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however, that its influence would be wholly against the defence-in fogs as at night, men who know the ground will be less hampered by the dim light than strangers, and in no case can the fog be put forward as a reason for frittering the defence into patches and groups, but rather serves as an argument for keeping com- panies as intact as possible. If fogs envelope the positions of the defence its formed bodies and outposts must descend below their normal positions.
As for an enemy's ships approaching without being observed from the high ground on account of fog, there is no spot on the Island whence an observer commands all the sea approaches, and when the usual points of observation are in the mist the approach of ships would be telegraphed from D'Aguilar, and made known by scouts thrown out to Wong-nei-Kot from the Stanley Telephone Office. Our scouts on Mount Davies would telephone ships coming from the west.
The power of the garrison to concentrate on the threatened point and to act on interior lines would be greatly increased if a road were made from Wanchai to Wong-nei-Cheong gaps on the south side of Mounts Cameron and Nicholson, which interpose their great bulk between these two passes. This point had been brought forward in many letters by the General Officer Commanding.
The necessity of guarding the dam at the Tytam Reservoir compels the garrison to throw a strong detachment in advance of the main position.
As for Kowloon, a tangled network of rotten granite hills (200 to 410 feet high) scarped by quarries, and scored by crevasses and gullies, occupies all but the southern point of the Kowloon Peninsula, and affords no position with a clear field of fire to the front. Our territory is dominated by a chain of hills some 1,800 feet high, running east and west at a distance of about 1,500 yards from the boundary line.
The harbour entrances are protected by batteries and submarine mines; that on the east by the batteries of Lyemun, submarine mines, and last and not least, by the Brennan torpedo, with the batteries of North Point and Eastern Kowloon in second line. The wider western entrance is protected by the Belcher group of batteries, by those on Stonecutters' Island, and by three mine fields, and in second line by West Kowloon and Victoria Batteries. These are mentioned in detail hereafter.
At Hong Kong, as elsewhere, the civil population is a factor affecting the defence. The present non-military population amounts to 239,700, mostly Chinese, and former reports have assumed that half of the population would leave on the outbreak of hostilities. The question of their food is discussed hereafter.
Probable Objects of Attack.
Apart from an attempt to damage the prestige of the Empire, or to capture the place as a base for future operations, by a surprise by one or more cruisers steaming boldly in before the declaration of war, the objects of attack may be held to be the destruction of :-
I. The docks and naval and military arsenals.
II. The shipping in harbour.
III. The coal stores.
IV. The magazines.
V. The Brennan Torpedo Installation.
VI. The water supply.
The telegraph cables may be omitted, for it would be less risk to an enemy to cut them at sea than on the shore-line.
The naval establishments, docks (except those at Aberdeen), and coal stores, being within the harbour, no special precautions are necessary for their defence, and the dock at Aberdeen, in common with the others, will be protected against torpedo-boat attack by means of nets, &c.
All the magazines are reasonably safe so long as no enemy's ships are in the harbour and no guns mounted with hostile intent on Chinese Kowloon. The Colonial make-shift powder magazine on Stonecutters' Island is a source of danger, but plans are now approved for building a proper magazine on the east corner of the island.
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