RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 184 DAVID FAURE née Yau, of Mang Kung Uk is not untypical. She grew up in Tseng Lan Shue, was betrothed at 4 years old, but continued to live in her father's village. At 7 she helped to look after three cows, driving them up the hill early in the morning, returning at approximately 8.00 am or 9.00 am for breakfast, and going back to the hill to drive them home in the early afternoon. At 10, she began to help her mother to carry firewood into Kowloon, carrying approximately 30 catties on each trip. She married at 19, and worked under the supervision of her mother-in-law. Her husband was a seaman, and received only 8 dollars per month. Her mother-in-law looked after the children, and she cooked, farmed, raised pigs, cut firewood and grass, and carried water. She often had to rise at 4.00 in the morning and work till late at night.64 Up to the eve of World War II, daily life in Sai Kung did not change significantly from the description given in this chapter. This background is needed for an understanding of the impact of the War on Sai Kung's residents. THE WAR YEARS The coming of the Japanese It was 3.00 o'clock in the morning, December 10, 1941. Mr. Chung P'oon was awakened by loud banging on his door. Thinking that these might be bandits, he answered the door with knife in hand. He opened the door to find several guns pointing at him. The Japanese army had arrived at Wong Chuk Shan Village. For him and for the rest of the Sai Kung population, the occupation had begun.... Through an interpreter, the Japanese told him they wanted to be taken to Kowloon. Mr. Chung did not know it then, but we now know that two days earlier, the Japanese army had overrun Tai Po and Sha Tin, and the day before had taken what was known as the "Shingmun redoubt". British forces were withdrawing from the New Territories to Hong Kong Island, and a contingent of Sepoy soldiers were covering the retreat at Devil's Peak. The Japanese soldiers in Wong Chuk Shan had probably strayed into the village by mistake. They had come over from Shap Sz Heung, intending to find their way into Kowloon. Now, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 between 1935 and 1937 consisting of three 9.2 inch? 249 As part of a colony-wide reorganisation and modernisation programme of the armament, a new battery was constructed at Stanley with three 9.2 inch calibre Mark X guns mounted on Mark VII mountings. One of these guns came from the battery at Devil's Peak and the other two came from Mount Davis, as both of these batteries were being modernised. The gun shifts were difficult and complex operations as the guns were very heavy, the barrel and breech assembly weighing 28 tons. Everything was done by hand and the pieces, and all their mountings, were transported to Stanley by sea. The two lower guns (No. 2 & No.3) were situated on concrete emplacements now occupied by parabolic antennae dishes in the Cable and Wireless Ltd. Satellite Earth Station complex. These two guns could only fire out to sea and were later encased in concrete gunhouses or casemates by the Japanese who seemed to have kept them in service during the Occupation. The gun houses were demolished and the guns were cut up for scrap in 1952. The No. 1 9.2 inch gun mounted on top of "Gun Hill" was equipped with all-round traverse, that is, it was able to engage any target, for it was mounted on a circular platform which was rotated mechanically. It was this gun which bombarded the Japanese almost continually from the 14th to 24th December, 1941, firing at the rate of three rounds per half hour at targets as far away as Kowloon City. The shells weighed more than a hundredweight each. The gun was able to fire at this great range due to its mountings which gave a thirty-five degree angle of elevation. After the completion of the new Stanley Battery, two 6 inch naval guns were installed on the Bluff forming a second emergency battery known as Bluff Head Battery. These smaller guns had an effective range of 9,500 yards and also seem to have been equipped with all-round traversers as they could engage land and sea targets. These two batteries were reinforced in December 1941 by two 3.7 inch howitzers in a position in Stanley Village with an observation post in the Officers Mess, and an anti-aircraft battery at Tai Tam Tau. The Japanese reported that "long-range fortress artillery bombardments were extremely effective." Targets were engaged with clock code observation by the Infantry and also where possible by direct observation. In addition, many targets such as road junctions and bridges had been registered and carefully tabulated in the months leading up to the Japanese attack so that direct observation was not really necessary to know that the shells were on target. Japanese artillery set up at the captured ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 APPENDIX ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY ACTIVITIES FOR 2002/2003 Date 2002 April 12 May 3 June 7 June 7 June 14 August 10 September 20 October 4 October 18 November 23 November 29 December 6 2003 January 3 January 10 January 24 February 14 February 21 March 28 Lectures Dr Patrick H. Hase on Some Smaller Market Towns of the New Territories Dr Dan Waters & Fr Louis Ha on Hong Kong's Lighthouses and the Men who Manned Them Dr Ian Nish on Anglo-Japanese Relations in the Twentieth Century (Joint Lecture) Dr Lindsay Porter on The Pink Dolphins of Hong Kong. Jason Wordie on Streets; Exploring Hong Kong Island Dr Martin Palmer on Da Qin - An Imperial Christian Site of the Tang Dynasty (with a visit to the exhibition on this subject) Tim Ko on The Development of Cemeteries in Hong Kong; 1841-1941 Christopher Munn on People and Government in Early Colonial Hong Kong Dr Janet Lee Scott on Up in Smoke: Offerings for the Ancestors Stella Ma on Cha Duk Chang: The Appreciation of Chinese Opera William Lindesay on The Great Wall: Research and Impressions Valerie Garrett on Heaven is High, the Emperor Far Away: Merchants and Mandarins in Old Canton Dr Solomon Bard on Voices from the Past: Hong Kong 1842-1918 Dr Christina Miu Bing Cheng on Macau: The Farming of Friendship Dr Lawrence Lai & Dr Daniel Bo on Devil's Peak Ruins: A Glimpse of a British Stronghold Dr Elizabeth Sinn on Ultimate Return: Transhipment of Chinese Migrants' Bones to the Native Village and Hong Kong's Role in the Chinese Diaspora Anthony Lawrence on Hong Kong: Growing Old Dr Graeme Lang on The Return of the Refugee God: Wong Tai Sin in China XXXI ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 117 (HK) Ltd; Jacobs Associations, USA and Environmental Management Ltd., 2000b). Preliminary Feasibility Study on Tunnel Alignment Option of Tseung Kwan O: Western Coast Road Final Report Volume 2- Drawings December 2000 Agreement No. NTE1/2000. Hong Kong. Meinhardt (C&S) Ltd (in association with Montgomery Watson (HK) Ltd; Jacobs Associations, USA and Environmental Management Ltd., 2001). Preliminary 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. Hong Kong. Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Limited (1999). Reprovisioning Working Paper December 1999 in Study on Minimization of the Impacts of Western Coast Road on Lei Yue Mun Village (commissioned by the Territory Development Department) Hong Kong. Provisional Kwun Tong District Board (1998). Environmental Improvement Committee Paper No. 40/98. Hong Kong, Kwun Tong District Office. (Chinese documents) Territory Development Department (2002). Drawing No.: TKZ0314 dated 7 May 2002 in Further Development of Tseung Kwan O - Feasibility Study Appendix III. Hong Kong, NT East Development Office. Public records available at the Public Records Office, Tsui Ping Road, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong (a) On military sites Plan of Proposed Site for New Barracks: Devil's Peak. CO129/305. "Hong Kong, Survey of Devils Peak Shewing Proposed Site for Batteries &c. drawn to a scale of 1:1200 the sites of three batteries dated “13.5.99”, “surveyed by Lieut Bagnall Wild R E in Dec: 98.” (Hong Kong PRO control no. MM-0478) 'Devil's Peak - Hong Kong - Survey of Sites for Batteries' (Hong ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 indicated the establishment for the battery observation post (BOP), battery plotting room (BPR), and Eastern Fire Command. A total of 88 officers and soldiers were proposed. 30 December 1936 The 12 Heavy Battery dismantled the 9.2-inch gun at Gough Battery (The two 9.2-inch guns at Pottinger were left for the moment). 23 October 1937 1939/1940 Joint Overseas and Home Defence Committee considered re-fortification or de-militarisation of Hong Kong, assuming that it took 90 days for the fleet to relieve Hong Kong. Bokhara Battery constructed. 1940 The guns at Pottinger Battery removed. A Japanese military map shows the details of defence deployment at Devil's Peak. It states that for the Devil's Peak defence works, "underground passages have been altered and barbed wire added." 12 December 1941 During the early hours, the 5/7 Rajputs and 1 Mountain Battery took up positions at Devil's Peak. The six 3.7-inch howitzers of the 1st Mtn Bty fired 400 rounds at the advancing Japanese, who were at Black Hill. The 5th Anti Aircraft Regiment also moved to Devil's Peak with 6 Lewis Guns At 1800 hours, the garrison received orders to withdraw to Hong Kong Island. The evacuation took place the next morning. Rollo, 1992, p.119 2 Rollo, 1992, p.113 Rollo, 1992, p.120, p.201 Empson, 1992, p.146 (Plate 2-12) The arcs of fire of Devil's Peak's batteries can be found in Rollo, 1992, at p.123 Rollo, 1992, p.130, p.171, 173 PRO 16947 PRO 17849 15 December 1941 13 December 1941 Coast defence batteries on Hong Kong Island shelled Devil's Peak, now in Japanese hands. Pak Sha Wan Battery hit by Japanese light artillery fire from Devil's Peak. Rollo, 1992, p.131 18 December 1941 Pak Sha Wan Battery fired at Devil's Peak Village. 1944 A USAAF aerial photograph shows Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, including the Devil's Rollo, 1992, p.133 Rollo, 1992, p.135 132 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 March 1989 July 1990 August 1990 15 January 1995 November 1995 March 1998 12 August 1999 16 August 1999 November 1999 November 1999 December 1999 Publication of the Metroplan Landscape Strategy for the Urban Fringe and Coastal Areas by the Strategic Planning Unit, Lands and Works Branch. Appendix 8 shows a Lei Yue Mun Rural Park proposal. Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan 11-SE-4D. Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan 11-SE-9B. The earth breaking for the construction of the Wilson Trail. Devil's Peak (Gough Battery) became included as part of Section 3 (Lam Tin (formerly Ham Tin) to Cheng Lan Shue) of the Trail. Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan 11-SE-4D. Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan 11-SE-9B. Circulation of Kwun Tong District Board 1999 Environmental and Health Improvement Committee Paper No. 29/99. Technical Report 3 dated 16 August 1999 by Environmental Resources Management Study on Village Improvement and Upgrading of Lei Yue Mun Area, Agreement No. CE108/98 states the "much of the fortifications still survive and provides opportunities for tourist development." Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan 11-SE-9B. Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan 11-SE-4D. A pedestrian link was proposed in Reprovisioning Working Paper December 1999 in Study On Minimization of the Impacts of Western Coast Road on Lei Yue Mun Village (commissioned by the Territory Development Department) to connect the Pottinger Battery and Lei Yue Mun Point. A tunnel option was proposed as an alternative to the Western Coast Road to Tseung Kwan O New Town in Feasibility Study on the Alternative Alignment for the Western Coast Road, Tseung Kwan O Final Report-Executive Summary November 1999 Agreement No. CE46/96 by Maunsell Consultants Asia Ltd (in association with Environment Resources Management Hong Kong Ltd; Hassel Ltd and MVA Asia Ltd.). Survey Plan 11-SE-4D Survey Plan 11-SE-9B Survey Plan 11-SE-9B Survey Plan 11-SE-4D Kwun Tong District Board (1999) ERM, 1999, p.94 Survey Plan 11-SE-4D Survey Plan 11-SE-9B Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Limited 1999 Maunsell Consultants Asia Ltd 1999 135 ================================================================================