In the later period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Hong Kong became the only gateway for the Chongqing government to maintain contact with Britain, the United States and other countries, an important channel for aiding Chiang Kai-shek, and an outpost of the British in the Far East. In order to cut off this supply line and force the Nationalist government to surrender at an early date, the Battle of Hong Kong broke out.
On December 13, 1941, Kowloon fell, and All the waterways and routes connecting Hong Kong with the outside world were interrupted, and panicked people rushed to buy food, and the urban area fell into chaos. In order to defend Hong Kong Island, the commander of the Hong Kong Garrison, General Marby, redeployed the troops withdrawn from the New Territories and Kowloon, established beachhead positions, and resolutely prevented the Japanese from landing.
At the same time, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also called Hong Kong Governor Yang Muqi, "The honor of the empire is in your hands", hoping that he can stick to the end. However, all five British aircraft were destroyed, three destroyers were sunk by the Japanese, and the other two were used as transport ships to evacuate british families to Singapore. All they could use were a few gunboats, so what capital did they have to fight the Japanese?
At first, people were counting on the Z Fleet (Eastern Fleet) to rush to Hong Kong's aid. As everyone knows, long before the fall of Kowloon, the famous battleships "Prince of Wales" and "Counterattack" battlecruisers had been sunk by the Japanese Air Force. The British army lost both air and sea power, and faced with the elite 50,000 Japanese troops commanded by Takashi Sakai, there was no chance of victory.
One
When the news came, the morale of the Hong Kong defenders fell to the bottom. At this moment, General Marby suddenly remembered a person, with his help, perhaps able to turn the tide of the war, this person is the general of the national army - Chen Ce.
Chen Ce was a famous admiral of the Kuomintang Navy, and successively served as the commander of the Guangdong Fleet, the commander of the Fourth Fleet, the deputy director of the Navy Department, and the mayor of Guangzhou. In 1938, he led the Kuomintang Navy in a fierce battle with the Japanese army, accidentally hit by Japanese artillery fire, and lost his left leg and became a "one-legged general" (admiral of the navy second class).
When the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong, Chen Ce served as the military representative of the Nationalist government in Hong Kong. Malby immediately met with the tiger general, hoping that he would lead his army from Guangdong to attack the Rear of the Japanese Army and assist in the Battle of Hong Kong. As a gesture of goodwill, Marby released all of the more than 500 "Hong Kong lone troops" (nationalist troops who had retreated to Hong Kong during the fall of Guangzhou) in the concentration camp, handed them over to Chen Ce for command, and sent 20 boxes of grenades and 75 pistols.
Chen Ce also told Malbi the good news that two divisions of the Chinese army were traveling day and night to help Hong Kong. When the news spread, the British army and the citizens of Hong Kong were greatly encouraged, and if the nationalist army attacked the rear of the Japanese army, the Japanese army would inevitably feel threatened, and the siege of Hong Kong could not be solved without a war. However, Chen Ce's information was not accurate, and the reinforcements of the two divisions did not sail to Hong Kong, but diverted to participate in the Battle of Changsha.
On December 13, the Japanese sent people to persuade them to surrender for the first time, but they were rejected by Yang Muqi, the governor of Hong Kong. He ordered the sinking of 12 ships in Victoria Harbour to prevent the Japanese from landing, vowing to fight until the last minute. Chinese celebrities also delivered speeches calling on the public to stick to Hong Kong and wait for "Chairman Chiang Kai-shek's elite soldiers to arrive." "There is a tragic atmosphere throughout Hong Kong Island.
Surprisingly, Hong Kong, which claimed to be able to hold on for a year, fell in just 18 days. It turned out that everyone thought that the Japanese would invade from the sea, and once Hong Kong fell, they could withdraw from kowloon to the mainland. Unexpectedly, the Japanese army came from the land, directly captured Kowloon, cut off all the back roads, and Hong Kong became an isolated island.
Two
Cornered, Hong Kong Governor Yang Muqi decided to surrender. Before surrendering, he spoke on the phone with Chen Ce, who expressed his understanding of his decision and said: "As a Chinese soldier, I will never surrender to the devils!" I am determined to break through, if anyone on your side is willing to follow, you can go with me! ”
Yang Muqi heard the words and was full of admiration. He and Marby could not evacuate due to their status and had to stay in Hong Kong to sign the surrender formalities. But for the sake of other senior British officials, if they were willing to follow Chen Ce to break through, they would let them go. In the end, 75 British officers, unwilling to be prisoners of war, gathered around Chen Ce.
On the way to the retreat of Aberdeen Pier, the convoy encountered a very thrilling event. At that time, they were driving along the bullet-ridden road, bumping toward the dock, and they did not expect to meet the Japanese patrol head-on. The British were terrified, and at this critical moment, Chen Ce's aide-de-camp Xu Heng made a clever move, stood up from the car and waved and shouted "Onboard (long live)!" The Japanese mistakenly thought they were spy teams, and also stood by the side of the road in response with "onboard", and the convoy successfully passed through the danger zone.
At around 4 p.m., the convoy arrived at the Aberdeen Pier. At that time, it was still under British control, but the defenders did not know that the Governor of Hong Kong had decided to surrender. In order to avoid the Japanese attack, they hid the remaining 5 torpedo boats in Ap Lei Chau, and there were only two motorboats on the dock. If the torpedo boat was allowed to come and pick it up, the target was too conspicuous, and General Chen immediately made a decision and ordered everyone to take these two boats to Ap Lei Chau.
Less than half a mile from the docks, the two ships were spotted by the Japanese troops stationed in Repulse Bay, and a dense barrage of machine gun bullets came, and the bullets rained down and splashed. Subsequently, several small steel cannons also joined the ranks of the bombardment. Their ship was unarmed, like two live targets, swinging left and right on the surface of the sea, trying to get out of the attack.
Not long after, the helmsman was killed, the captain and several sailors were wounded, and Chen Ce was almost shot in the head, but fortunately he was blocked by a steel helmet. Immediately after, the speedboat was shot and damaged, becoming a dead target floating on the surface of the sea, and the boat became a pot of porridge. Chen Ce was not afraid of danger, drank and ordered everyone to "abandon the ship", and crossed to Ap Lei Chau to assemble, and everyone jumped into the water.
Due to physical disability and limited mobility, adjutant Xu Heng helped Chen Ce remove his prosthesis and was about to help him out of the cabin to launch the water, a British officer stepped forward two steps forward, trying to climb the ladder first, but did not expect a string of bullets to shoot from behind, he immediately fell to the ground and died. Chen Ce's left wrist was also punctured, and blood gushed out. Despite this, he ceded the only swimming circle to his adjutant Yang Quan and swam to Ap Lei Chau with one arm and one leg.
Three
The survivors landed successfully at Ap Lei Chau and prepared to take the five torpedo boats to break through the Japanese blockade and return to the mainland. That night, the torpedo boat set off under the cover of night, and when it did not want to go to Dongping Chau, it suddenly encountered a Japanese destroyer.
At that time, there were only 3 torpedoes on the 5 torpedo boats, which were not opponents of destroyers at all. Just when everyone was overwhelmed and thought that the great disaster was imminent, Chen Ce resolutely ordered the torpedo boats to line up and rush towards the Japanese ships at full speed. The Japanese did not know the truth, only saw the torpedo boats approaching rapidly, thinking that they were going to fire torpedoes, and hurriedly turned around and fled.
The bluff actually scared away the enemy, and the crowd was happy and broke out in a cold sweat. After escaping from danger, the people landed in Nan'ao in a torpedo boat, and under the cover of local villagers, they went out day and night, walked over the mountains and mountains for 5 days, and finally arrived safely in Huizhou under the rule of the Nationalist army.
Chen Ce's feat of leading 72 British officers to break through in blood became the big news of the year, and the British media praised him as "Nelson of the East". In recognition of Chen Ce's contributions, the Empress of England awarded him the Imperial Knight Commander Medal, becoming one of the two Chinese (the other being Sun Liren) who received this honor during World War II.
In 1949, Chen Ce died at home in Guangzhou at the age of 56.