Conclusion
The introduction described this book as an attempt to create a coherent account of the entire Canadian involvement in the defence of Hong Kong. To what degree this attempt has succeeded must be left to the reader. Its creation was commenced with few pre-conceived opinions, and most of these were demolished as the research results took shape. It would be pointless to recapitulate the answers obtained to the questions posed in the introduction except to say that they were arrived at after as objective an analysis of the available evidence as possible. The compilation of this evidence was done thoroughly and conscientiously.
As the work of preparing the book progressed, the emotion that made itself felt with increasing intensity, even overshadowing that of irritation at political and military ineptitude, was a combination of admiration and sympathy for the men of C Force. No Canadian soldiers before or since got such a dirty deal or deserved it less. They were, quite literally, dropped into it. Casually sent to a death trap long before they could be considered ready for battle, they nevertheless put up a courageous and astonishingly effective fight against overwhelming odds, endured almost four years of squalid and brutal captivity, and then emerged, often physically and mentally marked by their ordeal, to be rewarded by the sneers of their allies and the neglect of their government.
Canada is not a militaristic nation and Canadians are an unmilitary people. Even successful military episodes are considered a little embarrassing and the glorification of failures and heroic last stands is almost unheard of. Whether this is a virtue or not is difficult to say. For the men of C Force it is, in one way, a pity, as the battle they fought deserves to stand beside the most famous exploits of the Canadian army or any other. They were not all heroes, they certainly were ill-trained for their role, but, if the Japanese can be believed, those men from the city and suburbs of Winnipeg and the big farm boys from Quebec must have fought like tigers.
It was never the intention of this book to include graphic battle descriptions. The roar of the automatic weapons as C Company of the Royal Rifles stops Tanaka's 2nd Battalion, the sight of A Company of the Grenadiers moving up into the mist on Mount Butler never to return, the stagnant air reeking of cordite as the little band of defenders holds out in the Gap shelters, the dry-mouthed tension as the men on the rocky summit of Mount Cameron huddle behind their stone barricades under a hail of explosives waiting for the shock of the Japanese assault, the sickening feeling of finality as the men of D Company pull themselves to their feet for the final counter-attack on that bloody Christmas afternoon--all these and many others await an author who can embody the saga of C Force in the prose it deserves. Unfortunately, neither that author nor any other will be able to detail the reason why these men should be in Hong Kong in the first place.
There was no reason why.
