BAAG Naval Section Intelligence Summary, mid-March 1943, ship repair, maintenance and movements

Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS No.23) dated 14th March 1943. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two during the middle of March 1943.

These reports also describes time spent by vessels undergoing repairs and maintenance in a number of Hong Kong shipyards.

They also offer a wide range of other information including that concerning the Japanese Army and Air Force and other aspects of life in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in which you may be interested. This is not usually included here. To see the full reports please refer to Further Information below.

HF: To aid research I have attempted to summarize and list the most salient points covered in the report under three sections:-

Firstly, Locations mentioned – both shipyards in HK and ports vessels have come from or are going to in South and East Asia.

Secondly, the names of Ships mentioned. This has not always been easy. My inability to read Chinese or Japanese is a clear hindrance. Plus even when in English whether typed or handwritten they are sometimes semi-legible. Any corrections or clarification would be helpful.

Thirdly, under Miscellaneous I have noted any items that I think might be of interest.

Further information regarding subjects mentioned in this report including images of the ships would be very welcome.

Locations: Kowloon Yard, No.1 Wharf, Kowloon Wharves, Kowloon Wharf & Godown Company, Lyemun Pass, stonecutter’s Island, East Lamma Channel, Singapore, Tsingtao, Hainan Island, Amoy, Shanghai, Formosa, Royal Naval Shipyard, Kowloon Wharves, Green Island, Kowloon Dock

Ships mentioned: Hospital ships, Destroyer, Merchant Transport, Man-Of-War, Cruiser, Salvaged Ship, Merchantman, Heu [?] Hoi Maru,

Miscellaneous: On Japanese holidays all HK Shipyards are empty of workers, Mitsui Company, Naval Police Guards, 1,000 troops,

BAAG Report WIS #23 A1 JPGBAAG Report WIS #23 A2 JPGBAAG Report WIS #23 B1 JPGBAAG Report WIS #23 B2 JPGBAAG Report WIS #23 C1 JPGBAAG Report WIS #23 C2 JPG

This article was first posted on 14th October 2017.

Further information:

  1. For general information about the Elizabeth Ride collection, her father Sir Lindsay Ride, and the British Army Aid group during WW2 a very useful introduction is through http://gwulo.com/node/13968
  2. The BAAG papers are kept at the  Hong Kong Heritage Project https://www.hongkongheritage.org/Pages/FindingAids/LibraryCollection/Elizabeth_M_Ride_Collection.aspx

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