Tak-Hing TSANG (aka BAAG No. 48) [????- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Tak-Hing TSANG (aka BAAG No. 48) [????- ]

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Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2013-11-18 11:15
Names
Given: 
Tak-Hing
Family: 
Tsang
Alias / nickname: 
BAAG No. 48
Sex: 
Male
Status: 
Unknown
Tags: 
BAAG
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Comments

Submitted by emride on Sat, 2015-06-06 21:29.

Shot by Red Gueriilas in Saikung.

Submitted by Lawrence Tsui on Sun, 2015-06-07 07:50.

Tsang Tak-hing and his brother Joseph Tsang Yiu-sang (No. 19) were members of Group B along with other key members such as Chan Yeung (No.25), William Wong (No.46) and Chan Kwok-kwong (No.77), and that must include Preston Wong.  They were executed by the Japanese and not shot by the Red Guerrilas in Saikung.  

The Tsang Brothers were amongst the first group to be despatched to Hong Kong to make contact witn PoWs at Shamshuipo.  They made contact through the Work Team that was ferried to Kai Tak.  Chan Kwok-kwong infiltrated the Bowen Road Hospital as a cook, and reported on PoWs hospitalised there. They also reported on enemy military intelligence as well as general conditions of HK under occupation.

Chan Yeung served as a Courier and used the Red Guerrillas to transmit reports and instructions from AHQ. He liaised with Raymond Wong Chok-mui (No.99) at Post Z - the Kwong Hang Store at P{ortland St, Shamshuipo which was eventually raided.

The Tsang Brothers were assisted by their father Tsang Chun-fook in making contact with the Shamshuipo Work Team.  As a foreman at kai Tak, he made contact by throwing a cigarette packet with a message on the ground for picking up by the PoWs.  The Tsang Brothers also ran a shop at Shaukeiwan and had a small boat for crossing Leyumen.  The Bankers, Fenwick & Morrison, escape through this arrangement.  After the demise of Group B, Tsang Chun-fook and a younger son escaped to AHQ Waichow where he was made a Storeman.  On the 1951 List of former BAAG Members, he was listed as a PWD Foreman and was awarded a King's Medal for Courage. 

 

Submitted by David on Mon, 2015-06-08 17:29.

Dear Elizabeth and Lawrence,

The two versions of how Tsang Tak-hing died are very different. I don't know if we can get a black & white proof of which is correct, but please could you let us know the source for each version? Maybe that will help clarify.

Regards, David

Submitted by Admin on Sun, 2015-06-21 22:20.

Elizabeth writes:

My source of information about the death of Tsang Tak Hing (agent #48) is contained in the attached letter.  Perhaps it could be reproduced?  ((I've posted the text of the letter at http://gwulo.com/node/26811))

I add an extract from a letter from Col Ride to Gen Grimsdale of 27.1.1943:

3. I find these reports not only distressing but worrying because at the moment it is suspected that the Reds are doing it. I doubt whether any of our enemies here in China would have the guts to give us away to the Japanese but spreading false reports amongst the Reds about our agents is just about their mark. I have suggested to Major Clague that he should make investigations along these lines.

I then add that Clague writes in his letter to Col Ride of 24.5.1943 that Mr Tsang senior (father of both agents #19 and #48), then in Waichow, is "father of one of our men killed by the guerillas"  last year.

That is all I have at the moment, David.  I am quite prepared to accept that there are often several differing reports about BAAG affairs, and I doubt that at this late date we can sort them all out.  Far be it from me to try to convince anyone that one version rather than another is correct, all we can do is lay out the facts as we find them, and try to make sense of them.   

One last piece of related information is that the three men were carrying maps and a message from Preston Wong when they were shot.