The Tai Wai Bunkers

One of my Facebook (FB)  friends, Kei Fu, posted a  message on the FB site "Battle of Hong Kong" showing a contour map with a location point labelled the "Tai Wai Bunkers." In his post, he was wondering how to get access to these bunkers which had become incorporated into a major building site. The development which will be a 15-storey residential apartment block will be called The Met.Acapella. The artist's impression shows a very attractive development close to the amenities of Tai Wai and surrounded by the hills and countryside. Another FB friend, Victor Li, helped to pinpoint the location with photographs and map extracts. Kwong Chi-man, a professor of history, advised on the FB site that he had been in contact with the Civil Engineering & Development Dept (CEDD) and Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) regarding the importance of protecting these WW2 bunkers. Chi-man posted a photograph which showed a very substantial bunker ("the long bunker"). I had not heard of these bunkers before, but immediately wondered given the size of the long bunker and the presence of four other splinter-proof shelters, and the proximity to Tai Po Road, whether this could be the site of the Advanced Battalion HQ of the 2nd Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment.  The battalion was commanded by Lt-Col Gerald Ralph Kidd who was killed in action during the fighting at Shouson Hill on the Island.
There were three possibilities as to who may have occupied these surviving WW2 military structures:

1. Advanced Bn HQ 2/14 Punjab Regt.

2. 'D' Coy HQ 2/14 Punjab Regt

3. Battery HQ for the forward guns of the Hong Kong Singapore Royal Artillery (HKSRA) which were positioned in Tai Wai locality.

Any of these three usages are possibilities, and the site could have been a combination of any two, or even all three.
On the declaration of a State of Emergency on Sunday 7 December 1941, six howitzers were deployed to forward locations in the vicinity of Tai Wai. These included two 3.7-inch and two 4.5-inch howitzers from 2nd Mountain Battery, and two 6-inch howitzers from 25th Medium Battery. The two 3.7-inch guns were transported by pack mules and were probably positioned furthest forward. The 4.5 and 6-inch guns needed to be towed by lorries and would, therefore, have been deployed close to the Tai Po Road. Other guns (3.7-inch howitzers) were deployed at Customs Pass, on the right flank of the Gin Drinkers Line (GDL), whilst others were positioned to the rear of the GDL at Main Filters, located at the southern end of Tai Po Road,  and the Polo Ground near Prince Edward Road. Nearby AOPs were manned at Sandal Wood, Crown Point, Golden Hill, Shing Mun Redoubt, Texaco Peninsula and Crown Point. Mainland Royal Artillery had their HQ in splinter-proof shelters adjacent to those occupied by Mainland (Kowloon) Infantry Brigade at the northern end of Waterloo Road. 

The map extract from the wartime map below shows the 5 1/2, 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 milestones (MS) along the Tai Po Road. It also shows the approximate position of the Tai Wai Bunkers which seem to be located very close to the 7 1/2 MS at a point where the railway starts to curve southwards to the Beacon Hill Tunnel.  

The Mainland Brigade war diary, the Royal Artillery war diaries, and the 2/14 Punjab war diary make no mention of the exact location of Battalion HQ, or 'D' Coy HQ or Forward Batteries RA HQ.  'D' Coy 2/14 Punjab Regt was occupying the left flank of the Punjab sector from Tai Po Road towards Shatin Pass. When the evacuation (of troops and guns) on the Mainland began on Thursday 11 December 1941, Captain David Mathers, commanding 'D' Coy, 2/14 Punjab Regt writes in the battalion war diary section pertaining to 'D' Coy that the company was was ordered to RV at the 5 1/2 MS. From the 5 1/2 MS, they took the catch water path which is marked in white on the map above. This might suggest that 'D' Coy HQ was located closer to the 5 1/2 MS.
At 1100 hours on 11 December, 'D' Coy's forward troops fired their Boys anti-tank rifles at two Japanese light tanks seen on Tai Po Road near the Shatin level-crossing which were probing the Punjab defences.

11 December 1215 hours:

"Last troops left forward positions. I met the CO at Advanced Battalion HQ and proceeded to 5 1/2 MS. On arrival found that 'D' Coy had been posted in position above the catchment. Spent next four hours walking along the catchment, up Railway Pass, round Beacon Hill locating Coy positions."

11 December 1830 hours:
"Withdrew Coy along the catchment up Shatin Pass, down Jats Incline to Devil's Peak Pier."

We know that Rear Bn HQ commanded by Lt James Flynn was located at Whitfield Barracks in Kowloon.  The Advanced Bn HQ was on or close to Tai Po Road, but was it at the Tai Wai Bunkers which were close to the 7 1/2 MS or was there another set of bunkers at the 6 1/2 MS now demolished?  The reason for posing this question is that the Diary of Events for Rear Bn HQ written by Lt James Flynn refers to the 6 1/2 MS HQ

10 December 2400 hours:
"Reported to CO at 6 1/2 MS HQ".

This could be an error, and perhaps the 7 1/2 MS was meant, but this seems unlikely. We are then back to the possibility of there once having been more military structures at the 6 1/2 MS. The 6 1/2 MS must have been close to where Shatin Heights is now situated. At the 7 1/2 MS, there is a small park named after the milestone and in which there is a replica of the 7 1/2 MS. 

            

71/2 MS Rest Garden

Replica of MS

The building site for The Met.Acapella is a short distance from the replica MS. I wanted to see these shelters, but the problem arose as to how to get there. I would not be allowed to walk into the building site without permission and without supervision and health and safety requirements like a  hard-hat, but I thought I might be able to reach the bunkers from the hillside above. So I trekked up the road leading to the Po Leung Kuk hospital located at the end of a cul-de-sac and overlooking the building site. I explained to the security guard that I was hiking down the hill from outside the perimeter fence. I then proceeded to work my way around the outside of the permitter fence until I reached a pylon a little way down the slope. I passed under the pylon and made my way downhill and slightly to the right. The undergrowth was not too thick and the slope was not too steep and by holding onto the trees I was able to make my way down to building site.

Source: Po Leung Kok YC Cheng Centre web site

I emerged above the building site and to the rear of the site. The slope had been protected by slope work and a large steel wire netted fence had been erected to catch any rock-fall. 

My route from the hospital to the back of the building site 

I spent some time going along the lower slope expecting to find the bunkers but soon realised the only way to see them was to get into the building site. I entered the site at the rear and made my way past the swimming pool, which was under construction and followed the northern perimeter of the building site where I found the string of WW2 bunkers. 

Splinter-proof shelter

The same shelter looking west towards the rear of the site 

The long bunker looking east towards the entrance to the site 

Entrance portals at the long bunker 

The long bunker looking west towards the rear of the site

Entrance to one of the splinter-proof shelters

Standard design splinter-proof shelter at the site. 

Set of two splinter-proofs 

Since I was in a building site without permission - I took photographs hurriedly and walked out the main entrance of the site. Nobody questioned me and it was preferable to walk out the main entrance than retrace my path up the hill to the Po Leung Kuk hospital facility. After I posted my photos on FB Battle of Hong Kong site a number of other photos were posted showing the Tai Wai bunkers in better condition, and including some internal photos of the bunkers taken before the area became a building site. The long bunker had two or three portals but no apertures. The splinter-proof shelters had apertures that had been bricked up. 

Rob Weir, who specialises in Hong Kong's WW2 fixed defences,  informed me that the site was used at one time during the 1960s/1970s as a Riding School. Victor Li advised me that before and during the war the site was known as the Kai Kee Farm.

Damaged map showing four sets of splinter proofs and the long bunker (Courtesy: Victor Li)

The map extract above shows the former Shatin Riding School, and the set of four splinter proofs (labelled Bunker No. 2), and the long bunker (labelled Bunker No. 1). Sometime after I published the first edition of this blog I was contacted by Geoffrey Lam whose grandfather ran the Shatin Riding School in the period from the 1960s  until the 1990s. Geoffrey described it as an orchard and riding school. He sent me family snaps showing the swimming pool with the bunkers in the background and a black-white showing the whole site of the riding school adjacent to Tai Po Road.

The Shatin Riding School (courtesy of Geoffry Lam)

The illustration of the site below, looking south, is taken from the online marketing brochure for the development.

The Met.Acapella

The red line, marked on the photo above, shows the approximate line of bunkers. The major concern of history enthusiasts is that the bunkers, which are already overgrown and dilapidated, are likely to be further damaged due to the proximity of a major construction site. The only way to see the bunkers now is from the building site. When the building is completed there is concern about public accessibility. I suspect these bunkers will be very inaccessible and neglected in future. Colin Blackwell posted a copy of the Summary of the Land Grant which requires the developer not to damage the military structures.

   There is still a question mark as to who used these bunkers. Was it the site of the Forward Artillery, was it Advanced Bn HQ for 2/14 Punjab Rgt, or was it HQ for 'D' Coy 2/14th Punjab Regt, or a combination of the three. To many people, and perhaps to some of the future residents of the Met.Acapella, these are just unsightly ruins, but to an increasing number of people, these are seen as a precious link to our wartime history and the defence of Hong Kong in December 1941. They are historic buildings and they deserve to be better cared for.


Addendum:

Sometime after writing this post I heard about another military bunker on Tai Po road still extant but converted into a two-storey dwelling presumably by squatters. The location is at Luk Hop Village (see photo below) opposite the bus stop. When I visited there was nobody around, but there were some mean looking dogs that prevented me from taking a closer investigation. There is at least one WW2 type splinter-proof shelter evident but there may have been a cluster of two or more. If a single shelter - it could have been a Platoon HQ or Coy HQ for 2/14 Punjabs. If it is a cluster of two or more then possibly 'D' Coy HQ or battalion HQ.

A splinter-proof shelter with a storey added on top

The bus stop opposite the splinter-proof

Continuing along Tai Po Road towards Lai Chi Lok. I came across a simi-circular array of WW2 type splinter-proof structures. These were being used as (light) explosives storage by the HK Government.  The structures were fenced off and guarded and I was unable to get a close look. A notice board showed that the facility was operated by Mines Dept.

I posted the photos on FaceBook community for Battle of Hong Kong. Guy Bridges responded:

That is Kowloon Explosives Depot, operated by Mines Division of the CEDD. I believe it was a former military magazine dating back well before WWII. Currently used to store small quantities of pyrotechnics for the film industry, and emergency storage of confiscated explosives.

If these were constructed pre-war - could they have been the Bn HQ for 2/14 Punjabs? Clive Franks posted a message as below:

As well as eight storage bunkers, there is an administrative building. The complex was originally built by the British military in the mid 1930's for storage of a variety of explosives. It was handed over post WW2 for civilian use for storage of industrial explosives. More recently used for storage of professional fireworks and pyrotechnics.

Some others stated that the magazines were post-war. The wartime map shown below shows the first and second positions of Bn HQ 2/RS,  but more interestingly appears to show 2/14 Punjab Bn HQ at the 6 1/2 MS  at about the location of the bunkers at Luk Hop Village. It is a continuing mystery as to who occupied the Tai Wai Bunkers, the Luk Hop Village bunkers and the government magazines assuming that the latter was a pre-war construction.

West Flank - GDL  

6 1/2 Milestone 

I am inclined, for the time being, to think that the Tai Wai bunkers were RA Mainland Forward HQ and that the bunkers at Luk Hop Village were 2/14 Punjab  Bn HQ and that the Govt Magazines were post war structures and did not exist in 1941.

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Acknowledgements:

Colin Blackwell
Kei Fu
Kwong, Chi Man
Geoffrey Lam
Victor Li

Group Captain Thomas Horry Commanding Officer RAF Kai Tak

Thomas Stanley Thorpe Horry was born in Boston, Lincolnshire on 21 May 1898. He was the Commanding Officer of the RAF station at Kai Tak before the start of the Battle for Hong Kong. At about this time, he was given a new assignment with RAF, Singapore and left Hong Kong on the ill-fated SS Ulysses, bound for Singapore by way of Manila. He handed over command of the RAF station in Hong Kong to Wing Commander Humphrey ('Ginger') Sullivan. He had a farewell function on Saturday and left for Singapore on Sunday 7 December. The next day Japan attacked Hong Kong, Malaya, Philippines and the US Fleet at Pearl Harbour and the Pacific War began.

Wing Commander Horry - third from right - Hong Kong 1941 (Source: IWM)

There is a reference to Horry in Major Munro's private papers held at the Imperial War Museum. John Monro was Brigade Major, Royal Artillery, based at the military HQ known as China Command or referred to as the Battle Box. On Saturday 6 December, Monro had gone to Kai Tak for a flying lesson. His instructor was Pilot Officer N.L. Baugh, RAF.

I thought it went rather well and was very disappointed with Baugh for not letting me go solo. After it got dark we went into the bar and met some of the CNAC pilots. They had about a dozen planes leaving for Nam Yeung that night. The first two Douglasses went off at about 7:15 and were expected back shortly after 9 pm. Baugh and I intended going out together to dine. First of all we went up to his mess for a wash. When we got there we found there was a flap in progress. A message had just been received from RAF Singapore putting them on a No. 1 state of readiness. "Horrid" Horry rang up Newman [GSO-1 at China Command] to find out if he had heard any further news, but was told that headquarters far from having had any fresh cause of alarm, were thinking of relaxing their precautions. There was an air of expectancy and excitement in the mess where I stayed to dinner as Baugh was now confined to barracks. As I went home after dinner everything seemed quiet and normal. There were the usual Saturday night crowds in the main streets and on the ferries. Hong Kong was illuminated as usual. This morning  [Sunday 7th December] when I went to the office, I found the situation had worsened. I don't really believe that anyone thinks that it will come to anything. We have had so many flaps and lived in a state of tension for so long that we have become blasé. We live only for the day when the rather annoying precautions that interfere with our private amusements are once more considered unnecessary. (IWM Doc. 17941)

Group Captain Horry was probably not sorry to be leaving Hong Kong. The RAF station only possessed five aircraft all of which were obsolete and were no match for Japanese aircraft. The RAF station consisted of seven officers and sixty men. Another RAF officer, a Japanese linguist, Alf Bennett, was based at HQ China Command located in the Battle Box. There had been plans for a squadron of Buffalo Brewsters to be sent from Singapore to augment the three RAF Vildebeests and two Walrus amphibians.  An officer had been sent from Singapore to help establish the fighter control room in preparation for this reinforcement. Most of the RAF aircraft and several civil aircraft were destroyed during the first air raids on the first day of the battle. The RAF aircraft played no part in the fighting, they never got off the ground and their loss made no difference to the outcome of the battle. 

   On the first day out of Hong Kong, whilst Ulysses was on passage to Manila, Captain James Russell heard on the ship's radio that war had begun, and that Manila was already under attack. He ordered the ship to turn south and head for Singapore. She was spotted by Japanese aircraft and bombed and strafed on two different occasions. The ship reached Singapore and sailed on to Australia and then through the Panama Canal and was later sunk by a U-Boat off the coast of South Carolina. I have always assumed that Group Captain Horry disembarked at Singapore to take up his new assignment. I have not been able to discover what that assignment was, or what became of him during the battle. It is not clear whether he became a POW after the Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 or whether he was able to get out of Singapore with other RAF personnel and aircraft to the Dutch East Indies. See further elaboration on this in the concluding paragraph below.

   In conducting research and trying to find out more about him I discovered that Thomas Horry had fought in WW1, and that in 1917, aged nineteen, he had obtained the Aviators Certificate issued by the Royal Aero Club, a prerequisite for Army Officers, or others, wanting to join the Royal Flying Corps. Further research confirmed that he had been an 'Ace' and that he had been accredited with eight 'kills' in the last month of WW1. 

Fl Lt Thomas Horry 1917

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1919. The citation reads:

An officer of exceptional courage and daring. In the face of driving rain and low clouds, he led his patrol into enemy territory in order to engage enemy troops and transport that were retiring. Reaching his objective he attacked the enemy with  vigour, causing heavy casualties. He has in all destroyed three enemy aircraft and driven down another, out of control, and has, in addition, taken a leading part in the destruction of six others.

He remained in the  Royal Air Force, the successor to the Royal Flying Corps, and was awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC) in 1928. But what of his personal life? I was not able to find out much except that he married at the age of thirty-seven to Lola Erben, aged thirty-four, in March 1936. It was her second marriage and as far as I could see there were no children from either marriage. Horry died at the early age of sixty-one in 1960. Lola lived on until 1991 when she passed away in Victoria, Australia aged ninety, thirty years after her husband had died. A man who had fought in two world wars, a WW1 Ace, the holder of the DFC and the AFC, who had served in Hong Kong on the eve of battle and in the defence of Singapore during the battle.

The mystery referred to above is that we don't know what happened to Horry after leaving Hong Kong. Did he get off the Ulysses when it docked at Singapore. I would think so because he had his orders but there is a possibility that for whatever reason (for example orders rescinded or changed) he stayed aboard and continued to Australia ........... but I think this is unlikely. I had always previously assumed that he had disembarked at Singapore, taken up his new role, and been captured and interned as a POW. However this may not be the case. I am grateful to Ken Hornett for getting in touch with me and sharing some of his research. He found no record of Horry being a POW in Singapore and found a retirement notice for him posted in the London Gazette in November 1944. Horry must have been in the UK in 1944 and of ofcourse Singapore was not liberated until August/September 1945. My theory is that he left Singapore during the battle with evacuating RAF personnel and aircraft bound for Sumatra and later Java in the Dutch East Indies. From there he must have somehow managed to reach Australia or Ceylon before returning to the UK. Of course this is conjecture but it seems a plausible explanation. Ken Hornett advised that Horry and his wife Lola took passage on SS Corfu to Singapore in 1938, then continuing to Hong Kong to take up command of the RAF station at Kai Tak. It is likely that Lola would have been evacuated to Australia in July 1940 under the requirement of the Compulsory Evacuation order for British women and children in Hong Kong but there is no record of this. It is possible she left earlier at her own expense. She was not in Hong Kong during the battle in December 1941.  Tony Banham discovered that Lola remarried in Australia after Thomas Horry died.

The answers must be out there somewhere and as usual I would be grateful for any further information from readers as to what befell Thomas and Lola Horry, before,  during and after the Battle for Singapore and how he returned to UK after leaving Hong Kong on one of the last ships out.

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Addendum: 

Horry had a brother William Horry (1895-1939) and a sister, Norah Horry (dates unknown) married George Holland from Boston Lincolnshire in November 1915. Thomas and William Horry both boarded at Caistor Grammar School in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. It is likely that before this they attended De Aston School also in Market Rasen. Thomas Horry married Lola Erban in March 1936  in Kensington, London. Her first husband was Leonard John Pomeray Tremlett who died in 1938. Thomas Horry died in Harrogate, Yorkshire in 1960. Lola was still living in Harrogate in 1961 but may have moved to Australia after her husband's death. She died in Victoria, Australia in 1991.

RAF Officer Cadre in Hong Kong

Commanding Officer:

Group Captain Thomas Horry (until 7/12/41)

Wing Commander Humphrey ('Ginger') Sullivan (assumed command 7/12/41)

HQ China Command (Intelligence Section):
Wing Commander Hubert Thomas ('Alf') Bennett

Pilots:

Squadron Leader Donald Hill

Flt. Lt Hector Bertram ('Dolly') Gray

Flying Officer Norman Lee ('Whimpey') Baugh
Pilot Officer   ('Junior') Crossley

Adjutant:
Pilot Officer Fred ('Horse' or 'Colonel') Thomson

Special Duty - sent from Singapore to help set up fighter operations room:

Pilot Officer Francis Peter Hennessy

Acknowledgements:

Tony Banham

Ken Hornett

Major John Johnstone ("JJ") Paterson

JJ Paterson was born in 1886 at St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the oldest son of William Paterson (1844-1914), a partner in the trading company Jardine Matheson, which had commenced business on the China Coast in 1832 and later became known as the "Princely Hong." Hong being the name given to the large trading companies operating out of Canton and later Hong Kong. William Paterson was a descendant of William Jardine's sister Jean. William Paterson passed away in 1914. His son, JJ Paterson, served in the County of London (Westminster Dragoons), a Territorial Army unit, and in the Camel Corps during WW1. He had marched into Baghdad with General Allenby, had been promoted from Sergeant to Lt, and had been Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) six times.  After completing his military service, JJ joined Jardines in 1919. He married in 1926, aged thirty-nine, to Marjorie Hyland, aged twenty-nine, an American lady from California. The marriage took place in Jiangsu, China. 

By the early 1930's he had risen to become Managing Director, or Taipan, of Jardine Matheson. He was Chairman of Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation on three occasions between 1932 and 1941.  Throughout the 1930s he served as Member of the Legislative Council (LEGCO), and from 1936, as a Member of the Executive Council (EXCO). 

JJ Paterson (Source: Wikipedia and "The Thistle and the Jade"

He had a large bungalow in Fan Ling from where he could enjoy his passion for shooting and for playing golf. On weekends he would host house parties. Emily Hahn, writing in China to Me (1944) describes one such house party. 

"Charles (Boxer) and I went out for a weekend to J.J. Paterson's place at Fan Ling. ... JJ is a famous taipan who had been in China all his life, and who preferred to live miles from town. ... He is a large red-faced man with a sense of humour well above the average. Once in a while, when his chosen mode of living all alone palled on him, he sent out invitations to everyone he liked, and had a real bang-up party."

In 1941, aged fifty-five, he commanded a special guard unit of the HKVDC whose war station was to defend the Hong Kong Electric power station at North Point. The unit was known as the Hughes Group or the Hughesliers after their founder A. W. Hughes. The unit recruited predominantly from members of the British business community who were over the combatant age limit of fifty-five. Many of them had seen service in WW1 and in the Boer War. The oldest of this unit to be killed was Private Sir Edward De Voeux who was killed in action aged seventy-seven. The defenders from the Hughes Group, together with a handful of Rajputs and the survivors of a mobile platoon from 1/Mx fought off units from two battalions of Japanese infantry that had landed in the North Point area on Thursday night 18th December. The garrison had been subjected to aerial bombing and point-blank artillery fire, but held out until the afternoon of Friday 19th December 1941. JJ was held initially in North Point Camp and then Argyle Street Camp and later Sham Shui Po Camp. He survived the brutal incarceration, and after the war, in 1947, he retired to Kenya. He passed away in Nairobi in 1971, and his wife Marjorie passed away the following year. He received an MiD for his actions at North Point. His seventh MiD.

Colonel Shoji commanding 230th Infantry Regiment landed to the east of North Point. His troops picketed the power station and moved inland establishing an HQ at what Shoji described as a large lake, but which was, in fact, Braemar Reservoir. The site is now occupied by Braemar Hill Mansions and is close to the Chinese International School. From here, during the early hours of Friday 19th,  Shoji's two battalions set out along Sir Cecil's Ride for Wong Nai Chung Gap ......and a date with destiny.

North Point (with Braemar Reservoir top right) 

Artillery fire directed at the HKE power station at point blank range

The HKE power station at North Point.

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Lt-Col Eustace Levett, Chief Signals Officer - China Command

Eustace Oliver Levett was born 6 June 1893 near Thetford in Norfolk. His family later moved to Sussex. He joined the Territorial Army at the age of seventeen in 1910. In 1913, he transferred to the Regular Army serving as a Private with the Army Ordnance Corps (AOC). On the outbreak of WW1 he was posted to France. He transferred from AOC to the infantry serving with the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards. In 1917, he was selected to undertake officer training. After having been commissioned as a subaltern, he was posted to the Royal Sussex Regiment, and returned to the Western Front. He was taken prisoner in March 1918, and was incarcerated until the Armistice in November 1918. He remained in the Army after WW1 serving with the British Army of Occupation on the Rhine. He transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals (RCS) when it was established in 1920. The Royal Corps of Signals can trace its origins back to 1870 when a Telegraph Troop, known as 'C' Troop, was formed as part of the Royal Engineers. They were responsible for communications by telegraph, visual signalling and despatch riding, initially by horse and later by motorcycle.

Dispatch Rider

Laying field telephone cable

 Field Telephone Exchange from No. 1 Coy HKVDC HQ at Taitam Bungalow
(Courtesy: Dave Willott)

Levett served in India from 1924 until 1929, after which he returned to Britain.  He was posted to Hong Kong in 1937, and in 1940 he was promoted to Chief Signals Officer, China Command. In this capacity, during the fighting in December 1941, he served with Major-General Maltby and other General Staff Officers (GSOs) in the deep underground bunker that was known as the battle box.

He married twice. Firstly, in 1919, to Bertha Winifred Lockwood (1894-1962) who predeceased him, and secondly in 1966, to Hilda Mona Worthington Newton (1903-1994). Eustace and Bertha had two sons one born in 1926, and the other born in 1935. Bertha and her youngest son, six-year-old John Kay Levett, were evacuated from Hong Kong to Australia in July 1940.

Levett was awarded the OBE (Military) in 1945. He retired from the Army in 1946, aged 53, after thirty years service. He had served in both world wars and had been a prisoner of war in each. After retiring from military service he then became a Bursar at a school in Eastbourne. He retired aged 65 in 1958. He passed away, aged 79,  in Eastbourne in 1972. He was recommended for the OBE by Major-General Maltby. Whose citation was as follows:

"Outstanding ability in organising and controlling the Royal Corps of Signals during a very tense period. Damage caused by enemy shell fire, mortars and air bombardment was severe and incessant yet repairs were always carried out and no call made on the Corps was ever disregarded or unaccomplished. He was always cool, cheerful and prepared to undertake  at short notice any demand upon him. His personal example was an inspiration to his whole Corps."

His private war diary, and a type-written memoir, is held at the Imperial War Museum in London. The personal diary was compiled whilst he was a POW in Sham Shui Po and Argyle Street Camps. The cover is made from a khaki drill (KD) shirt. The diary and memoir were given, after his death, to his former comrade in arms, Lt-Col Montague Truscott, RCS, by his widow Mrs Hilda Mona Levett. The Truscott family must have passed it to the Imperial War Museum. The diary has a hand-drawn emblem of the symbol for Yin and Yang. Underneath the symbol he has written the following lines:

"And when the great scorer comes

To mark against your name

He cares not whether you won or lost

But how you played the game."

I viewed the official war diary at the Royal Signals Museum in Blandford Camp, Dorset.  I got the impression that Lt-Col  Levett was a popular officer, a sympathetic man who cared for his men and demonstrated strong leadership.

At the outbreak of war on 8th December 1941, the Royal Corps of Signals were comprised of 6 officers, 175 Other Ranks (ORs), augmented by 33 Canadian Signallers and 15 Volunteers and 96 civilian linesmen.


Chief Signals Officer:                   Lt-Col Eustace Levett

Hong Kong Signals Company

O.C. Company:                             Major Leonard Hayes
No. 1 Operating Section:              Lt Cyril Bucke
No. 2 Maintenance Section:         Lt Harry Spong
No. 3 Infantry Brigade Section:   Lt Charles Brown
No. 4 Section:                               Sgt. George Somerville
Area Signals Officer:                    Captain Peter Gracey


Total:       6  Officers, 175 ORs, and 96 civilian employees.
   

Kowloon Infantry Brigade Signals Section

OC Section:                                   Captain George Billings


Total:        1 Officer and 32 ORs (Canadian Signals)


Fortress Signals Coy - HKVDC

OC Company:                                 Major John Sherry
2 i/c                                                 Captain Walter Clark

Total:         2 Officers, 26 ORs

The Royal Corps of Signals had a very high casualty rate with more than 97 men either killed in action or died of wounds or died during incarceration.  A 54% death rate. The Canadian detachment lost 9 killed out of 33 All Ranks. A 27% death rate. The HKVDC (Signals Section) lost 6 men killed (a 21% death rate). The Hong Kong Signals Coy lost 50 men killed in the sinking of the Lisbon Maru.

Communications is the lifeblood in battle, without effective communications there is only chaos, confusion, and individual actions by units. Although there were some wireless communications, most communication was by telephone with cables usually laid in a ditch or a shallow trench. In battle conditions, the cable would be laid along the ground. The telephone cable was easily broken by artillery, mortar and aerial bombing. When this happened linesmen were sent out to repair the cables which often had to be done under fire. Without telephone-communications commanders had to revert to runners and dispatch riders, who were often killed before they could deliver a message.

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Pillbox 315 - Gin Drinkers Line

Armed with directions from two FaceBook (FB) friends, Jeff Li and Alexander MacDonald, who are both military history enthusiasts, I set out to find and visit PB 315. The pillbox is situated on a knoll overlooking the Byewash Reservoir and close to the dilapidated ruin of an old colonial house.

1938 Revised Map showing PB 315 & PB 314

The Colonial House

The colonial house looks like a 1930's era building, it is situated beside Tai Po Road below Piper's Hill. It was once used as a family home for senior engineers or senior managers of the Water Supplies Dept, I think referred to at that time, in this area,  as Kowloon Water Works. The main reservoirs were built between 1910 (Kowloon Reservoir), 1931 (Byewash Reservoir) and 1937 (Shing Mun Reservoir). It was apparently occupied until 1970s/1980s. I have seen reference to the house at one stage being occupied by HK Police (Special Branch), but the decor inside is more consistent with family use. There is an outhouse which includes a garage and servants quarters.  

The front entrance  

Side view

The back door was open so I took a look inside. There was parquet flooring, a fireplace, and bathrooms with a 1970s style decor. The hill on which the house is built is sometimes referred to as Monkey Hill. This is an appropriate name because the whole area is home to a large numbers of monkeys, and no doubt they would have been a nuisance to the occupants.

Reception room 

The Pillbox (PB 315)

To reach the PB one has to proceed past the house, and up a path through what must have been the back garden to a knoll where the PB is located overlooking the reservoir below. The PB is approached by a concrete trench which leads to the entrance of a concrete tunnel or passageway which leads into the three-loophole pillbox with two gun compartments. 

 Pillbox 315

The concrete trench leading to the tunnel

One of the gun compartments and machine gun loophole

Passageway with storage compartments and a space for a water tank

Historian Rusty Tsoi advised that the tilted wall in the photograph above may be connected to use of a gas curtain. Rob Weir who is an expert on WW2 Fixed Defences in Hong Kong confirmed that he had long suspected that the PBs on the Mainland had gas curtains. I have also seen reference too gas curtains being used in ARP tunnels.

There are Japanese characters scratched on to the wall of the passageway. Rusty advised that they translate as follows. 

"Captured by xxx squad, 8927 Butai (38 Mountain Gun Battery), 38 Div"

(xxx means unidentifiable)

"Those from Aichi county, good luck on your fightings"

It is not clear who manned this PB, but probably it was2nd Bn Royal Scots ( 2/RS),  as it was near to their Battalion HQ at Filter Beds House. The Bn HQ occupied this position (Filter Beds) after withdrawing from a more forward position, at 6th milestone on Castle Peak Road, on Wednesday 10th December 1941, following the loss of the Shing Mun Redoubt on the night of 9th/10th December. There is no evidence off fighting in this vicinity and no battle damage to the PB. The area to the north was held by 'D' Coy 5/7 Rajput Regt, commanded by Captain  Newton. This Coy were in action on 10th and 11th December. The area to the northeast was held by 'D' Coy 2/14 Punjab Regt, commanded by Captain David Mathers. This Coy was in action on 11th Dec. On Thursday 11th December, two companies ('B' and 'C' Coy) from 2/RS were heavily engaged and both Coy commanders were killed in action. At some stage during the morning these two companies withdrew down Castle Peak Road, as far as the World Pencil Factory, at Lai Chi Kok. Although the resultant gap was plugged to some extent, the weakness exposed on the left flank of the Royal Scots sector,  led to a decision to accelerate the evacuation of the Mainland. The Royal Scots were ordered to break off at dusk and were evacuated to the Island from Kowloon City and the Vehicular Ferry at Yau Ma Tei. The crew of PB 315 would have withdrawn that afternoon/evening. The Japanese Artillery Regiment that captured the position,  probably on 12th December,  would have done so unopposed. 

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Herbert Howell Beddow - killed at Leighton Hill in Hong Kong in December 1941

I first saw his name mentioned in the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment War Diary, referring to his death at Leighton Hill

"At about 1430 (16 December 1941) the whole of Leighton Hill was subjected to a very heavy bombardment by high velocity guns which succeeded in setting light to one block which burnt itself out completely, and every other house was hit, Bn HQ miraculously escaping with one casualty RSM Robert Challis. One civilian, a Mr Beddow was blown to bits." 

On top of Leighton Hill were four blocks of government buildings used to accommodate civil servants. To the south of Leighton Hill was Chinese Cemetery Ridge. The pre-war map below shows the four government blocks on Leighton Hill which overlooks Happy Valley Race Course. 

The photograph below shows Leighton Hill probably around 1919 before the building of the government blocks which were completed around 1921.

The photo below courtesy of Victor Li shows Happy Valley, Morrison Hill and Leighton Hill after the government apartment blocks had been built probably around 1922.

A view of Happy Valley, Morrison Hill and Leighton Hill (courtesy Victor Li)

So what was Herbert Beddow doing on Leighton Hill? Perhaps as a civil servant, he lived in one of the blocks but Leighton Hill had been taken over by the Army and the 1st Bn Mx had their battalion HQ positioned there. The Mx war diary describes him as being killed on 16 December although other sources, for example, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission indicate the date of death as 17 December. The Island was under heavy bombardment in the week between the military evacuation of Kowloon and the Japanese invasion of the Island on 18 December 1941. Was he assisting the military in some way, or did he live there, and, was he perhaps going to his apartment to collect personal effects. 

He first arrived in Hong Kong in August 1927. He appears on passenger manifests in 1932 and 1937 going on long leave to the UK. Government records show him as being a teacher employed by the Education Department. He had a BSc in Maths from the University of Wales. He had previously taught at the Central British School and King's College. By the time war broke out, he had joined the teaching staff at Queen's College, as Maths Master. At the time of his death, he was 43 years old having been born on 19 December 1898 in Llanelli, Wales. He does not appear to have ever been married. One reference suggested he was a member of HKVDC in the rank of BSM,  but he is not listed as such in 1941.

I can picture this, perhaps quiet and unassuming, Maths teacher  who was killed, as a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but what really surprised me when I did a little research is that it turned out he was a Fighter Pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1 and he saw service in 1917-1918 with No. 22 Squadron on the Western Front. He flew Bristol F2-B two-seater fighters, which were armed with a forward synchronised Vickers gun controlled by the Pilot, and a rear Lewis gun controlled by the Observer. What's more, it turned out he was an Ace and had been accredited with ten kills in the summer of 1918.

10 Kills

Bristol Fighter 

So not just the unassuming Maths teacher. Anybody who went up in those frail and flimsy fighters and engaged in aerial combat over the Western Front in WW1 - lacked nothing in terms of courage, and on top of that, he was an Ace with ten recorded kills............Never mind the square on the hypotenuse.

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Acknowledgements

Victor Li for sharing a photograph of Happy Valley showing first-generation buildings on Leighton Hill

Geoff Moore for finding an extract referring to Herbert Beddow in Gwen Stokes "Queen's College 1862-1962.

Massacre at Alexandra Hospital - British Military Hospital, Singapore (1942)

In a similar incident to that which occurred at St Stephen's College Temporary Hospital in Stanley, Hong Kong:  Japanese troops massacred a large number of patients and medical staff over a two day period from 14 to 15 February 1942. The hospital with a capacity for up to 1,000 patients was built in 1938 and opened in 1940. The new British Military Hospital was an upgrade to the previous main Military Hospital at Tanglin Barracks.

The Japanese were first seen approaching the hospital in the early afternoon on 14 February 1942. Ironically it was Valentines Day. The Japanese numbered approximately one hundred. The hospital was clearly marked with red crosses. The orderlies and medical staff had red cross brassards. A British RAMC officer went out to meet the approaching Japanese stating that it was a hospital. He was fired on by the approaching troops, but was able to get back inside the hospital unwounded. Soon after this the Japanese broke in and ran amok stabbing, beating and killing anybody in their path. As in Hong Kong, patients were bayoneted in their beds. It was an orgy of uncontrolled violence against wounded patients and non-combatant medical staff. At least fifty were killed and many more wounded. One patient was even killed on the operating table. The theatre staff who had surrendered with their hands held above their heads were butchered with bayonets.

A number of patients and orderlies were led out to the lawn, they were tied up and marched to some nearby out-houses. Those that could not march because of their wounds, were cut loose and killed. The rest were crammed into small rooms and given no food or water. There was no sanitation and no ventilation. Several died during the night. The next day the Japanese soldiers brought them out in small groups on the pretext of their being allowed to collect water, but instead, the Japanese systematically bayoneted them to death. Another one hundred patients and medical orderlies were killed in this gruesome way. Later that day on 15 February Singapore surrendered. 

British Military Hospital - Singapore

Some survived the killing by feigning death, others were simply lucky that their wounds were not fatal, and they lived to tell the tale. I watched a televised interview with one of the survivors, he like many of those that survived, even years later, never forgave the Japanese for such barbarous, inhumane and appalling acts of violence. It's a different world now but we should not forget what happened.

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