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The Grenadiers attempted to draw back to Wong Nei Chong, but the entire Company was surrounded. In the fighting which ensued Company Sergeant Major Osborn literally gave up his life to save his men. The six survivors of the two platoons of "A" Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, which had launched the counter-attack, became prisoners of war. The others had given their lives in the "Battle of Hong Kong".

"A" Company of The Grenadiers suffered many wounded. They asked the Japanese if they could take their injured with them. The Japanese said, "No, we will take care of them." They did. They shot and bayoneted the wounded to the last man. A war crimes investigation unit found the remains of the men after WWII, in a stream bed where they had been slaughtered. Japanese Colonel Tanaka Ryosabura, whose troops committed the cold-blooded murders was tried, convicted and executed after the war for his crimes.

Later that same afternoon, "D" Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, still under the command of Captain Alan Bowman, was ordered to counter-attack a Japanese stronghold called Mount Austin which had been captured. Neal Bardal, Adjutant of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, recounts the story of Captain Bowman: "Bowman had been involved since December 10th in heavy fighting on the mainland. He had endured 8 days of incessant artillery and aerial bombardment, lack of food, lack of sleep, and the tremendous stress of looking out for his men.

“In the afternoon that the Japanese swarmed ashore, Bowman was ordered to launch a counter-attack. Bowman was so exhausted that he was reduced to talking gibberish. He was last seen charging the Japs with a blazing Tommy-gun. He was never given the credit for those incredible days of fighting."

Brigadier Lawson's Headquarters Under Attack

Still later that day, as the Japanese under the command of Colonel Shoji Toshishga drove onwards to the South, Brigadier Lawson decided to move his Headquarters to a new location, but before he did, his headquarters group was surrounded. The Japanese were firing straight into the shelter where Lawson was located. A company of the Royal Scots made a brave attempt to help the Grenadiers break free, but less than a dozen Scots managed to fight their way through, and it was too late. Brigadier Lawson reported to "Fortress Headquarters" that they were "going outside to fight it out with the Japs". Pistols in hand and accompanied by his Chief Staff Officer, Col. P. Hennesy and a Royal Rifles intelligence officer named Arnold Woodside, he ran out the door towards "Fortress Headquarters". The Japanese cut the three of them down with machine-gun fire and they died instantly.

In Ottawa, another communiqué from Hong Kong had advised the Minister of Defense, Hon. J.L. Ralston of Lawson's death and he made the difficult announcement to the Canadian public. He had been advised in a situation report "that Brigadier J.K. Lawson and Senior Staff Officer, Col. P. Hennessy had been killed by shell fire".

The West Brigade was without a commanding officer until the next day, December 20th, when Colonel H.B. Rose, a Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Corps officer, was appointed.

Meanwhile the East Brigade were without any artillery support. They had lost their light Mobile guns in the withdrawal westward from Mount Parker, and the situation was getting worse by the minute. East Brigade and West Brigade were all but separated when the Japanese cut the island in half on a line running North/South, as they captured Jardine's Lookout then headed South towards Repulse Bay. The line which the Japanese occupied that separated East from West Brigade was just about along the lines that Maltby had drawn up in his redistribution plan.

This is the 'disaster' that Major Maurice Parker mentions in his memoirs. The Japanese pincers were rapidly closing around the defenders.

Rfm. Beebe, Royal Rifles of Canada, December 20...

"Even though we knew we were outnumbered, we asked no quarter and gave no ground. On the 20th, we killed 600 Japs and on the 23rd I got mine, machine gun bullets in both legs. Our boys rallied for a bayonet charge and those Japs who had been able to push into our position were driven out with heavy loss.”

An Official Japanese Broadcast Recorded by B.U.P. on December 19, 1941

"Japanese reports today said that Hong Kong has been in Japanese hands since 11:00 AM Friday. The island was covered by a heavy pall of smoke from fires started by air and artillery bombardment. Earlier, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters claimed that Japanese troops had landed at three points and had stormed a 1,500 foot dominating hill in the center of the island, despite strong British resistance." The report was true.

Japanese military experts were quoted by newspapers as saying that the British batteries were designed for long-range defense and therefore valueless, because the fighting had been at close quarters. This report was also true.