As Remembrance Day approaches, a tale of valour and sacrifice is emerging from the fog of military history, thanks to a new book that finally gives a group of Canadian soldiers their due, nearly 70 years after the Battle for Hong Kong. About 2,000 troops from the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Quebec-based Royal Rifles of Canada were among the forces defending Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked in 1941. They were pitted against a better-trained foe, and held up longer than anyone thought they could. In the end, 100 per cent of the force was dead, wounded, missing in action or taken prisoner. The worst indignity was yet to come: The commander of the brigade to which the Rifles belonged wrote a report that put a blot on the regiment's reputation. In a bid to set the record straight, Ottawa author Nathan Greenfield is also calling on the British Parliament to repudiate that report.
Click here to read a passage from his account.
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