A record of the actions of the Hongkong Volunteer Defence Corps in the Battle for Hong Kong December 1941 (1953) By Major Evan George Stewart

A deceptively slim, yet heavily detailed account of the role played by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) during the Japanese invasion in December 1941, compiled by “Anonymous” and first published in 1953, has provided the principal chronological basis for numerous narrative histories of the Hong Kong conflict ever since.

“Anonymous” was actually Major Evan George Stewart, the long-serving headmaster of St Paul’s College. Stewart was born in England in 1892 to parents with a long-term China background. His father, Reverend Robert Warren Stewart and his wife, Louisa, were both Anglican missionaries, and he returned with them to China in 1893.

Tragedy struck in 1895. On leave at Hwa-sang, a hill station in Fukien (Fujian), the family were violently attacked. United by virulent racial nationalism, and a hatred of foreigners, militant groups targeted missionaries in various parts of China.

On the same day as the assault on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese army attacked the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. Among the colony's garrison were regiments from Britain, Canada and India as well as men from the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, better known as ‘The Volunteers'.

When the battle began on 8 December 1941, the HKVDC deployed a total fighting strength of 1,900 officers and men. These were mustered into seven infantry companies, five artillery batteries and a single armoured car platoon with a full range of support units.

Over the next 17 days, until the surrender on Christmas Day 1941, the men of ‘The Volunteers' saw action all over Hong Kong. This is the story of their battle.

Contains an appendix with a list of casualties.

A very scarce book.