Book Launch in Hong Kong – 12/1/12 – Escape from Hong Kong: Admiral Chan Chak’s Christmas Day Dash, 1941
Posted: January 10th, 2012 | No Comments »Book Launch
Escape from Hong Kong: Admiral Chan Chak’s Christmas Day Dash, 1941
by Tim Luard
Date: 12 January 2012 (Thursday)
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Venue: Kelly & Walsh Ltd., Shop 305, One Exchange Square, Central, HK
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Venue: Kelly & Walsh Ltd., Shop 305, One Exchange Square, Central, HK
R.S.V.P. to HKUP at Tel: 2552 4789 or E-mail: upweb@hku.hk
The dramatic escape under fire of sixty-eight British and Chinese defenders of Hong Kong just hours after the colony’s surrender to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941 is one of the most remarkable untold stories of the Second World War.
The British officers and sailors were led by a famous one-legged Chinese admiral, who was shot in the arm and left behind his wooden leg as he swam for his life in a barrage of gunfire. The group landed in China and marched for four days across rivers and mountains frequented by bandits and Japanese patrols, guided by local guerrillas and villagers who carried the admiral in a bamboo sedan chair.
The Royal Navy party continued by river, road and rail across some of China’s poorest and most remote regions, reaching home five months later after again coming under Japanese attack in Burma.
Escape from Hong Kong, by former BBC China correspondent Tim Luard, tells the full story of this epic adventure for the first time. Its publication coincides with the 70th anniversary of the escape this Christmas Day.
“Tim Luard tells this exciting and little known story with great skill.’ — Chris Patten
More information about the book here
Leave a Reply