Some 85 years ago, a bit of calm before the storm. Official period caption: “British and Chinese troops on exercise in rubber boats, Hong Kong, 1941.” Note the M1928 Thompson SMG on the bow of the leading boat and SMLEs at the ready. IWM (KF 141) The British first garrisoned Hong Kong on 26 January 1841 when a landing force from the 10-gun Hecla-class bomb vessel HMS Sulphur rowed ashore and set up shop. Fast forward a century, and, as a result of the build-up to the Pacific War in 1941, the Hong Kong garrison held two battalions sent from Europe (2nd Royal Scots, 1st Middlesex) along with two from India (5th 7th Rajput, 2nd 14th Punjab), and would soon receive two from Canada as reinforcement (Royal Rifles, Winnipeg Grenadiers). This was in addition to units from the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, et. al. Plus, as witnessed above, there were some locally raised outfits drawn from the colony’s 1.6 million residents: the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment and the much larger and senior…
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