The Japanese attacked the Southeast Asia region, which occurred after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and of course Japan coveted Hong Kong, the economic center and intelligence center, and Japan soon launched an attack on Hong Kong, declaring the failure of Britain's century-old operation of Hong Kong. From the acquisition of Hong Kong in 1842 to the Japanese occupation in 1941, why was the British management of Hong Kong so unbearable?
First, it's not just Hong Kong. The British lost singapore and Burma in the Far East to the Japanese. In fact, the British have never built any seaports and fortresses in Hong Kong, and the entire defense system of Hong Kong is very unsound. In 1941, the Japanese fleet was defeated by the British fleet. This became the direct cause of the British almost abandoning their defenses against the Far East.
The British fleet stationed in the Hong Kong area did not have an aircraft carrier at all, and as a result, the British fleet had not yet seen the shadow of the Japanese fleet, and it was directly sunk by the carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese aircraft carrier. From then until the Japanese surrendered, British warships did not dare to cross the Strait of Malacca one step.
Before occupying Hong Kong, the Japanese army did make some preparations, such as sending some secret service agencies to Hong Kong to occupy Zhuhai and Shenzhen, and the British garrison in Hong Kong itself was very small. Japan, on the other hand, used almost all the troops it could use. Including the Second Army and the Second 2nd Chinese Fleet, there were also a large number of bombers and fighters, with a strength of more than 30,000 people.
The British army was only more than 3,000 troops, and there were a large number of local armed forces, the day after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched an attack, three days later, the British Z Fleet was completely destroyed, and 18 days later, the British garrison surrendered to the Japanese. What do you think?