UNDERGROUND FROM HONGKONG

This doesn't add much to the series of escapes from Hongkong, no one of which can be ranked, so far, as really top drawer. But once again this is a fast reading story of the fall of the city and one man's part in it. Proulx, Canadian born, had lived in Hongkong for over 80 years, -- a businessman, an amateur jockey on the side, a member of the Royal Naval Volunteers. After Pearl Harbor, the Volunteers staged resistance for a few days, then were forced to retreat to Repulse Bay where they defended the hotel for a time against impossible odds. Finally, the decision came for the combatants to go to Stanley Fort, where Proulx was when the news of the surrender of the colony reached them. Prison for some weeks, with six close friends, the interminable days, the diet of rice, the decision to try to make a getaway. Accompanied by two Dutchmen, he got out through a sever tunnel, crossed the island, and eventually reached the mainland in a Chinese-secured rowboat. The other prisoners of Fort Stanley died in a torpedoed prison ship. Personal narrative, controlled, well paced.