Hong Kong

Eleventh-Hour Peril: The U.S. Naval Escape from China

by Eric Niderost

On November 11, 1941, the U.S. Navy gunboats USS Luzon and Oahu were ordered to “make quietly all preparations within the ship for a cruise at sea.” Read more

Hong Kong

Tragedy at Hong Kong: The Ordeal of C Force

By Jerome M. Baldwin

By the 1930s the security Hong Kong had enjoyed since its acquisition by the British Empire in 1842 was a memory. Read more

Hong Kong

Tragic Surrender

By Mark Simmons

On Saturday, December 6, 1941, a Royal Australian Air Force Lockheed Hudson bomber on a reconnaissance mission from Khota Bahru on the west coast of Malaya was flying northwest over the China Sea toward the Gulf of Thailand. Read more

Hong Kong

Boeing Wonderland: The Fake Cities on America’s West Coast

By Bill Yenne

When I was a young boy in Seattle, my father told me about a fake town that had been built on top of Boeing’s Plant 2 during the war. Read more

Hong Kong

The Doomed Expansion of Imperial Japan

by Michael E. Haskew

Since 1931, Japan’s army had asserted control over territory on the continent of Asia, brushing aside Chinese resistance, condemnation and political pressure from other nations, and most recently, the Allied military. Read more

Hong Kong

The Indian Ocean Raid: Disaster for the Royal Navy

By David H. Lippman

“So this is the Eastern Fleet,” ran Vice Admiral Sir James Fownes Somerville’s signal. “Never mind. Many a good tune is played on an old fiddle.” Read more

Hong Kong

Frederick Townsend Ward and the Ever— Victorious Army

By Robert Heege

Wu Hsu was having trouble sleeping. As the taotai, or mayor, of Shanghai, Wu was charged with the ultimate welfare of China’s greatest cosmopolitan city. Read more

Hong Kong

Qing Dynasty And British Empire Clash In The Second Opium War

By Eric Niderost

On June 26, 1858, crowds packed the narrow streets of Tianjin to witness an awesome spectacle: A British diplomat was about to sign a treaty between his country and China. Read more

Hong Kong

The Fall Of Shanghai: Prelude To The Rape Of Nanking & WWII

By Eric Niderost

In the 1930s Shanghai was in its heyday, a teeming metropolis of some 3.5 million people. The great city was a fascinating blend of cultures, its very existence refuting Rudyard Kipling’s famous aphorism. Read more

Hong Kong

The USS Olympia: Largest Steel Warship Afloat

By Peter Suciu

The oldest steel warship afloat has survived wars, economic downturns, and even the harsh passage of time, but there was one battle that the USS Olympia (C-6), flagship of the American Asiatic Fleet during the Spanish-American War of 1898, almost was unable to win. Read more

Hong Kong

Heroic Defense of Hong Kong

By David H. Lippman

With rhythmic tread, the Canadian soldiers marched behind the bagpipers of the Royal Scots up Nathan Road. Read more