($20 plus $3 postage) *Not available in book stores*
À 19 ans Bernard s’engage volontairement dans le régiment des Royal Rifles du Canada, dont 35 à 40% sont des Canadiens-français bilingues.Un an plus tard, son régiment est envoyé à la défense de Hong Kong. Ils ont eu à peine trois semaines pour se préparer à la bataille.
Canadians who were sent to Hong Kong with only the munitions they carried off the troop ships and without any air or naval support, after seventeen days of battling overwhelming enemy numbers, soon found themselves as prisoners-of-war in Japanese camps.
Many POWs have taken different routes in coming to grips with the memories that haunt them still. Sgt. George MacDonell wrote a book.
Hong Kong and South/East Asia 1941-45. Quote from the jacket cover: "the first factual account of what happened to the allied prisoners and to the British, American and Dutch families who were subjected to the callous brutality of their captors for almost four years. It also covers the activities of the British Intelligence Organisation in China which was initially extraordinarily successful in establishing contact with the POWs and internees..."
This book, long out of print, has been called the best book written about Canada's involvement in the defence of Hong Kong. It covers the background of the regiments; the politics involved; the battle; years of imprisonment; and the return to Canada. No library on the subject on Hong Kong is complete without this book! There are a limited number - new condition - available. It is a hard cover edition but without a dust jacket.
The diary of a Hong Kong Prisoner of War
Published: 1995
Read an excerpt
Thomas S. Forsyth
$50, all costs included)
This reprint contains a few more photographs than the original and it has a foreword by the author of Part 1, Grant Garneau.
For those unfamiliar with this book, Part 1 deals with the historical aspects of the reforming the Royal Rifles in 1939; the Crown Colony of Hong Kong; the battle as seen by the RRC; and the imprisonment following the surrender. Part 2 is illustrations and photographs supplied by the veterans. Part 3 is mainly personal accounts. The book has 436 pages in total.
Based on interviews with survivors of the battle and the POW cages, Desperate Siege is a powerful tale of human courage in the face of impossible odds.
Ted Ferguson
Published: 1980
0-385-14694-9