The Damned: The Canadians at the Battle of Hong Kong and the POW Experience, 1941-45 Review

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The Damned: The Canadians at the Battle of Hong Kong and the POW Experience, 1941-45 ReviewThis book is divided into two sections. The first part is the Japanese attack on Hong Kong from China in 1941. The second part is the captivity of the Canadian soldiers by the Japanese until the end of World War II in August 1945.
The second part is by far stronger and more readable. It is also heart-wrenching to read of the barbaric treatment accorded the Canadians at the hands of their Japanese captors. They were ill-fed and ill-clothed. Many died of diseases due to vitamin deficiencies in their minimal diet (if it can be called "diet"). Also there was sadistic treatment meted out to them. Those who survived had to endure this physical and psychological torture for over 3 1/2 years. As Mr. Greenfield points out surrender was an unknown concept to the Japanese who adhered to a Bushido mythology where death was honourable, whereas to be taken prisoner was seen as a humiliation to the nation.
It should also be pointed out that many prisoners (non-officers) were sent to Japan for slave labour; working over twelve hours a day in mines and shipyards. These prisoners in Japan had, perhaps, a more vigorous struggle for survival than those who remained in Hong Kong. In Japan the weather was colder and as the war progressed - with worsening conditions for Japan - the food rations diminished even more. The officers who stayed on in Hong Kong had better treatment - more food and less labour to do - but they were also the victims of the hostile treatment given by the Japanese guards.
The first part of the book (and this consists of almost 2/3 of the content) is a description of the Battle for Hong Kong. I found this overly detailed and unless you have a geographical background of the hills, peaks and valleys of Hong Kong the events become somewhat confusing. The individual descriptions of battle are very poignant and harrowing. These new Canadian soldiers experienced the ruthlessness and arbitrary destructiveness of war.
A British commanding officer (Cedric Wallis) was highly critical of the performance of the Canadians during the Battle of Hong Kong. For the general reader, I felt that Mr. Greenfield spent an inordinate amount of time refuting this British critique. Over seventy years have now passed and whether a snooty Brit felt that the Canadians were derelict in their duty is beside the point. The fact is, the troops in Hong Kong were over-whelmed and could never have held out against the Japanese invader, who not only out-numbered them but had air supremacy. The Canadians sent to Hong Kong were merely a token force, and it was inevitable that they were to be slaughtered or taken prisoner.
Unfortunately Mr. Greenfield chose to emphasize the Battle of Hong Kong which hardly lasted for twenty days. The real story is the long incarceration of those woebegone prisoners, who held out for many long years under the most dismal of conditions with little hope of liberation.The Damned: The Canadians at the Battle of Hong Kong and the POW Experience, 1941-45 Overview

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