[ { "id": 215870, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 169, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "102\n\ncleared vegetation and debris from the dugout. The project, “The repaving of the walking trail leading to Pau Toi San,” commenced on January 28, 2002, and was completed on May 17 of the same year. The total cost was HK$560,000.* Most unfortunately, such a recent repaving endeavour completely destroyed the old military path that linked the Gough Battery and the 196m site by widening and resurfacing the old path with cement. The repaving work also removed the original stone retaining walls that were used to stabilise part of the slopes along the path. To reach Gough Battery today on foot, one may follow what is now designated Section 3 of the Lord Wilson Trail from an access road to the Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery. Before upgrading in connection with the development of the cemetery, this access road was part of the old Anderson Road, the only metalled road in East Kowloon until the urbanisation of the area. The Pottinger Battery is located below a platform formed during the period 1973 to 1978 below the access road to the cemetery.\n\nThis note shall confine itself to the first and third sites, as the other two sites merit further archive and on-site research. The major survey findings of these two sites are presented here in the form of two measured drawings (Figures 3 and 4, reproduced with dimensions omitted).\n\nIt should be noted that better information on the physical forms of the sites and the military structures exists beyond that found in the existing literature or public documents locally deposited in the Public Records Office and the survey plans and aerial photographs produced or possessed by Lands Department.\n\nGeneral history of the military sites on Devil's Peak\n\nA chronology of events relating to the Devil's Peak is provided in Appendix 1. As early as 1899, the idea of developing three batteries on Devil's Peak at three levels was expressed in military drawings. The highest site, 'Battery for 6-inch', eventually became Devil's Peak Redoubt, whereas the middle, 'Battery for 9.2-inch,' and the lowest site became Gough Battery and Pottinger Battery, respectively.\n\nAccording to Rollo (1992), the Gough Battery, like the Pottinger Battery, had been proposed by the British Committee on Armament on", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215879, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 178, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "111\n\n(a) a satellite pentagonal pillbox (shown in a government 1:600 survey plan of 1963 but not in any 1:1000 plan); and\n\n(b) the inscription “REN 30th Coy 1914\", first reported by Dr. Solomon Bard.\n\nFrom old aerial photos and survey plan, an earth mound that looks like a double circular earth gun revetment for a heavy 75mm or 105mm AA gun (United States War Department 1944: pp. 110-116) could be found along the watershed to the northwest of the redoubt. It was to the southeast of the ruins of a bunker, which has been incorporated into the Chinese Permanent Cemetery. This revetment-like earth structure was destroyed when the Cemetery was built. The revetment was huge and was almost as large as the 9.2 gun emplacement in Gough Battery. The slopes below the redoubt have several tunnels, probably also of Japanese occupation origin. One is found above the steps of the Lord Wilson Trail leading to the Chinese Cemetery and another near the ruins of a bunker below the northern rock face of Devil's Peak. We leave the nature of the circular earth mound and the tunnels to experts on military engineering.\n\nThe 196m site\n\nFurther down the ridge, at 196m above the mean Principal Datum (mPD), lies the '196m site.' The site is connected with the redoubt by a firing trench built of stones, which is full of dense undergrowth.\n\nThis levelled site is small in size with the ruins of a concrete structure (approximately 40 square metres on plan) that is believed to be an observation post or machine gun emplacement that covers both the redoubt and Gough Battery. Only lower parts of some of the wall structures have remained on site. But apparently, there is no immediate danger to visitors. An area bigger than the 196m site itself uphill has been formed and developed into a plant nursery, probably by morning hikers. Such unauthorised site formation and planting work has not only created visual blight, but has also accelerated the soil erosion process by removing the top soil and the natural vegetation (Figure 6).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215881, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 180, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "113\n\nto be shown in government survey plans, were surveyed and shown in Figure 4:\n\n(a) a circular pill box (a British \"tett turret\" or a 1.3mm light Japanese AA gun position (United States War Department 1944: pp. 110-116) in the proper of the battery site [and there is another similar structure to the east of Lord Wilson Trail, to the north of (d) below];\n\n(b) two iron rings fixed to the ground of the battery site;\n\n(c) a pennant holder behind a rock of the battery site;\n\n(d) a pillbox built of stones on a rock to the east of Lord Wilson Trail, which is annotated as a rock outcrop in a 1964 1:600 government survey plan (Figure 7). The ruins of a two-storey communication centre can still be found to the southeast of Gough Battery; and\n\n(e) a number of foxholes dug into the slopes below the pillbox (and above the ruins of the communication centre referred to in (d) above) were exposed after a hill fire in autumn 2002. Like the tunnels found elsewhere in the area, it is possible that these foxholes were also constructed during the Japanese occupation. (Figure 8).\n\nRemarks\n\nThe key structures on Devil's Peak have a history of one century or nearly so, and are, by urban Hong Kong standards, extremely old. Wild vegetation has colonised large tracts of the sites since their abandonment by the military. The humid climate of Hong Kong has added to the weathering and erosion process that compromises the integrity of the ruins. Systematic removal of the roofs of disused military structures for internal security and squatter control purposes as well as scavenging have also contributed to the demise of the sites.\n\nHowever, it is careless and deliberate human action facilitated by the good system of footpaths left behind intact and upgraded from time to time that has ruined the sites the most. Littering, the careless filming gang fighting movies, and mosquitoes that breed in water containers used by unauthorised gardeners may be regarded as mere nuisances.\n\nof\n\nPage 180\n\nPage 181", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215904, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 203, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "December 2000\n\nMarch 2001\n\nJanuary to May 2002\n\nJune to July 2002\n\n8 November 2002\n\n14 January 2003\n\n24 January 2003\n\n25 January 2003\n\nPreliminary Feasibility Study on Tunnel Alignment Option of Tseung Kwan O: Western Coast Road Final Report Volume 1-Main Report December 2000 Agreement No. NTE1/2000.\n\nPreliminary Feasibility Study on Tunnel Alignment Option of Tseung Kwan O: Western Coast Road Final Report Volume 2-Drawings December 2000 Agreement No. NTE1/2000.\n\nPreliminary Feasibility Study on Tunnel Alignment Option of Tseung Kwan O: Western Coast Road Final Report Volume 3-Executive Summary March 2001 Agreement No. NTE1/2000.\n\nConstruction of concrete footpaths linking Lord Wilson Trail Gough Battery, 196m site and Devil's Peak Redoubt by Kwun Tong District Board completed: old military road from Gough Battery to 196m site replaced in the process. The project was called the \"repaving of walking trail leading to Pau Toi San,\" said to have commenced on 28 January, 2002 and completed on May 17 of the same year. The total cost was HK$560,000.\n\nLand survey and helicopter inspection of Devil's Peak by the authors, sponsored by a Lord Wilson Heritage Trust.\n\nVisit to both sites by authors with Mr. Tim Ko and a SCMP reporter.\n\nVisit to both sites by authors\n\nFilm show to HKBRAS at City Hall\n\nVisit to both sites by members of HKBRAS\n\nMeinhardt (C&C) Ltd (in association with Montgomery Watson (HK) Ltd; Jacobs Associations, USA and Environmental Management Ltd.) 2000a and 2000b\n\nMeinhardt (C&C) Ltd (in association with Montgomery Watson (HK) Ltd; \"Jacobs Associations, USA and Environmental Management Ltd.) 2001\n\nLetter ref. KTDO C4/28/7 dated June 13, 2002. See Kwun Tong District Office 1999; 2002\n\nI\n\nwww\n\n136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]