Write down the first word that comes to mind…Who? What? Where? When?

Pearl Harbor December 7th 1941

When? Sunday December 7th 1941 at about 8 am

Where? Hawaiian Islands, Oahu, Pearl Harbor Naval base Japan Pacific Ocean USA Battleship Row Ford Island

Who? Imperial Japanese Navy 6 aircraft carriers, numerous other ships plus 441 dive-bombers, torpedo bombers, level bombers, fighters and 4 midget submarines US Pacific Fleet 12 battleships, 40 other ships, 20 submarines and over 400 aircraft plus dry docks, 6 months of fuel oil and a garrison of 20,000 troops

Why? Japan and the USA were rivals in Pacific trade  Japan wanted to extend its control over the entire Pacific to develop its trade and become the dominant power in Asia They needed raw materials for this expansion and had decided to take them from the British, French, Dutch and American empires. The Japanese government was controlled by the military. They wanted to remove all the western powers from “Japans” area of influence The USA had recently banned trade with Japan  The Pacific fleet, based in Hawaii, was the most powerful Japanese rival in the pacific: destroying it would allow the Japanese to make their conquest of Asia

What happened? Two waves of attacking planes flew 230 miles from the north east: a completely unexpected direction They targeted “battleship row”, the naval air station on Ford Island, the army air corps base at Hickam field  They used bombs, torpedoes and machine guns to attack ships first and then any target of opportunity

What happened? 19 ships damaged, ten of them sunk 9 battleships sunk or damaged, 4 beyond repair 1100 men killed on the USS Arizona alone Battleship row is destroyed

What happened? 349 aircraft were destroyed 2400 servicemen and civilians were killed Ford Island Naval Base was destroyed

Results? The US Pacific fleet was out of action for 6 months No carriers were sunk: they had left Pearl the day before No fuel was destroyed The proposed third attack was never carried out 29 Japanese planes and four submarines were sunk

Results?  The US declared war on Japan on the 8th of December Germany and Italy declared war on the US on the 11th of December  The US also declared war on Germany and Italy

Why is Pearl Harbor Important? US public outrage: this attack happened whilst the US and Japan were still in peace talks  This brought the US into the war with Germany as well as Japan  The attack only delayed the US response for 6 months: by then all the losses had been made up and the US was attacking Japanese forces

What’s going on in the rest of the world? December 8, 1941: The first killing operations begin at Chelmno in occupied Poland January 16, 1942: Germans begin the mass deportation of more than 65,000 Jews from Lodz to the Chelmno killing center

The Battle Of Hong Kong December 8 – 25, 1941

Background Hong Kong was a colony of Great Britain before the start of World War II.  On November 16 th, the Canadian government sent two infantry battalions (1,975 personnel) to reinforce the British garrison in Hong Kong. The Canadian battalions were: The Royal Rifles of Canada from Quebec The Winnipeg Grenadiers from Manitoba Neither battalion had much fighting experience.

Background Information Of The Battle  The Japanese attacked at 8am on December 8 th less than 8 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were met by British, Canadian, Indian and Hong Kong troops. The Allied troops only had 5 planes and no significant air defence system as well as a very limited naval defence.

The Battle  The island was surrounded by the Japanese who started with a bombing campaign of air bases. From December 8 – 15 th the Japanese continued to press forward to the interior and the allied troops had to fall back. Japan asked for a surrender on December 13 and 17 but both were rejected. After the December 17 surrender was rejected Japan started their mass invasion in the northeast.  The Japanese overran the Allies and did not take prisoners but instead started to commit atrocities and war crimes by massacring 20 gunners and many prisoners as well as medical personal.

The Battle On the morning of December 19 th the Western Brigades headquarters were destroyed splitting the island into two isolated parts. This caused a massive water shortage for the Allied troops especially for the wounded soldiers. On Christmas morning Japanese soldiers entered the British field hospital at St. Stephen's College and tortured and killed a large number of injured soldiers, along with the medical staff.  By Christmas afternoon it was clear that further resistance was pointless and the Allies surrendered the island to the Empire Of Japan.  This was the first time that a British colony had ever surrendered in war.

Of the Canadians captured during the battle, 267 subsequently perished in Japanese prisoner of war camps, mainly due to mistreatment and abuse. Prisoners Of War

The Aftermath Britain regain control of Hong Kong on August 15 th six days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. General Takashi Sakai, who led the invasion of Hong Kong was tried as a war criminal and executed by a firing squad in 1946 The Allied dead from the campaign, including British, Canadian and Indian soldiers were eventually interred at the Sai Wan Military Cemetery and Stanley Military Cemetery. An interview with three Canadian soldiers who survived the Battle of Hong Kong in They talk about the battle, and about their subsequent imprisonment and brutal treatment as POWs for over 3 1/2 years.

Cenotaph in Hong Kong Sai Wan War Cemetery

Something to look forward to Allied troops including 5000 Canadians were shipped by convoy to the beaches of the port town of Dieppe, France.  This mission was a raid on German defenses on the Western Front to take some pressure off of Russia in the East

Conclusions  The Germans now, within the space of six months, faced the 2 most powerful nations in the world (USSR/USA) Hitler and a portion of the Nazi’s had started on their second agenda, to rid the world of “racial enemies” For Japan, this was a short term victory: Japan had won the first battle but could not win the war