Canadian Prisoners of War
A Brutal Chapter in Canadian History.
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Recently, I have done a lot of research on various significant battles during World War Two for an assignment in my history class. Although triumphing over a battle can add on to the country’s national pride, losing a battle not only brings national humiliation, it may result in physical and mental suffering, and even death.
In Canadian history, perhaps one of the most horrifying consequences that Canadian soldiers faced was Canadian prisoners of war (PoW) in Hong Kong during 1941.
It stems from the Battle of Hong Kong (1941), which is among one of the many surprised attacks Japan planned after the bombing of the Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The two battalions that Canada sent to Hong Kong were unprepared in comparison to the well-equipped and thoroughly trained Japanese 38th Division, which had been part of the forces that invaded China in 1937. The Canadian battalions were not only classified as “C” Force: “in need of refresher training or insufficiently trained and not recommended for operations”, there were many false alarms of attacks prior to the date, and therefore causing the defending forces to be lighthearted.
Canada dispatched two battalions: the Royal Rifles and Winnipeg Grenadiers as a response to Britain’s request of military help in Hong Kong. It was interesting to not that these two battalions were classified as “C” Force — seemingly inadequate to fight off Japanese forces. However, from a national perspective, the choice of battalions were ideal, as they both represented eastern and western regions of Canada, showing how French-speaking and English-speaking troops can co-exist under one flag and thus proving national unity to Great Britain.
In the end, Canadian troops lost the 1914 Battle of Hong Kong, one of Japan’s first major Second World War Victories. 1685 Canadian survivors were taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese.
Prisoner of war:
Any uniformed serviceman captured and imprisoned by an enemy during or immediately after an armed conflict.
(defined by international convention)
In these internment camps situated in Hong Kong(Sham Shui Po Prison Camp on the mainland, near Kowloon and North Point Camp in Northern Hong Kong) after the battle, Canadian survivors lived in terrible conditions, faced brutalities, various diseases/sicknesses, and poor labor environment; the treatments they encountered were inhumane.
With the formal surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, many of those who did survive this horrific incident and World War Two would return home, suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and have to cope with a sense of guilt that they had survived and their friends had not. By the war’s end, 267 of the PoWs had died.
The small beacon of hope of the PoWs vanished once they realized that the Japanese were not following the provisions listed under The Geneva Convention of 1929.
Perhaps the reason why they “broke” the rules was associated with the term “Bushido” — “the way of the warrior”. It refers to the way a (Japanese) soldier should behave on the battlefield. Because the Canadian soldiers were captured, in the Japanese view, they were worthless, cowards and thus, should be punished by starvation, brutally hard work and physical abuse.
The saddening and sickening aftermath of the Battle of Hong Kong serves as a reminder of the true terror of war: how the battle of survival in particular happens not on the the battlefield, but off.
The defense of Hong Kong although was a brutal chapter in history, it was undoubtedly a significant battle. The Canadians who fought in the defense of Hong Kong sacrificed much in their efforts to help bring peace and freedom to the people of Asia and Pacific.
Works Cited:
“Canada’s Hong Kong PoWs: The Struggles and Sacrifice — CBCNews.ca.”CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 02 Oct. 2013 Web. 02 May 2014. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/hong-kong-prisoners/>.
“Government of Canada.” Battle of Hong Kong. 21 Nov. 2013. Government of Canada. 03 May 2014 <http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/hong_kong/bilateral_relations_bilaterales/battle-bataille.aspx?lang=eng>.
“Prisoners of War.” Www.Canadiansoldiers.com. 08 Jan. 2014. Canadiansoldiers.com. 03 May 2014 <http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/procedures/prisoners.html>.
Written on: Thursday, May 8, 2014
