The historian and author Allan Bartley discusses his recent book Beyond Operation Oblivion: A Canadian Spy Before, During, and After the Fall of Hong Kong, 1941 (Heritage House, 2026), with Joseph Planta.

Beyond Operation Oblivion: A Canadian Spy Before, During, and After the Fall of Hong Kong, 1941 by Allan Bartley (Heritage House, 2026). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Beyond Operation Oblivion

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.  

One of the fascinating, and riveting books of the season is Beyond Operation Oblivion: A Canadian Spy Before, During, and After the Fall of Hong Kong, 1941. The book’s central figure is the enigmatic Francis Kendall, who was really known as Mike Kendall. The book’s author Allan Bartley joins me now to talk about how he learned of Kendall, and how he pieced together this interesting life story. Kendall was a Canadian adventurer, born in Vancouver, who worked for a mining firm through Mexico, and then in Asia. He then found himself in Hong Kong in the turbulent years before the Second World War. I’ll ask Professor Bartley about the skill set and personal charm that he brought to working with the colonial authorities in Hong Kong, that lead to training in how to conduct espionage and sabotage operations, in an initiative that was dubbed Operation Oblivion. It involved recruiting a group of Cantonese-speaking Chinese Canadians who would train in the Okanagan Valley and fight behind Japanese lines in Hong Kong. Though the plan wasn’t fully realised, its legacy was making the overturn of the Chinese Exclusion Act a reality after the war. Allan Bartley is an author, former journalist, academic and public servant. He has a PhD in political science from McGill University, and is an adjunct professor in political science at Carleton University. His publications include The Ku Klux Clan in Canada: A Century of Promoting Racism and Hate in the Peaceable Kingdom, Heroes in Waiting: The 160^th Bruce Battalion in the Great War, Alexander McNeil: A Political Life, as well as academic and popular history articles. The book is published by Heritage House. He joined me last week from Ottawa. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Allan Bartley; Professor Bartley, good morning.  

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