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War in the pacific

Stanley Prisoner of war camp

5 Facts:

  • The camp consisted of Canadian troops that had been captured

  • If anyone tried to escape would be very hard they would have to navigate through Japanese-occupied territory, find food, and only few spoke cantonese so they would also have to deal with language difficulties in Hong Kong if they  did succeeded in escaping.

  • When the war ended, only 1,428 prisoners from the battle returned to Canada out of the 1,685 that had been captured

  • They were so poorly treated that 47 nations started the Geneva Convention, a document that had them agree to treat the prisoners humanely, even though Japan signed it, they kept on treating the prisoners no better than they'd treat garbage

  • Very few of the Japanese guards’ spoke English and internees were forced to learn Japanese to be able to understand commands they were given. If they did not do so they would get a beating.

An emaciated internee, in Stanley at The Prisoners of War Camp in Hong Kong, showing the small quantity of rice and stew which served five people.

Canadian Prisoners Of War in a Japanese Prisoner Of War camp

What Role Did This Camp Have in The Battle of HK

The prisoners provided a labor force that made different types of transportation for the Japanese, they made docks, railroads, and airports. Which helped the Japanese get around Hong Kong and attack  faster.

Prisoner Being beaten because he did not follow commands

How Did This Impact The Battle of HK

With the added labor force, transportation, bases and military mines, built by the prisoners of the camp. Hong Kong could support Japan in their fight, as a base, in the Pacific.

St. sTephen's College Massacre

A mass grave of  soldiers who died in the St. Stephens Massacre

5 Facts:

  • On December 7, 1941, the day before the Japanese attacked, the college was turned into an emergency military hospital.

  • After the massacre and the hospital was destroyed, it was turned into the Stanley Prisoner of War Camp

  • Japanese soldiers stormed into the building and killed 56 British and Canadian soldiers who were still wounded, on Christmas Eve in 1941

  • After the Masaacre internee's took all the bones they could find and buried them in a mass grave in Stanley Cemetery (picture to the left)

  • When the Japanese stormed into the college/hospital they were met by two doctors, which were later found dead and mutilated. 

What Role Did This Massacre Have in The Battle of HK

They broke the Geneva Convention, which showed the British (Hong Kongese) that the Japanese did not care about any rules and they'll do whatever to defeat a nation.

A representation of what happened at the St. Stephens Massacre

How Did This Impact The Battle of HK

This Massacre lead to the British (Hong Kong) surrendering to the Japanese.

Personal graves of people who died in the Massacre

Essential Questions

1. How Can We Learn About Hong Kong's History? 

We can visit museums, read books, look at credible websites, and go to historical sites around Hong Kong to discover more about Hk's History. But we can also talk to people who know information about it like our family members or friends, or even people who lived in the battle and talk to them about their experience living in the battle.

2 How Did World War II Impact Hong Kong?

WWII totally changed the way that the people in Hong Kong felt about the Japanese. When the Japanese attacked they killed thousands of family members or left some homeless, with all the damaged, which probably caused racism against the Japanese in Hong Kong and even to this day many people still resent the Japanese for killing one of their friends or family members. This racism continued through different generations by parents telling kids the Japanese are horrible and than those kids will tell their kids in the future ect.

Word Wall

Massacre - An indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of many people.

War - A state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country.

Battle - A sustained fight between large organized armed forces.

Convention - An agreement between states covering particular matters, especially one less formal than a treaty.

Internees - A person who is confined as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons.

Surrender - Stop resisting to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.

Learning Reflection

What are you currently learning about in Social Studies? Give some examples of what you have learned this unit.

We are learning about WWII and the battle of Hong Kong. By watching documentaries and researching online for our projects.

What do you enjoy about this particular SS unit?  Explain.

I liked our google tour project because we got to choose what battle we wanted to research ourselves, and when we researched it we got to know way more about where we live than we did before .

What do you find challenging about this particular SS unit?  Explain.

I liked making the google tour but when we actually had to put all of our work together are group didn't colaborate well which made things ten times more difficult.

What is something you have done well in this SS unit?  Explain.

I think i did well on my part of the google tour project. (I got all ME's)

 

What is something you would like to improve?  Explain on how you plan to make improvements.

I'd like to improve on group skills because on our google tur project our group wasn't collaborating very well and it messed up our project.

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