Daily life in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. A narrow street in Hong Kong Island, jammed with commercial activity. Street musicians play bamboo instruments and sing. Chinese men with queues seen on the street. A girl sits on sidewalk, picking lice from the hair of a little boy. A girl carries a squirming baby on her back. Chinese pedestrians crowd the street. Signs and clothes hang from almost every store front on the street. A woman carries two children, one in front and one on her back. A Western civilian talking with an old Chinese shopkeeper. Chinese men sit on a bench and smoke. A young woman splits wood into kindling. A British sailor, carrying a large camera, walks through crowd. The Western civilian, now holding a camera at his side, poses next to a Sikh Hong Kong policeman, as local people gather around them. The Westerner sits with a sidewalk vendor, discussing a purchase. Three Chinese girls wearing Cheongsams walking together. A Chinese woman being carried in a sedan chair holds her hand up to hide her face from the camera ("evil eye"). Customers and merchants discuss fabrics. Countless porters carry goods through the street on poles. The "westerner" rides by on a sedan chair.
Victory over Japan at end of World War 2. Japanese troops surrender Singapore and Hong Kong to British troops in Pacific Theater. Aerial view of city in Singapore. Allied ships in nearby harbor. Allied soldiers of Britain landing and marching on streets in Singapore. Next scene shows ships of British fleet seen in waters at Hong Kong. Low-flying aerial views of port areas and buildings of Hong Kong. British Navy combat teams move from building to building in small groups, flushing snipers from alleys, streets, and buildings. A British soldier rests a machine gun on an elevated porch and fires at an enemy sniper position. Several Japanese soldiers surrender to British forces. Next scene is in Nanking, China. View of officials gathering in Nanking for Japanese surrender ceremony at the Central Military Academy, which had been the enemy Japanese headquarters during the war.
Although narrator states "General Chennault's United States 10th Air Force," this film actually depicts Chennault's 14th Air Force formed in 1943. Its B-25s and P-40s are shown during an attack on Hong Kong during World War 2 U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell aircraft take off from an air base in China to attack Hong Kong. The aircraft in flight. Propellers of the aircraft. Aerial view of the area below. Bombs being released over Hong Kong. View of crew in cockpit of B-25.The aircraft landing at an air base in China after the mission. P-40s with tiger teeth paint job parked on the airport tarmac. Aircrews relax with refreshments on the ramp.
Japanese warships at sea. Mountains in the background. Japanese troops on ship. Japanese planes in flight. Japanese warships and planes bombard Hong Kong as Japanese troops go ashore in landing craft. Aerial view of Hong Kong. Explosion and smoke rising over target. (World War II period).
View, from Japanese Seaplane tender/troop carrier, Kamikawa Maru, of several gunboats following behind her during approach to Hong Kong in World War 2. Aichi E13A Japanese float plane (Jake) is partially visible on ship's catapult. Japanese troops assemble on deck of ship and are inspected by officers. A float plane is catapulted. The Japanese troops enter assault boat, carrying rising sun naval ensigns. The float plane taxis past troops in their boat. The troops wave to their shipmates who wave back from the Kamikawa Maru. Assault boats underway with gunboats following. Naval guns firing from twin turret aboard Japanese warship. Heavy guns firing from battleship. Aichi E13A plane overhead. Japanese warships in bay below. Aerial view of smoke rising in Hong Kong from naval barrage and bombing. Japanese troops taking fortified positions, running past barbed wire obstacles, and climbing a steel crane at the port with a sign reading "Babcox and Wilcox Ltd, 5 tons at 30 ft and 2- 1/2 tons at 45 ft ." Smoke billowing in the air as Japanese troops run along a rooftop.Smoke rising from a virtual sea of flames. Scene shifts to later after fires have been extinguished. Senior Japanese officers inspect the state of the port and facilities. Sunken British ship, at pier, in camouflage paint. Surrendered British sailors, and some soldiers, held in a large open square.
First of three American air attacks on Japanese positions in Hong Kong on 25 Oct 1942, during World War II. U.S. Army Air Forces North American B-25 Mitchell aircraft lined up at an airfield in China. General Claire L. Chennault discusses the missions with Colonel Caleb V. Haynes China Air Task Force (CATF) Bomber Section Commander and Colonel Robert T. Scott (CATF's 23rd Fighter Group Commander) 11th Bomb Squadron B-25 takes off from Ehr Tong Airfield at Kweilin (Guilin), China along with P-40 fighter escort. Formation of escorting Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters. B-25 bombers in flight over mountain ranges. Bombs being dropped over the Hong Kong headquarters of the Japanese. Bombs impact and smoke rises.