BAAG Naval Section Intelligence Summary, mid March to mid April 1943, ship repair, maintenance and movements
Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS 26) dated 7th April 1943. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two between mid March and mid April 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: naval yard, shanghai, indo-china, kowloon dock, cosmopolitan dock, taikoo dock, canton, kowloon godown wharf, sham shui po dock, aberdeen dock, Dairen, Kwang Chow Wan, APC wharf – Causeway Bay, Jardines wharf, Formosa, Hainan Island, Tokyo, French Indo-China
Ships mentioned: Empire ship, Japanese transports, Nam Chow Maru, Power junks, Hew Tin Maru,Buenos Aires Maru, coastal vessels, Blue Funnel, hospital ship, Japanese merchant ship, British India boat, oil tanker, steamship, MV Hin Sang, Hiu [?] Nam Maru, Kogyo Maru, armed wooden fishing boats, Hiu Tin Maru
Miscellaneous: rice, coal, petrol, steel bars, Japanese Air Force, Hong Kong Daily News,
Kogyo Maru Courtesy: www.apo-reef-coron-wrecks-liveaboard.com
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 6th July 2018.