Get Off My Bloody Ship! The Defiant British Last Stand, Shanghai 1941

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HMS Peterel: The Royal Navy's Defiant Last Stand at Shanghai, 1941

Hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a small Royal Navy gunboat faced impossible odds in Shanghai.

When Japanese officers boarded HMS Peterel demanding surrender, her captain - 62-year-old Lieutenant Stephen Polkinghorn - gave them a defiant reply: "Get off my bloody ship!"

What followed was a one-sided battle against the armoured cruiser Izumo and shore batteries. With her main guns deliberately disabled, Peterel's crew fought back with Lewis guns and small arms.

She became the first British warship sunk by the Japanese in the Second World War - but she went down fighting, White Ensign still flying.

This video explores why British and American gunboats were in Shanghai, the strange "Solitary Island" existence of the International Settlement surrounded by Japanese forces since 1937, and the dramatic events of 8 December 1941.

It also reveals the remarkable story of CPO James Cuming, who evaded capture and spent the entire war as a spy in occupied Shanghai.

Timeline of Key Events:

1842: Treaty of Nanking opens Shanghai to foreign trade
1863: Shanghai International Settlement formed
1927: HMS Peterel launched; USS Guam (later Wake) launched
1937: Japan occupies Shanghai; International Settlement becomes "Solitary Island"
August 1940: British Army withdraws from Shanghai
November 1941: US 4th Marines evacuated; American gunboats sail for Philippines
7 December 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
8 December 1941, 4:00am Shanghai: USS Wake captured without resistance
8 December 1941, 5:00am: HMS Peterel attacked and sunk; 6 killed, 12 captured
1943: Britain and USA relinquish extraterritorial rights in China
1945: Polkinghorn awarded DSC; survivors liberated
2009: James Mariner, last Peterel survivor, dies aged 90

#britishhistory #militaryhistory #ww2pacific

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:45 Shanghai International Settlement
3:58 British & US Military
4:48 Japanese Expansion
5:13 Isolated
7:33 HMS Peterel
9:39 USS Wake
10:54 Tensions Increase
11:38 The Japanese Attack
13:26 USS Wake Captured
14:28 "Get Off My Bloody Ship!"
15:41 Last Stand of HMS Peterel
17:36 Peterel Sinks
20:07 The Man Who Got Away
21:17 Prisons and Liberation
23:10 End of the International Settlement
23:48 Final Thoughts.



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My name is Chris Green and I love to share stories from British history. Not just because they are interesting but because, good or bad, they have shaped the world we live in today.

History should not be stuffy or a long list of dates or kings & queens.
So rather than lectures or Youtube animations, I tell stories that bring the past to life.

My aim is to be chat as if I were having a coffee or meal with you. Jean in Maryland, USA recently wrote: "Chris, is the history teacher I wish I had at school!"

Just for the record, I do have a history degree in Medieval & Modern history from the University of Birmingham and am a member of the Royal Historical Society.
I am also a member of the Victorian Military Society, the Anglo Zulu War Society and the Military Historical Society.

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