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Hong Kong Pillbox Rediscovered After Brushfire

Discussion in 'WWII Today' started by GRW, Jan 31, 2018.

  1. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Wonder what else was found?
    "At around 4.30pm on December 10, 1941, two days after the Battle of Hong Kong began, two sampans sailed into Tide Cove, with Japanese troops disguised in Chinese clothes on board. The two sampans were hit by machine gun fire from a concealed guard post, known as a pillbox, manned by Indian soldiers defending Hong Kong.
    They had spent much of the day holding their positions in the face of mortar fire and shelling. The enemy boats were sunk, but it was a short-lived success that did nothing to counter the gains the invaders had made in the previous 36 hours. Some 10 kilometres west, the Shing Mun Redoubt – a fort system – had already fallen.
    It was considered a turning point in the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, which they had launched in order to shore up their position in southern China and accelerate the end of the Sino-Japanese War.
    The Japanese also wished to deliver a heavy blow to British prestige in Asia. Hong Kong was defended by a mixture of British, Indian, Canadian and Chinese troops.
    Today, the view that those Indian soldiers had of Tide Cove – or Sha Tin Hoi – is no more, lost to land reclamation in the 1970s to make way for Sha Tin New Town. But last year, after fire engulfed the hills close to what is now Shui Chuen O Estate, one of the pillboxes that the soldiers may have used to repel the two sampans became a visible feature of the area again, having been hidden behind trees before that.
    Determining the exact spot where that defensive engagement took place can only be speculative, but according to Kwong Chi-man, assistant professor of history at Baptist University, there is no doubt that these are indeed the remains of a wartime pillbox, most likely, according to British serial number conventions, Pillbox 208."
    In Pictures: Wartime guard post in Battle of Hong Kong resurfaces after hill fire in Sha Tin | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP
     

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