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In total with 353 fighters, bombers, and torpedo aircraft. The Japanese Imperial Navy surprise attacked Pearl Harbor (a naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii). It damaged all eight battleships in America, sinking four of them.
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Six hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On the same day, the Japanese invaded the British colony of Hong Kong.
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Japanese aircraft attacked the airport of Kai Tak and easily damaged or destroyed Hong Kong's few Royal Air Force aircraft. Then they almost demolished the camp of Sham Shui Po where two Canadian soldiers were killed and known as Hong Kong's first casualties in the war.
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The Japanese ground forces moved across the New Territories frontier and met with resistance from the Mainland brigade's forward forces. These advance units fell back to the "Gin Drinkers Line" in the face of strong enemy pressure. The defenders hoped for a week or more to defend the line, but the Japanese captured Shing Mun Redoubt on December 9.
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"D" Canada's Winnipeg Grenadiers Company were sent to reinforce the remaining defenders on the Hong Kong-mainland. (Infantry regiment of the Canadian Army formed on 1 April 1908 under General Order No. 20.)
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This company exchanged gunfire with the enemy on December 11 and became the first Canadian Army unit in the Second World War to engage in fighting.
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Japenese demanded Hong Kong to surrender. The Japenese government had denied the offer
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On December 17, the Japanese repeated their demand for surrender. Once again it was refused, but the situation was very grim.
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The invasion came with nightfall on December 18. The enemy launched four separate amphibious assaults across a three-kilometre front on the northern beaches of Hong Kong Island.
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No further attempts were made to drive north after December 21, as the troops were depleted and exhausted, and constant attacks were mounted by the Japanese, who had been strengthened.
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Allied troops in Hong Kong withdrew to the final line, "The Ridge", at the Stanley Peninsula.
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At the Stanley Peninsula on Hong Kong Island, Japanese troops attacked the final Allied defensive line, "The Ridge."
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At 3:15 p.m. Christmas Day, General Maltby advised the Governor that further resistance was futile and had raised the white flag. From that day forward in Hong Kong, this day was known as the Black Christmas.
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By nightfall, on December 19, Hong Kong built a new defensive line which was established from Palm Villa to Stanley Mound, and a brigade headquarters was set up at Stone Hill.
