A Savage Christmas: The Fall of Hong Kong

The Valour and the Horror

The documentary, using the dramatization of fact, makes the case that the Canadian government knowingly sent two unprepared infantry battalions to help defend Hong Kong in late 1941, fully aware that they may have been on a doomed mission. The C Force, consisting of about 2000 soldiers from the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada (from Quebec City) were, with the other British, Indian and Hong Kong troops, attacked on December 8, 1941 and overwhelmed by Japanese troops, leading to numerous casualties and the surrender on Christmas day. The Canadians would spend more than 3 and half years as prisoners of war, in horrible conditions. Part of "The Valour and the Horror" mini series.

Cast

Terence McKenna

Narrator

Andrew Tarbet

John Payne

David Hewlett

Walter Jenkins

Greg Spottiswood

John Stroud

Brooke Johnson

Kay Christie

Martin Julien

Les Canivet

Andrew Miller

Ike Friesen

Jeremy Ratchford

Fred Reich

Robert Clayton

Self (Royal Rifles of Canada) (as Bob Clayton)

Robert Manchester

Self (Winnipeg Grenadiers) (as Bob Manchester)