BAAG Report KWIZ#4, Naval Reports
Elizabeth Ride has sent part of BAAG Report KWIZ#4, dated 27th June 1943.
If you haven’t come across the British Army Aid Group before I have linked a gwulo.com summary of its activities below.
Elizabeth explains KWIZ was short for Kweillin Weekly Intelligence Summary, with a ‘Z’ substituted for an ‘S’.
She has sent extracts from the Report, namely the first page and two pages of the Naval Section, which she suggests would be of most interest to us. Elizabeth adds that the Naval Section lengthens in later reports.
HF: I am afraid I am no longer able to summarize and list the most salient points in KWIZ reports as I did with the BAAG Naval Intelligence Reports, many of which are listed in our Index.
HF: If you are able to provide images of vessels or locations mentioned in this report or information about subjects referred to which you think is relevant to our website I would be delighted to hear from you.
See:
The British Army Aid Group (BAAG) was a military intelligence unit which operated in China between March 1942 and December 1945, originally as a branch of MI9. The officers were mainly European men with a Hongkong connection, and the operative agents were mostly local Hongkong men and women who offered their services, often at great risk, in occupied Hongkong and outside, in the fight for the restoration of their home and freedom. Throughout the the war the BAAG provided unique intelligence – military, political and economic – about conditions in both Hongkong and China; they also gave medical and humanitarian assistance to civilians and military alike, and eventually were able to play a part in the restoration of legal rule in Hongkong.
Further information:
- 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
- The BAAG papers are kept at the Hong Kong Heritage Project https://www.hongkongheritage.org/Pages/FindingAids/LibraryCollection/Elizabeth_M_Ride_Collection.aspx
Our Index contains several examples of BAAG Naval Section Intelligence Summaries, other BAAG material plus many articles about Hong Kong during the Second World War.
This article was first posted on 12th January 2019.
Related Indhhk articles:
- BAAG Report KWIZ#1, Naval Reports
- BAAG Report KWIZ#2, Naval Reports
- BAAG Report KWIZ#3, Naval Reports
Chuk Shan Maru 竹山丸 was known to the Japanese as Chikuzan Maru and was formerly Moller & Co.’s Ariadne Moller. The ship was built in 1907 and was 1840 tons. The ship was engaged in regular passenger services off the French Indo China coast and was bombed and sunk 12/7/43 off Halong Bay. Some records erroneously show the ship as torpedoed and sunk this day. It is interesting to note that while 14th Airforce records show B-24’s attacking a ship off Halong Bay they claimed it as only damaged, not sunk, which is rather unusual,