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THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
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00190
Ref.:
CO 537/1262
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
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6.
In view of the appointment of a Civil Governor and of the cnsoquent reduced str.tus of the local command in Hong Kong we consider that it will no longer be appropriato or necessary that this command should be directly responsible to the Chiefs of Staff for the defence of the Colony.
In our view the individual services in Hong Kong should be soparntoly rosponsible to their own linio trios in London. e cmsider that this responsibility to London should be exercised through C.-in-C. 3.P.F. ALESE and ...C.5.1...,
the last two neting in their British capacity. These three Commanders-in-Chief are already responsible for the minis tr. tive support of their respective forces in Hong Kong. Admirel Mountb.tten's administr:.tive responsibility na regards priority for the Army, R...F., and Civil Affairs would remain unaltered.
7. There are disadvantages in having a channel of responsibility passing through Commentlers-in-Chief who will not 11 he oasily accessible to cach other or to the Governor. In addition ..LFSE and ACSE in their British capacity will have rosponsibilities in Hong Kong not sharod by BACSEN. We feel that these disadvantages can beg nccepted as a short term arrangement pending the pencetimo organisation of command in the Far East.
Local Command Arrangements
8.
Admiral Inre urt strongly advocates that, following the return of the civil governor, r. Fortress Commander should be appointed to co-ordinate and control the requirements and activities of all three Services in Hon; Konj. He su pests that the present G.0.C. Land Forcos should perfona the duties of Fortress Commender,
9. Admiral Harcourt's arguments in favour of this arren; ́ement re s follows :-
10.
(a) The appointment of a single commander who con
speak on behalf of the three Services would bo an advantage in doaling with the Chinese, particul .rly in respect of the difficult aitu ti n resulting from the use of the port for the transhipment of Chinese Armies.
(b) The appointment of Fortress Commander would
cnabic responsibility to the Governor for all service personnel at present employel on civil dutics to be vested in a single military authority.
We appreciate the force of the arguments advanced by Amiral Hare urt but we consider that a s:tisfactory solution to the present military problems of Hong Kong could be chieved without the pointment of a loc l inter-service commander. Such an appointment would conflict with the chain of responsibility of the individuel services, and Liht lend to difficulties between the Fortress Commander and the C.-in-C. 3.P.F., to whom the Commodore Hong Kong must be primarily responsible.
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