83 men, most of whom were signallers and clerks. On 18 October 1941, the Japanese prime minister, Prince Konoye, resigned and was replaced by his War Minister, General Tojo Hideki. Prince Konoye had triggered the crisis by ordering the occupation of French Indochina and then attempted to resolve the crisis he had caused via talks to end the oil embargo. The sacking of Prince Konoye and his replacement as prime minister with a general known for his hardline views was intended as a signal that Japan was seriously contemplating war. The Royal Rifles left Quebec City on 23 October and the Winnipeg Grenadiers left Winnipeg on 25 October. All of the men of C Force were volunteers. The force under the command of Lawson departed Vancouver on 27 October and arrived in Hong Kong on 16 November. The New Zealand ship that had been contracted to carry C Force, , was a troopship, not a freighter as was expected, so C Force was forced to leave behind most of its vehicles and heavy equipment. Only 20 of the 212 vehicles allotted to C Force were carried by the Awatea with the rest behind left behind on the Vancouver docks. The equipment and vehicles left behind in Vancouver were supposed to be picked up by another ship, but the Canadian government had still not charted a ship by the time Japan invaded Hong Kong. Owing to a lack of space, one company of the Royal Rifles had to sail aboard the merchant cruiser assigned to guard the Awatea, . Unknown to C Force, on 5 November 1941, the Japanese cabinet in Tokyo approved the final plans for war and the final offers in the negotiations to end the oil embargo. The same day, Lieutenant-General Sakai Takashi was appointed to take command of the Japanese 23rd Army with orders to move the 38th Division to the territory just outside of Hong Kong and to finish off the plans for taking Hong Kong. On 15 November 1941, the cabinet recommended to the Emperor that Japan go to war. During the voyage across the Pacific, the men of C Force were for the first time instructed on how to use mortars, Bren guns and grenades. Lawson reported to Ottawa four days after settling sail for Hong Kong that training with the Winnipeg Grenadiers was going well, but with the Royal Rifles it was "sticky".