|
The lowdown: 'Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst' is a dramatisation of a real-life event from 1949, when the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst came under attack from shore batteries operated by China's People's Liberation Army while sailing up the Yangtse river to the Chinese capital, Nanking. The ship was on a lawful mission to deliver supplies to the British embassy, and was not expecting the surprise attack by the Communists. Some 54 of the ship's crew were killed or seriously injured in the attack, and the Amethyst itself became grounded on mudflats. A political standoff ensued, with the Amethyst stuck in the Yangtse for four months while its surviving offers and the British high command attempted to negotiate with the Communists for the vessel to be allowed to leave. The Communists refused to allow the Amethyst to sail for home unless the crew accepted full responsibility for the incident by making a false confession that they had fired first. Naturally, the British refused to concede to such political blackmail, and with food and other supplies running low, the ship's commander eventually ordered the crew to sail downriver under the cover of darkness, where it rejoined the fleet at the mouth of the Yangtse. The film stars Richard Todd
as Lieutenant-Commander John Kerans, who assumes command of the Amethyst
after its
The
verdict: 'Yangtse Incident' is probably one of
the lesser-known British war films of its era, although because it was
|
 |
