Season 2 of the RCRM Speakers Series explores various aspects of loss in the context of military conflict. When this topic attracts scholarly attention, the unthinkable is often revealed. Complex facets of the dynamic between mourning and commemoration, deprivation and rejection or disposal of war by-products surface. All of it leaves undeniable traces on the communities found in the path of the clash. The series ran in two parts: from January to June and after a two-months summer break, from September to November 2021. Each talk premiered on the museum YouTube channel, followed by a podcast episode released three weeks later.
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Season 2 of the RCRM Speakers Series explores various aspects of loss in the context of military conflict. When this topic attracts scholarly attention, the unthinkable is often revealed. Complex facets of the dynamic between mourning and commemoration, deprivation and rejection or disposal of war by-products surface. All of it leaves undeniable traces on the communities found in the path of the clash. The series ran in two parts: from January to June and after a two-months summer break, from September to November 2021. Each talk premiered on the museum YouTube channel, followed by a podcast episode released three weeks later.
Fighting It Out: the Battle of Hong Kong's Contested Legacy
RCRM Speakers Series - Season 2
41 minutes
4 years ago
Fighting It Out: the Battle of Hong Kong's Contested Legacy
Season 2, Episode 3 The legacy of the Battle of Hong Kong was shaped by bitter political clashes, allegations of a conspiracy to sacrifice Canadians in a far-off British colony, and a pattern of government negligence in the treatment of veterans combined with the rejection of the official commemoration for this battle. In November 1941, Britain requested support for guarding their remote Asian colony, Hong Kong. A small force known as "C" Force, formed of Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles of Canada, basically two infantry battalions were shipped to the Pacific. A former member of The RCR, Brigadier John Kelburne Lawson, was appointed to command this unit. Expecting to perform routine garrison duties, they were taken by surprise on 11 December 1941, when the 38th Division of the Japanese Army first attacked. Outnumbered, poorly equipped and unprepared for combat engagement of that scale, the two Canadian units held positions, but eventually suffered a heavy defeat, with many killed in action or in prisoner of war camps, and as many wounded. On Christmas Day 1941, Britain surrendered Hong Kong to the enemy, which brought bitterness among the survivors. This episode features Brad St.Croix, who shares the results of his research on the topic of the Battle of Hong Kong (December 1941). Brad is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Ottawa. He also runs the Twitter account On This Day in Canadian Military History, where we first met. He profiles here a different event of Canada's military past each day of the year. Brad's research interests include the Canadian involvement in the two world wars as well as Commemoration and Remembrance. He is currently working on his dissertation about the Canadian legacy of the 1941 battle of Hong Kong. Brad was a researcher for the Canadian War Museum, but he also worked with the Canadian Research and Mapping Association by providing narratives to accompany interactive maps on the Second World War. He has written and published several articles on the world wars, such as "Close Encounters" on the topic of the ambiguous role of the fifth columnists during the battle of Hong Kong (in War Journal, 2018). He also signed the article on Canadian labour during the First World War for the 1914-1918 Encyclopedia of the First World War. Contributors: Mark Vogelsang Georgiana Stanciu The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum Brad St.Croix
RCRM Speakers Series - Season 2
Season 2 of the RCRM Speakers Series explores various aspects of loss in the context of military conflict. When this topic attracts scholarly attention, the unthinkable is often revealed. Complex facets of the dynamic between mourning and commemoration, deprivation and rejection or disposal of war by-products surface. All of it leaves undeniable traces on the communities found in the path of the clash. The series ran in two parts: from January to June and after a two-months summer break, from September to November 2021. Each talk premiered on the museum YouTube channel, followed by a podcast episode released three weeks later.
