HONGKONG.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 12

HONGKONG.

A KNOTTY PROBLEM. WILL JAPAN FIGHT THE DEMOCRACIES ? NO. 1 SOLDIER Or THE FAR EAST. (By A Special Correspondent.) HONGKONG, April 11. I IJe is Britain's No. 1 Tommy Atkins in the Far East, her "Man Of Iron," man responsible for the defence of Hongkong against invasion. He is Canadianborn Brigadier-General A. E. Grasctt. New to the job, his appointment only being gazetted last November, firasett at once threw himself into the job of trying to make Hongkong invasionproof. His job is known as General Officer Commanding the British troops in China. Just back from a northern tour, when he visfted British Army posts in Tientsin and Shanghai, the vounjr "veteran." first Dominion-ltorn Britisher to hold such an important military job. net. off at once to Macao, strategic colony of Portugal. 20 miles south of here on the Kwangtung coast. Grasett. though just ">O, has a distinguished military career, is the youngest man to be ever given the chief post in the Far K«st. has won for himself I the title of Britain's "Man of Iron." Grasett has under him in Hongkong 'about 0000 regular British soldiers, 3000 Indian troops with British and Indian officers, and the Hongkong Volunteer Defence Corps, about 1500 strong. In case of invasion—and it could only come from Japan—Grasett's job would be to hold Hongkong until naval, air and military reinforcements could be ruehed up from Singapore. Strength if Besieged.

' Informed circle* here estimate that Hongkong could hold out from any time ; between one week and nine months Against concentrated Japanese invasion, while other prophets optimistically claim that Hongkong is impregnable. Orasett would have to fixation his men to defend the vital Sino-Hongkong border, which divides the leased territory of Kowloon from Chinese territory. Thin border is one of the natural features which, according to well-in-formed observers, make it impossible to make Hongkong invasion-proof. The Hongkong land frontier is 30 miles, a creek and a range of hills. To hold such a portion againwt a superior | force of Japanese woukl require many more than the 5000 British soldiers who could he stationed there. Orasett. educated at the Royal Canadian Military College in Kingston, Ontario, wouid have to station small parties of men on the beaches to resist landings, which are expected to be made i at several points at once, if invasion of I Hongkong comes. i Hongkong's neighbouring territory is a mass of small islands, the greater part of which are British. However, in view of the Japanese occupation of Can- • ton and Kwangtung, air bases could be established within five miles of British i territory. Japan's Probable Neutrality. Political opinion here has lately hard- ( ened to the belief that Japan will stay neutral when the war comes in Europe. ' This is borne out, they say, by her refusal to sign a military pact with Germany and Italy. In an attack on Hongkong, it is anticipated that the British warships in harbour at the time would immediately disperse so as not to be blockaded, and so as to harass Japan's lines of communication.

At the same time it is understood that plans have been drawn up for the evacual tion of all British women and children by the shipping companies tinder British naval escort to Singapore. 1 It would be the job of Grasett with ) the forces at his command to hold Hongkong as long as possible, until relief came from the south. Big forts command the entrance to the Hongkong harbour, and the Peak district of the island of Victoria is a mass of concrete underground forts and A.A. posts. From the top of the Peak, 1500 ft above sea level, the British colony's big guns could keep an invading , fleet at sea for many months. £9,000,000 To £• Spent. FuntU to the extent of £1,000,000 are to be spent on the military defence of Hongkong annually for the next five years, and with this at his command Grasett will have an almost carte.blanche in his job of making the colony as impregnable as possible. The most vulnerable point in the defence of the colony is the new territories' border, but long line* of concrete posts and emplacements for heavy guns are in position there. Camouflaged machine-gun posts, can be seen by any visitor to the many

beaches in Hongkong. In emergency time tho volunteer corps will mail these to resist, landings. Another difficulty facing Grasett is Hongkong s luck of air power. Except the aircraft carrier Eagle, there is no permanent air force l>ase in the colony. However, it is understood that plans for the establishment of three squadrons at full strength in Hongkong are well under way. Besides the present field at Kai Tak, two new air force fields are being built; hangars and underground storage tanks for gasoline are expected to follow. (•rasett would have to work on the assumption that as soon as a state of war wan known to exist, Hongkong would he under blockade at once from an enemy fleet. Such a situation present#! new difficulties. The feeding of the native population for any long period on the stock* of rice, etc., in Hongkong would l>e impossible. It means Kuropeans, valuable manpower, would have to lie on duty to control panic-stricken Chinese durin# air rakl*. I Could be "Bought" Over. However, the defence of Hongkong, while it may be made to appear impossible, is causing little anxiety to Canadians and British subjects resident in the colony. The view is held that should Japan decide to throw in her lot with the anti Comintern Powers, then there is the possibility that sin; would be. at war with Russia and France at the same time. However, it is definitely held here that Japan could l>e "bought" over to British friendship in case of war in Kuro|>e by .several method*, either the recognition bv Britain and France and Japanese control of the five northern provinces of ( hint, the withdrawal by the democratic bloc of their concessions at Tientsin. Amoy, Hankow, and possibly even Shanghai. It ia with these problems in mind that Hongkong's military commander lias made his recent tour of the army posts the Far East. Utmost confidence is felt here in the Canadian, who was at the front in 4914 eight days after the outbreak of war, and whose record alone, D.5.0., M.C., is sufficient to justify his appointment for a difficult job. "They could, not have picked a better," is the general view held here.