228th Infantry Regiment

War record

December 1941, the operation to take Hong Kong opened with preparatory fire by the heavy artillery→the 3rd Battalion advanced on its own initiative towards 龍虎頂 and the Shing Mun Reservoir→a force under company commander 若林東一 took Hill 255 (the British underground headquarters) in what the book calls a "passing attack" (超越攻撃) across steep mountain country→the crossing to Hong Kong Island and the push into the city of Victoria→25 December, the British surrendered→the regiment later moved on to the Solomons and Guadalcanal, took heavy losses, and finally withdrew to Rabaul, where it was when the war ended

According to the book, Company Commander 若林東一's "passage-of-lines attack" (超越攻撃) achieved the capture of Hill 255, a key division objective.

Source: The Regimental Histories of the Pacific War, 戦史の本 誌面22-23