Black Hill AOP [????- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Black Hill AOP [????- ]

Current condition: 
Unknown

This AOP is mentioned in Philip Cracknell's book

Photos that show this place

1942

Comments

The book reference can be read here The location of the marker has not been confirmed.

Hi There,

The book mentioned the field guns firing upon the Ma Lau Tong line.  Ma Lau Tong was the name of Ma Yau Tong Village today, which is on the western side of Black Hill (五鬼山\五桂山).  If the AOP was to provide observation towards Ma Lau Tong I guess it would have to be on a location able to see Ma Lau Tong instead of where the marker is located.

T

The AOP remains are roughly 150 metres north east along the ridgeline from the high point on the Black Ridge (aka Black Hill), and consists of a large hole in the ground with some concrete debris scattered around. Ma Lau Tong should have been visible, particularly without vegetation obstructing the view.

I don't really get why Rob said the AOP's on the Mainland are just trenches, but the Black Hill AOP has concrete debris next to it, so that means that the AOP was built like the ones on the Island.

I was trying to differentiate. The Island AOP's are consistently above ground concrete structures roughly 10 metres in floor area and connected to the artillery by buried telephone lines, whereas the Mainland prepared sites, with the exception of those at Shing Mun and Crown Point, were dug trenches and only connected via field telephone. The concrete was possibly to support the trench sides, it was not the main structure.