RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 102 cleared 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. This 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). It 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. General history of the military sites on Devil's Peak A 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. According to Rollo (1992), the Gough Battery, like the Pottinger Battery, had been proposed by the British Committee on Armament on ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 103 6 Certain Stations at Home and Abroad shortly before the taking up of the New Territories by the British in 1898. The War Department had a scheme, drawn in 1902, to develop the "low promontory" between Yau Tong and Chong Lui (which has become the present Lei Yue Mun Typhoon Shelter) into a barracks area. This promontory is now the Yau Tong industrial and residential zone. The proposed military reserve was extended to cover the entire Cha Kwo Ling promontory ("Rocky Hill"). Neither the barracks scheme nor the reserve has ever been implemented. However, there is no doubt that the British military attached great significance to the Lei Yue Mun and Devil's Peak area in the late 19th Century. The leasing of the New Territories definitely had a clear military intention, because it had the French, Russian, or Imperial Chinese forces in mind. The Gough Battery was definitely in place as early as 1900. The Pottinger Battery was likely erected at the same time, and not later than 1902. The Duke of Connaught was said to have observed the firing practices of both the Gough and Pottinger Batteries in 1907 (Rollo 1992: 83). The approved establishment for the Gough Battery in 1914 was one officer plus 15 soldiers (Rollo 1992: 96). [The Pottinger Battery had two 9.2-inch BL (Breech-Loader) Mark X guns. The Gough Battery originally had two 6-inch BL Mark VII guns. However, one of the gun emplacements was later enlarged to accommodate a 9.2-inch BL gun no later than 1910. The approved establishment strength of the Pottinger Battery in 1914 was one officer plus 26 soldiers (Rollo 1992: 96).] The Devil's Peak Redoubt was the location of the Eastern Fire Command. It was definitely in place by 1914. Though it could accommodate at least 150 soldiers in action, the approved establishment of the Redoubt in 1914 was only one officer plus 10 soldiers (Rollo 1992: 96). The 6-inch gun at the Gough Battery was removed as early as 1912. The three 9.2-inch BL guns at Devil's Peak were subsequently relocated to the batteries on Hong Kong Island South. The 9.2-inch calibre Mark X gun at Gough Battery, originally on a Mark V mounting (Rollo 1992: 187), was removed in 1936 to Stanley Fort and placed on a Mark VII mounting (Horsnell 1998/1999: 249), and the two guns at ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 104 Pottinger Battery were relocated to Bokhara Battery, Cape D'Aguilar in 1939 or 1940 (Rollo: 201). The batteries' arc of fire at Devil's Peak in 1938 reached the southwestern tip of Lamma Island and the south of the Po Toi Group of islands, whereas those at Stanley reached beyond the southwestern part of the Lema Islands (Dangan Liedao). Thus, before the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong on 8th December 1941, there were no guns at either the Gough or Pottinger Battery. However, the sites at Devil's Peak had become part of the Gin Drinker's Line in the 1930s. This Line runs from Gin Drinker's Bay (Kwai Chung) in the west to Port Shelter in the east. The Devil's Peak was a crucial component of the Kowloon segment of the Line. The Japanese had good maps about the location of the defences of Hong Kong. Some remarks on the defence works at Devil's Peak are registered in a map produced in 1939/1940 (Empson 1992). Defensive positions in the military sites on Devil's Peak were taken up by the 5/7 Rajputs of the Hong Kong Garrison on 12 December, after the fall of the Shing Mun Redoubt in the western part of the Line three days before. The sites at Devil's Peak witnessed heavy defensive fighting by the 5/7 Rajputs and the First Mountain Battery of the Hong Kong and Singapore Artillery. The latter expended 400 rounds with their four 3.7 inch field guns before the evacuation of the defenders to Hong Kong Island on the morning of 13th December. The defenders destroyed all equipment before they crossed the Harbour during the night. Thereafter, the Japanese used the sites to bombard the Island and the defenders' gun returned fire. After the defeat of Japan, the Devil's Peak sites were abandoned by the British, although the batteries on the Island side of Lei Yue Mun Pass were reoccupied and put into active military use until the mid-1980s. Before 1997, there had been little news connected with British military activities at Devil's Peak, save for an air accident in the 1950s. In March 1956, two Royal Navy Sea Hawks struck fog-shrouded Devil's Peak, killing the pilots and an elderly lady (Eather 1996). A surviving example of the 9.2-inch guns that were deployed on the batteries at Devil's Peak can be seen at the Buyu Battery (Siu 1997: Plate 6 at p.76) that guards Humen (The Bogue). This battery was modernised in 1883 with the assistance of British and German military experts. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 1864 The terra "Kowloon Battery" appears right to the north of the expression "Lei Yue Mun" in the Sun On Gazetteer, referred to as the "Sun On District Gazetteer Map." Empson, 1992, p.113 (Plate 1-25) 1876 The name Devil's Peak appears in a sea defences map of 1876. 1888 1895 27 May 1898 The name Devil's Peak appears in Stanford's Map of Hong Kong and Kowloon. The Chinese translation "Kwei Shan," literally "devil hill," appears alongside Devil's Peak in the revised Collinson Map. The Committee on Armament on Certain Stations at Home and Abroad decided on 27 May 1898 that two 9.2-inch Bl. Mark X and two 6-inch QF guns were to be mounted on Devil's Peak at sites to be called Pottinger Battery and Gough Battery, respectively, to strengthen Eastern defences. Empson, 1992, p.134 (Plate 2-3) (Plate 2-4) Empson, 1992, p.135 Empson, 1992, pp.136-137 Rollo, 1992, p.70 The Kowloon Battery is universally associated with the fort outside the south gate of the Kowloon Walled City. See p. 187 Rollo, 1992 for a drawing of a 9.2-inch BL Mark X on a Mark V mounting June 1898 January 1899 The leasing of the New Territories for 100 years by the British with effect from 1 July 1898, Devil's Peak became part of British Hong Kong. Conference on Armaments regarded Hong Kong as a dockyard, port, and naval base of great importance. The 6-inch guns proposed by the 1898 Committee took shape in the form of BL guns on Centre Pivot Mark II mountings instead of QF guns, Three batteries proposed for Devil's Peak. Rollo, 1992, p.72 128 Page 195 Page 196 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 1900 Gough Battery first mentioned with two 6-inch BL Mark VII guns. Rollo, 1992, p.187 Gough Battery was in existence as early as 1900: 1901 A compass sketch drawn by Colonel L. Brown, C.R.E. in China, and dated 13.0.1901 shows the "Plan of Proposed Site for New Barracks: Devil's Peak" at the present Yau Tong industrial zone. The plan had the annotation "new road to batteries." CO129/305 It had a history of more than a century by the date of production of this paper. 1902 1902 6 October 1906 A compass sketch of ground to north of Devil's Peak showed land to be acquired by the War Department, with the locations of Gough and Pottinger Batteries indicated as "New Batteries." Signs of quarrying at the present Lei Yue Mun Valley were shown. The construction of Taikoo Docks at Quarry Bay on the island of Hong Kong commenced. August 1902: a 9.2-inch gun was delivered to Pottinger Battery. Owen Committee Report dated 6 October 1906 stated that Hong Kong was the principal naval base of the British fleet in the Far East and a commercial port of great importance liable to a Class A Attack by Battleships. [Therefore, one of the 6-inch guns proposed for Gough Battery by the 1898 Committee was replaced by a 9.2-inch BL Mark X gun by 1910.] 6 February 1907 Royal visit by Field Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, who arrived at the Colony on 6 February 1907. Later, the Duke observed firing exercises for the 9.2-inch guns at Pottinger Battery and the 6-inch guns at Gough Battery. PRO219 Eastern District Board 1994, p.25 Rollo, 1992, p.70, p.79 Rollo, 1992, p.79, p.80, 187 Rollo, 1992, p.83 129 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 Pottinger Battery: 1 officer + 26 soldiers 3 February 1920 The Chief of Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, considered that Hong Kong could resist Japanese attack for 3 months before relief from Singapore arrived. Washington Treaty 1920/1921 1922 The Admiralty informed the Committee of Imperial Defence that it was the authority to advise the scale of attack on ports and that for Hong Kong, the "status quo applies." Rollo, 1992, p.98 Rollo, 1992, p.101 Rollo, 1992, p.102 1924 "Devil's Peak Sheet No.3," Ordnance Survey 1904, corrected and printed at the War Office 1924, shows road access, including "roads suitable for man-handled guns" and detailed land uses in the Devil's Peak area, with boundaries of War Department lands delineated. However, the locations of batteries and the Redoubt are not shown. PRO100(2) 1927 Aerial Photograph No. H19 15 taken by HMS Pegasus. The Joint Overseas and Home Defence Committee review. Rollo, 1992, p.104 1928 Steel choke caused problems to the 9.2-inch guns at Devil's Peak. Rollo, 1992, p.105 1929 August 1930 February 1931 Chinese writer/composer, Tien Han, visited Hong Kong and was impressed by the scenic views of Lei Yue Mun, as stated in his poem "Good Bye Hong Kong." The 12th Heavy Battery replaced the 9-inch guns with anti-choke pattern. Rollo, 1992, p.105 The 12 Heavy Battery fired new guns at Gough Battery. "Gough Battery fired over Hong Kong Island and Repulse Bay." Rollo, 1992, p.105 1933 Annual Review of the Defence of Ports. Rollo, 1992, p.105 22 October 1934 The 12 Heavy Battery practised indirect shots at Pottinger Battery. 1934 A letter from the Military Operation Branch of the War Office indicated plans to modernise two 9.2-inch guns at Devil's Peak in 1936/37 with 35-degree mountings. 1936 The Hong Kong Defence Scheme Rollo, 1992, p.107 Rollo, 1992, p.108, 109 Rollo, 1992, p.110, 112 131 ================================================================================ 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 June 1978 April 1981 29 September 1983 October 1985 Area B: "upper fort": This is the Devil's Peak. Mostly cement and reinforced concrete, but also utilising normal rock formations and old stone walls. Very formidable arrangement of fortifications; possibly of two periods - stone and concrete. between 1st and 2nd World War. There is a tract leading from A to B. With cemented walls. Inspection of maps revealed that in the sheet printed in 1954, Area B is shown as "fort ruins," but in the sheet printed 1924, it is not shown. Formation of cut platform and road to Chinese cemetery completed. Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan Survey Plan 11-SE-4D. Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan Survey Plan 11-SE-4D, A letter from Dr. S.M. Bard to A&M Office states that the "Tung Lung Volunteer Team" found a 25cm x 25cm stone inscription "40 Coy, RE 1914" in a passage inside the Redoubt. Dr. Bard explained that "RE" stands for "Royal Engineers." "That is, the fort was constructed by the 40th Company of the Royal Engineers in 1914." The letter also states that in 1977, he "could not find many facts about the 'Area B' (upper fort), beyond the fact that it was of British origin. Enquiries at the PRO and the Headquarters British Forces were also negative. In particular, the date of construction of the fort could not be ascertained." Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan Survey Plan 11-SE-9B. H Survey Plan 11-SE-4D Survey Plan 11-SE-D Survey Plan 11-SE-9B Pottinger Batteries. Area A is Gough Battery; B is the Redoubt. The concealment of the Redoubt on maps is probably due to security consideration. October 1987 1988 Publication of a revised 1:1000 Survey Plan Survey Plan 11-SE-4D. The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club funded the repair of a footpath to Gough Battery, Survey Plan 11-SE-4D 134 ================================================================================