WI Hong Kong's troops were evacuated to Malaya in 1941 along with the original Malayan reinforcement

What if the Hong Kong Garrison was evacuated to Malaya in 1941 to reinforce it? If they, along with the thousands of Anzacs and Indians who reinforced Malaya in 1942, dug in, would they be able to hold against a the IJA or would more British troops and better planes be needed?
 
You need a lot more POD to allow The Empire to hold out. New commander, better supplies, and changes in tactics.
 

trurle

Banned
What if the Hong Kong Garrison was evacuated to Malaya in 1941 to reinforce it? If they, along with the thousands of Anzacs and Indians who reinforced Malaya in 1942, dug in, would they be able to hold against a the IJA or would more British troops and better planes be needed?
Evacuation of Hong Kong garrison is likely to sped up the Japanese advance. Without Japanese corps-level forces diverted for Hong Kong during 17-days long battle, British positions in Malaya would be overrun faster. Also, i doubt the coastal artillery of Hong Kong can be evacuated. Therefore, abandoning Hong Kong mean minus 2 heavy artillery regiments for the British. Finally, IOTL Hong Kong volunteer corps likely can not be transferred to mainland meaning minus one more infantry regiment.

The position of Hong Kong was very suitable to defend against Japanese. IOTL casualties ratio of Japanese in Hong Kong was 2:3 compared to the 1:14 in the rest of Mayaya. Simply defending well fortified and relatively small positions in Hong Kong was highly advantageous for the British.
 
Last edited:
I assume there would have been problems in leaving HK undefended, so there would have been significant risks.

That said I think the British suffered from being far too spread out, to the extent that they were not really strong enough anywhere to achieve any success. Making Malaya strong enough to hold probably required most of the HK garrison, more modern equipment and better training for those stationed in Malaya, Matilda II tanks and a better air defense in terms of more and better organization. Arguably the resources were available, but it would have required taking more from the UK and likely a bit less Lend Lease to Russia (which would have had consequences).

The fleet also needed to remain intact for longer, to prevent landings further south on the coast of Malaya.

Leadership needed to be different, Percival and the RAF head proved unsuited to the role.
 
Hong Kong was indefensible - for a start the majority of its fresh water came from the mainland and resupply from the sea would require a maximum effort from the Royal Navy which was not possible at the time - so I think that the attempt to defend it could not be realistically made with the troops that are there and certainly not for any long period of time and the British and commonwealth leadership must have known this.

Also Hong Kong is not a strategically important base in the greater scheme of things - its loss has no impact on the Allies conduct of the war and too me it should have been treated like the Channel islands.

Also while the IJA deployed 50+ thousand troops around HK and while there is an argument that those troops could be re-deployed else where had the effort not been made to defend the place - the Japanese had difficulties supplying what troops they had deployed in Malaya and the Philippines - so I do not believe that this would be the case.

While the coastal artillery @ HK cannot be moved it and its ammo can be destroyed to deny it to the Japanese along with any other useful stores.

While the addition of (more or less) 2 Brigades might not have made a difference to the Malaya campaign they would have given Perceval more options and made an attempted operation Matador far more likely to have been undertaken rather than the 2 Brigades slated for this role being kept in uncertain readiness between attacking into Thailand and retreating to the more defensible areas in Malaya - in the end they did neither and both units were very quickly overwhelmed - with at least 1 battalion caught in its trucks by IJA Tanks and being massacred.

Had Matador been attempted then even a failed effort would have been preferable to what happened OTL and at least a chance of defeating one or more of the landings!

In battle good order makes men brave while the reverse makes cowards of them.
 
Top