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Hong Kong outside—another Hong Kong fretting, worrying and grieving. Nor did its work cease abruptly with the war’s end: for four months the personnel have been here helping to mop up the post-war problems, dealing sympathetically with a host of domestic wants and participating in the avenging of unnecessary sufferings. The unit’s record of service is one for Hong Kong’s pride as well as its gratitude. There is another aspect which should not be overlooked. It is an old taunt that Kong Kong is not China and knows little of China. The Hong Kong folk who escaped, and those who returned from elsewhere to work with the B.A.A.G., have in appreciable degree removed that blemish. They now know China. They laboured in close association with the real
Chinese, reaching understanding. They return as an embassy, and they have a further service to perform in educating Hong Kong to a more co-operative conception of things Chinese. It will be a great pity if the B.A.A.G. should be completely dispersed: it has earned its shrine of remembrance and there is still work that it could do.
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at the surrender. Then, recovering, for a time we toughened again, sure that the Allies would return very soon. Then hopelessness again, lapsing into despair. We came to regard ourselves a little bitterly as the forgotten folk—until we learned of the B.A.A.G. and the
British Consul at Macao. There, miraculously, were friends, rallying round, beckoning us, assuring, us, impatient at times, no doubt, at the slowness of our response, venturing dangerously close, planning, providing, infiltrating at much risk—a resurgence and a rescue service almost without parallel. We did not know them then as the B.A.A.G. It was sufficient to know that Hong Kong men were on the perimeter, that we had not been abandoned at all: and thousands who were able to get away have full cause for gratitude to the B.A.A.G. for ready, generous and efficient help.
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bases. The B.A.A.G. was so well organised and so well served that the knowledge abroad of conditions in Hong Kong was remarkably accurate and up-to-date. Though in conventional sense not a combat unit, its work, in the advanced sections, was highly dangerous. It is known now that many of its messengers and its agents in Hong Kong were caught and savagely put to torture and death. Their names will live in our minds and hearts; and when the full story of the B.A.A.G. is written its roll of honour will be a tablet to treasure. In its leader the Hong Kong unit was fortunate. Able, familiar with the Colony, and blessed with personality. Colonel Ride was a most appropriate choice. He is also well qualified to be the official historian, and his book will be awaited with keenest interest.
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391:, who reciprocated by dropping medical supplies into the camps during raids. The agents' main role was to facilitate the escape of prisoners from Hong Kong; British, Commonwealth and Indian servicemen were then debriefed by B.A.A.G. staff and many subsequently rejoined the war effort. Many escaped Hong Kong Chinese joined the
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At the close of the year, Colonel L.T. Ride said good-bye to the men and women who have worked under him, in the
British Army Aid Group, and this leave-taking marked the official end of an organisation that Hong Kong cannot allow to die. Tired memories still recall the desolation that overwhelmed us
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The officers of the B.A.A.G. were mainly
European men with a Hong Kong connection, and the operative agents were mostly local Hong Kong men and women who offered their services, often at great risk, in occupied Hong Kong and outside, in the fight for the restoration of their home and freedom. Due to
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To this Colony the essential virtue of our part of the B.A.A.G. is that it was Hong Kong. There is rivalry between interned and non-interned as to which section was the custodian of the Hong Kong spiritual relics. If there were during the occupation two Kong Kongs marooned here, there was a third
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The work done by the B.A.A.G. was very varied, ranging from espionage organisation, and other contact-making, to the assistance of refugees and displaced persons, conveyance of news to anxious relatives and friends, and even including “scorched earth” service when the enemy invaded the interior
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to China with three trusted men. There, in order to further the war effort, support the
Chinese, and shore up damaged British prestige in the area, he suggested forming a group that became known as the British Army Aid Group, which under the cover of acting as a
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department responsible for support to resistance movements and POW escapes. Ride was appointed the MI9 representative in China and
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organisation, would help prisoners of war and internees to escape and at the same time, gather intelligence to further the war effort in the region. The idea was approved by
General
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309:(H.K.V.D.C.) Field Ambulance, and, once hostilities commenced, was given command of the Combined Field Ambulance. Shortly after being captured, Ride escaped from
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and was finally disbanded on 31 December 1945. At the end of the war, Ride commissioned a
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The various roles played by the B.A.A.G. during the war and following the end of the
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Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942–1945
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in London, the new unit was incorporated into the structure of MI9, the
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Military history of the
British Empire and Commonwealth in World War II
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prisoners of war who were being recruited into the
Japanese-sponsored
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Our War: How the British Commonwealth Fought the Second World War
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in August 1945 were summed up in an editorial published in
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Gwulo: Old Hong Kong, compiled and edited by David Bellis
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Memoirs of Captain Paul Tsui, MBE, British Army Aid Group
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507:"Exhibition introduces British Army Aid Group Drawings"
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Province, while a forward operating base was set up at
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542:"BADGE, UNIT, BRITISH, BRITISH ARMY AID GROUP (BAAG)"
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46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
673:Military units and formations of the British Army
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256:. The B.A.A.G. was officially classified in the
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600:. Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books, Inc. p. 18.
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620:The South China Morning Post, 15 January 1946
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420:novels who helped prisoners escape from the
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402:The B.A.A.G. continued its work after the
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
663:Military of Hong Kong under British rule
371:. An imprisoned Indian officer, Captain
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180:British Army Aid Group
123:British Army Aid Group
548:. Imperial War Museum
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417:The Scarlet Pimpernel
332:Military Intelligence
311:Sham Shui Po POW camp
385:China Air Task Force
361:Indian National Army
40:improve this article
517:on 2 September 2019
295:Battle of Hong Kong
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647:Categories
491:References
328:War Office
293:After the
289:Background
280:'s camps.
151:Allegiance
66:newspapers
521:18 August
340:Guangdong
274:internees
136:1942–1945
453:See also
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250:B.A.A.G.
222:Jyutping
387:of the
350:Service
344:Huizhou
284:History
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128:英軍服務團
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