A Savage Christmas: The Fall of Hong Kong
The Valour and the Horror
Overview
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)
