Several hours before the British surrendered on Christmas at the end of the Battle of Hong Kong, Japanese soldiers entered St. Stephen's College, which was being used as a hospital on the front line at the time.
[1][2] They then burst into the wards and bayoneted a number of British, Canadian and Indian wounded soldiers who were incapable of hiding.
[1] When the college and the grounds of Stanley Prison became a civilian internment camp, the internees gathered up the burnt remains, shards of bones, buttons and charred effects from the cremation, and then buried them.
[2] Lieutenant General Takeo Itō (伊東 武夫), the commander of the 38 Infantry Division during the incident, was held responsible for the atrocities committed by the unit.
He was found guilty on the Military Court for the Trial of War Criminals in 1948 and was sentenced to twelve years of imprisonment.