe week preceding the battle, andthe defensive measures that were inplace from the outset. The mainportion of the book focuses on thecampaign’s six phases: the loss ofthe New Territories on the mainland(December 8 to 13), the siege of theisland of Hong Kong (December 13to 18), the invasion of the island(December 18), the forcing of theWong Nai Chung Gap (December19), pushing the line west (December19 to 25) and encircling Stanley(December 19 to 26). Each daywithin these phases is broken downinto an hour-by-hour summary ofthe action, casualties, militarymovements, and internal and externalcommunication, all from the14,000 defenders’ points of view.Each daily recounting ends with theever-increasing Rolls of Honourthat include information on thecause of death, affiliation and burialplace for members of the British,Indian and Canadian regiments, theHong Kong Volunteers, the HongKong Police and even some civilians.The book then examines thelast week of December 1941. Finally,Banham includes several analyticalappendices that take a closerlook at, among other things, theadditional casualties and massacrevictims and the overall losses of theBritish military, the civilian population,the hospitals and the Japanese.Also of great help to those doingresearch on this topic is a very thoroughannotated bibliography thatlists available films, archival documents,secondary sources and relatedfiction.Although the book is meticulousin relating the details of the battle,the amount of detail makes it far tooeasy for the reader to get boggeddown at the micro-level and forgetthe bigger picture. This is especiallytrue in the period after the Japaneseinvade the island and the situationbecomes more and more chaotic.While this level of detail is nototherwise available either in biographiesor in general histories of thewar, some effort to incorporate amore broadly focused main battlenarrative would have been useful.The text itself is descriptive, withvery little analysis. The book tendsto be difficult to read in many placesbecause of typographical and punctuationerrors, a style of citation thatincorporates both endnotes andparenthetical references, the factthat the present tense is usedthroughout, and that Banham has anawkward manner of introducinglengthy quotes. In addition, whilethe book is obviously written fromthe perspective of the island’sdefenders and makes no pretenseabout doing more than that, furtherinformation about Japanese tacticsand battle style would have gonesome distance toward explainingtheir brutality and why the islandfell by Boxing Day with fully 10per cent of the defending forcesbeing killed in action.Having said that, there are severalthings Banham’s book does well.For Canadians, well-used to viewingHong Kong as a battle conductedunder incompetent British leadership,Banham offers a balanced,“The survivorsstill had nearly fouryears of war infront of them.”fair and international viewpoint thatincludes mentions of the Canadians,Indians, Hong Kong Volunteersand British commensuratewith their participation.Likewise, although Canadianmilitary historians have embracedthe topics of Christmas celebrationsduring the Italian campaign and themassacre at the Abbaye Ardennes inJune 1944, Christmas 1941 and themassacres at Eucliffe, Overbays andother places in Hong Kong havelargely gone unexamined, and Banhamhas addressed that oversight.For those who teach military history,the six phases he identifiesbreak a complex battle into moreeasily digestible components andcould be a great way to approachthe subject in the classroom. Thebook includes a great many excellentmaps that help the reader tounderstand more thoroughly theaction as it proceeds.The reader is also able to derivesome tangible sense of the chaos ofthis battle. The author mentions, forexample, that some Royal Air Forcemen were converted to infantryafter the invasion of the island andthe numerous incidences of lastditchhand-to-hand combat. Hewrites of the conditions that madethinking clearly in undergroundplotting rooms very difficult, and ofaged employees of electric powercompanies that were pressed intoservice to defend essential facilities.In addition, several events thatare briefly related in Not the SlightestChance will no doubt sparkreaders’ interest and encourage furtherresearch. References to the cremationsof deceased Indian membersof the Rajputs and the Punjabis,the friendly-fire explosion ofthe Jeanette lighter in the harbour,the British women who were part ofthe first Japanese request for surrender,and interference at theisland’s military headquarters byelements of the so-called fifth column,all demand deeper explorationby military historians.As Banham himself points out,Not the Slightest Chance does notrepresent a complete retelling of thecostly Hong Kong battle as “thesurvivors still had nearly four yearsof war in front of them.” A companionvolume covering the experiencesof Hong Kong veterans overthe remainder of the war would bevery welcome. In the meantime,this book stands as the ultimatereference work on the defence ofHong Kong.Take Time to RememberTel: (902) 425-3100Fax: (902) 425-3777Email: insol@goodmanrosen.caSuite 620, 1718 Argyle StreetHalifax, NS B3J 3N6Trustee in BankruptcyInsolvency ConsultantsTrustees:Paul G. Goodman, FCA, FCIRPMark S. Rosen, LLB, CIRP“Solutions to Financial Problems”In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on rowThat mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing flyScarce heard amid the guns below...Peter Stoffer SMPSackvilleEastern Shore51 Cobequid Road Unit 200Lower Sackville, NSB4C 2N1Tel: 865-23111-888-701-5557Fax: 865-4620stoffp1@parl.gc.caKevin DevDeveaux eaux MLACole HarbourEastern Passage1509 Main RoadP.O. Box 429Eastern Passage, NSB3G 1M7Tel: 465-4455Fax: 465-4224deveaux.mla@ns.sympatico.caO Christ, whose voicethe waters heard,And hushed their ragingat Thy word,Who walked’st on thefoaming deep,And calm amid the stormdid’st sleep;O Hear us when we cry to Thee,For those in peril on the sea.~ The Naval HymnWe should never take for granted the sacrificesthat Canadian families have madeand are still making to protect our freedom.Sylvia Large(902) 497-40741-800-663-1289slarge@ns.sympatico.ca