Christmas 1941, Hong Kong
As it is already Christmas across the International Date Line, take this into perspective.
1941 12 19 Hong Kong, Counter-Attack at the Wongneichong Gap by Giuseppe Rava
On this day in 1941, the Hong Kong Garrison was mounting a doomed defense against the might of Japan. Heavy among the embattled defenders, outnumbered nearly 4:1 by the attacking Japanese was “C Force,” a group of some 2,000 Canadians consisting of a brigade headquarters and a battalion each of the Royal Rifles of Canada from Quebec and Winnipeg Grenadiers from Manitoba. The below from the Toronto Star Weekly, 21 December 1961.
“It was the morning of December 25, 1941, in Hong Kong. The sun shone bright and warm. Along the road bordered with blood-red flowers strolled a Canadian soldier, steel helmet perched on the back of his head and singing at the top of his voice. Fellow soldiers taking cover in the basement of a house shouted at him, “Take cover – get off the road!” The Canadian shouted back, “It’s a lovely day and it’s Christmas morning.” Then he picked up his song and continued to stroll along the road, to disappear forever.”
“Who he was, where he came from and what eventually happened to him, the survivors of the Winnipeg Grenadiers who had shouted out to him never did learn. But the unreality of this occasion – the casual, singing soldier strolling along, oblivious to the earth-shaking explosions or the hills of Hong Kong which at that moment were a mass of roaring flames – did not unduly amaze them. It was, so they thought, merely an appropriate part of the greater unreality which was the battle of Hong Kong itself. This does not mean that there was anything unreal about the savage fighting that had gone on for 18 days as 14,000 Canadian, British and Indian troops attempted to hold off 60,000 experienced, superbly trained Japanese troops. ”
Both the Royal Rifles and Winnipeg Grenadiers were rebuilt.
