ianlouisiana Review of Battle Hell

Battle Hell (1957)

The start of China's undeclared war on the West.

[8/10 · 2 September 2006]

I was privileged to meet Lt Cdr Kerans at the "Schoolboys Exhibition" at Olympia in 1950.He was at a stand got up as part of HMS Amethyst and was patiently signing autographs for a large number of small boys like myself wearing school caps and blazers.The air was full of phrases like "I say,how wizard!" and all of us vowed to join the navy at the earliest opportunity.In a world as far away morally,socially and spiritually from today as the Regency,Lt Cdr Kerans was a figure to be held in awe.As he smiled and spoke a few words to me I knew,even at that early age,that I was in the presence of an inspirational man. Just a year earlier his ship - engaged in an entirely lawful peacetime mission -had come under heavy bombardment from Communist Chinese forces on the River Yangste.The courage and leadership he displayed during this incident earned him respect and praise throughout the West. In a Britain that had not yet learned to hate its own history and traditions there was a huge interest in the Amethyst and a movie was an obvious possibility;the only surprise was that it took six more years before it was made.Fortunately the wait was worthwhile. Mr Richard Todd was cast as Kerans,a role he slipped into as well as he had that of Guy Gibson.He was a man whose service in the Parachute Regt. had taught him a lot about the military mind,about making decisions that can cost lives,and it shows.His is a career that is not much remembered nowadays - which is an injustice. The Yangtse Incident itself is largely forgotten.China,they say,will be the new America.In our haste to ingratiate ourselves we forget events as recent as Tiananmen Square let alone an unprovoked attack on a British naval vessel nearly sixty years ago.When we watch the movie,history takes on flesh and blood,no longer hidden away on yellowing newspages.When the last of 1950's eager schoolboys passes on to the big tuckshop in the sky there will only be this movie to remind people of the bravery of Lt Cdr Kerans and his crew at a time when it might be politic to airbrush them from history.