大象传媒

The following story appears courtesy of and with thanks to Ronald Parker and Father
Major Maurice Albert Parker:

In that charge Lieutenant Charles French was hit twice by a machine gun fire in the first few minutes of the attack and died. Company Sergeant Major John Osborn took command and led the charge which re-took Mount Butler. The Grenadiers inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese until there were just 30 Grenadiers left.
Alone, those 30 Grenadiers held the peak for more than three hours. Then with a flank exposed, and being chopped up by machine-gun fire, they were forced to withdraw. They fought their way back down Mount Butler and somehow managed to link up with the rest of "A" Company.
The Grenadiers attempted to draw back to Wong Nei Chong, but the entire Company was surrounded. In the fighting which ensued Company Sergeant Major Osborn literally gave up his life to save his men. The six survivors of the two platoons of "A" Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, which had launched the counter-attack, became prisoners of war. The others had given their lives in the "Battle of Hong Kong".
"A" Company of The Grenadiers suffered many wounded. They asked the Japanese if they could take their injured with them. The Japanese said, "No, we will take care of them." They did. They shot and bayoneted the wounded to the last man. A war crimes investigation unit found the remains of the men after WWII, in a stream bed where they had been slaughtered. Japanese Colonel Tanaka Ryosabura, whose troops committed the cold-blooded murders was tried, convicted and executed after the war for his crimes.
Later that same afternoon, "D" Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, still under the command of Captain Alan Bowman, was ordered to counter-attack a Japanese stronghold called Mount Austin which had been captured. Neal Bardal, Adjutant of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, recounts the story of Captain Bowman: "Bowman had been involved since December 10th in heavy fighting on the mainland. He had endured 8 days of incessant artillery and aerial bombardment, lack of food, lack of sleep, and the tremendous stress of looking out for his men.
鈥淚n the afternoon that the Japanese swarmed ashore, Bowman was ordered to launch a counter-attack. Bowman was so exhausted that he was reduced to talking gibberish. He was last seen charging the Japs with a blazing Tommy-gun. He was never given the credit for those incredible days of fighting."

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