The Battles of Hong Kong and Changsha – Episode 538

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall take a step to the east and look at the Battle of Hong Kong and the subsequent third Battle of Changsha.  In the late 1930’s, Great Britain felt that defending the city of Hong Kong and it’s environs was not worth the waste of manpower and materiel.Yet, by 1941, they had changed their tune, albeit half-heartedly.  Hong Kong’s survival, not to the British, but to the Chinese, was invaluable, so the crown invested both men and machine to the defense.  The fight that followed had an expected ending, but the time in between saw some of the most fierce fighting thus far during the young war.British, Indian and especially, the Canadians, fought tooth and nail to hold the area, eventually falling to the Japanese wave.  On the mainland, the Japanese sought to create an opportunity to capture the vital city of Changsha, something that had thus far, eluded them.  In the battle that follows, the Japanese not only fail in their quest, but nearly lose an entire Army to Chinese Nationalist forces in the only major Allied victory against the Japanese in the first few months of the war.