Ferguson reviews the capture of Hong Kong by the Japanese during December, 1941. Most people have heard of the Bataan Death March and the capture of Singapore, but few have read the history of the capture of Hong Kong. In November, 1941 the British sent two Canadian regiments to defend this part of the Empire. These regiments were poorly trained and armed. Along with the other British forces in Hong Kong,the Canadians resisted the overwhelming Japanese forces for over two weeks. Ferguson details the battles and the courage of these forces, along with the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers.
If I can fault Ferguson anything, he does not go into detail on what happened in the prison camps which also resulted in a significant number of casualties, and the trials of the Japanese officers responsible for the soldiers who sacked Hong Kong. It would have made a more interesting book.