My contribution to a small piece of Hong Kong's history - The Battle of Hong Kong

This is a photo of a Bren Gun Carrier under inspection by the Japanese Troops in Hong Kong, at the junction of Yee Wo Street 怡和街 & Patterson Street, right in the heart of Causeway Bay. The photo was taken on the Dec 24th, a day after the Fall of Hong Kong. There is an interesting story behind this photo......

 

My grandmother (passed away before I was born) told my dad that during the war she saw a British "tank" destroyed right in the middle of Yee Woo Street, at the junction of Patterson Street. She mentioned that 2 British soldiers in the "tank" running away after it was hit, and they were injured. Grandmother lived in a 3 stories 唐樓 building facing right at this junction. (Where this photo was taken, and today location is the Hang Seng Bank)

 

When I was young, my dad always mentioned this story to me. I always thought about this since then and tried to imagine the scene in my mind.. I was always determined to find out exactly what had happened. Finally in 2002, I came upon a web site about Fall of Hong Kong and contacted a war historian Mr. Tony Banham (who appeared in HKTV before) about this story. Since then we contacted each other on email a few times and investigated this mystery "tank" together ... we came upon a few assumptions, even the possibility of a Japanese Tank Type 95 on HK Island! (Of course the Japanese did not use tanks on HK Island) However, I strongly believe my grandmother was correct and most importantly she mentioned that the crew were British and they were hit by artillery.

 

My dad believed that the artillery came from Mount Parker 柏架山 or Mount Butler 畢拿山. According to the battle, the Japanese landed in North Point and then spreaded out to Wong Nap Chung Gap 黃泥涌峽 and Tai Tam Gap 大潭. (Refer to www.flickr.com/photos/acstudio/4051623875/in/photostream/ ) It is possible that the Japanese saw the "tank" from high ground in either Mount Parker or Mount Butler, and then hit it with artillery.

 

Years later I saw a photo in Museum of History in HK showing Japanese soliders with an artillery piece at high ground overlooking at urban areas, www.flickr.com/photos/acstudio/4057232264/ . I did an investigation where the photo was taken and found out the position could be somewhere along Yee King Road. The road is at the lower part of Mount Butler. Yee Woo Street can be quite easily be seen from that position. I also checked in Google Earth that Yee Woo street runs perpendicular to Mount Butler, so that I am not surprised that the street can be easily seen from the mountain.

 

Finally, Tony sent me a email and he said he contacted another historican Tim Ko. Tim not only confimed my grandmother's report, also provided the above photo! The so called "tank" was actually a Bren Gun Carrier (often called an 'armoured car' or a 'tank' locally, because the Chinese hardly see these kind of military hardware back in those days), and now known more correctly as a 'Universal Carrier'. The location appears to be at the junction of Patterson and Yee Wo, exactly as what my grandmother reported. Also note the crater in the foreground, created by artillery hit. That means my grandmother's report is 100% correct.

 

Now there is a story behind this photo, I am very proud to contribute to the small missing piece of Hong Kong's history. Most importantly, it is about my connection with my grandmother.. because I never meet her and I always tried to get back in time to see what she had experienced... like travelling in a time capsule.

 

Lastly, my dad was stunned to see the photo...! He did not believe that the event was captured in a photo! Just like me, he was born after the war and was told of this story from grandmother but never actually saw the actual event.

 

Tony said he will try to find out the identities of the two soliders, but have not heard from him since. The front line was at Percival Street 波斯富街 at the time, that is why it is a bit confusing why the two British was a bit far West from the line... but within 2 minutes walking distance anyway. My dad said that Sugar St. was the entrance of a Jardine's warehouse compound & perhaps they were guarding the entrance. I personally guess that the Bren Gun Carrier was used as reconnaissance to see where the Japanese were. Anyway, whatever the reasons really were...we know that it would be difficult to find out as the situation at the time was so chaotic & desperate for the British.

 

PS: One last piece of history related to this event > a mother and her children (totally 4) were watching the British in the 唐樓 building where my granmother lived, they were hiding in the 1st level 唐樓的騎樓... to avoid the crossfire. When the artillery striked the carrier, they were instantly killed (possibly by the shrapnel or explosion). Somehow the force was so powerful that it affected the 1st level 騎樓 where they were hiding. Since then the building was haunted (believe it or not.....).

 

Note: On 5th November 1967, another bloodshed happened at exact location of the crater. The 1967 Leftist Riots 六七暴動, my dad witnessed the death of Senior Inspector Ron McEwen, who was killed by a bomb. My dad was watching him from the balcony of his home when the bomb exploded. The force of the explosion bounced my dad off backwards and fell onto the balcony's floor. The inspector was killed instantly unfortunlately...

Done