Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach

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Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2008-01-21 12:00

Although we're regular visitors to Chung Hom Kok beach, it was only this weekend that I noticed there's an old wartime pillbox over at the far end of the beach.

Here's the view along the beach, looking past the end of the second bbq-pit area.

Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach

Here's a closer view. The L-shaped concrete in the foreground is recent - a combination of a storm drain and a low wall. But you can see the loopholes of the pillbox on either side of the tree that is growing in the middle of the photo.

Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach

Here are closer views. It looks as though the pillbox was filled with rubble and concrete to prevent it from being used.

Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach
Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach

The top of the pillbox is covered with debris that has fallen down from the hillside. But you can still see the top of the small round structure that I've seen on other pillboxes in Hong kong.

Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach

Here's a closer view.

Pillbox on Chung Hom Kok beach

Pillboxes were built around Hong Kong island's coastline as part of the preparations against invasion from the sea. When the invasion occurred, it came from the north, through the New Territorries, into Kowloon, and across Hong Kong harbour landing on Hong Kong island in the Tai Koo area. So the pillboxes along the southern coastline may well have been left untouched.

There is more wartime history in this area:

  • The Chung Hom Kok (called "Chung Am Kok" at the time) battery was located on the headland. "The Guns & Gunners of Hong Kong" reports that it was "destroyed by the battery personnel on 19 December" in 1941. Some photos here and here.
  • Major-General C M Maltby's report also mentions the area in a footnote to pg 716: "These R.N. personnel has been manning the mine control station at Chung Am Kok".
  • This report also mentions the peninsula as the site of some of the last fighting, starting in the evening of the 24th Dec 1941: "The enemy attacked in force at both Chung Am Kok and Stanley. [...]
          At Chung Am Kok the two platoons of No. 2 Company, H.K.V.D.C., though hopelessly outnumbered, held their ground throughout the night and Christmas Day. After dark they made their way to Stanley Fort, some by swimming, unaware that the surrender had already taken place. The capitulation was made at 1515 hours on the 25th. "

MrB

Here are the locations of the pillbox (top marker) and battery (bottom marker):

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Submitted by greg Fripp (not verified) on Mon, 2008-02-18 17:07.
There was a pillbox at Turtle cove, in 1960. I dont know if it is still there, perhaps some else could tell us. It was almost at the beach, on the coastline. Inside it was big enough for a machine gun, but not much else I used to go there once a year, on our visits to the beach, which also had our own beachut (owned by the Hong kong Electric company) Such wonderful memories...

Submitted by Rusty (not verified) on Mon, 2008-03-10 13:27.
Hello, I am a historian (allow me to use this term) in Hong Kong. That pillbox numbered PB 21, I found it many years before. It is so great that it had not change a bit for years~ You can refer to the document like "Honkon Chosa Sakusen" to the number~~

Submitted by David on Mon, 2008-03-10 21:09.

Rusty, thank for writing in with the pillbox details.

I was wondering how to find a list of the pillbox locations. I tried google searches for Honkon Chosa Sakusen and Honkong Chosa Sakusen, but couldn't see anything related to pillboxes. Please can I check if the spelling is correct?

Regards, MrB

Submitted by Nic (not verified) on Mon, 2008-03-17 09:20.
Ha - what a trip! I grew up living in CHK - 16 years I was there - and there was a time when that pillbox wasn't filled in! I remember many a weekend where my brother and I would scramble in and around that pillbox - in fact I am sure there is documented photo evidence of it! There used to be a couple good ones on the Cheshire Home headland years ago too - but they were pulled down.

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2008-03-17 11:32.

Nic, if those photos make it to the web at any point, please do send us a link.

MrB

Submitted by Nic (not verified) on Tue, 2008-03-18 02:45.
I'm actually moving back home at the end of April - my parents never left HK and I've been trying to get back for years! So when I do I will have to dig through the photo albums and get them up! Thanks also - for such a useful site - I am on here daily reading up in the immigration info! cheers

Submitted by Rusty (not verified) on Fri, 2008-04-04 00:08.
About the map of pillbox locations...I have some document about this... For HonKon Chosa Sakusen, I strongly recomment you to buy one copy, but the stock is quite rare now...try amazon.jp... the price ranged from 4000 yen to 10000 yen, not include the posting fee. It is quite expensive, but it is worthwhile, much better than most of the books. In the original set of the book, there is a set of maps and tables, about 10 - 12 pages. This set is not seen in the copy inside HKU, may be they store it separately, may be they simply hide it. These maps is an excellent source for studying the Japanese movement. And the map i mentioned is included inside, marking many interesting things that had never seen in English sources~ Trust Me~! Also, you can try the war diary of Middlesex in the Government Documentary centre, there are maps about the area in Aberdeen, very very detail, marking foxholes, trenches and pillbox. May be useful. I have all these things in my hand, I would like to share with anyone only if they had the heart to use them in a right way~! Rusty

Submitted by David on Fri, 2008-04-04 21:45.

Rusty, thanks for the extra information about this, it certainly sounds very interesting. I don't read Japanese or Chinese, so I'd like your opinion on whether I can get good information from the maps?

I did try amazon.jp, but they didn't show any results for 'HonKon Chosa Sakusen'. Not surprisingly, as I guess they expect me to type in using kanji or katakana :(

The war diary of the Middlesex sounds like an easier place to start, so I'll schedule some time to visit the PRO.

My idea is simply to map some of these old places, to show interested people where they are. eg if you add a new place, and give it the tag 'pillbox', it will show up on this map.

MrB

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2008-04-05 01:39.

The correct name of this book should be 戦史叢書 香港・長沙作戦 Printed on 1971. However, when I did a search on google there seems to be another version of this book (not sure if it is the same book? Please advice.) http://www.7andy.jp/books/detail?accd=31919167

I also found a Japanese battle map of H.K.: http://homepage2.nifty.com/DIG-Japan/hongkong.jpg

Submitted by David on Sat, 2008-04-05 14:27.

Thanks for the translated version of the title, and for the link to the map too. Can you work out what it shows?

MrB

Submitted by Rusty (not verified) on Fri, 2008-04-11 08:26.
Hmmm, about that book, well unfortunately it was written in Japanese only...No English version. And the book shown in the last post is NOT the same book as Honkon Chosa Sakusen. The "Honkon" one is printed by "Military studying department of Japanese Defense Office" (something like that... if translated in English). For the pillbox, i would like to inform you that there is one pillbox we(me and 3 friends) found in Hong Kong Park. The slope on the High Court side. The exact location is not too clear, because of a heavy vegetation around it. But if you walk inside the park from British Council side, you will notice that there is a hidden (well...quite clear for historian like us) stair on the hillslope on left hand side. When the time we found it, we walked down from Hennessy Road above... You may try the same route as us... Walk from the Magazine of Victoria Barrack to Hennessy Road, turn left and walk along the slope towards the Hong Kong Park, you will notice an end of the wire fence that is big enough for a man to get in, then keep down-hill leaning to left hand side, about mid-hill i remember......

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2008-04-11 10:30.
Dear Rusty, can you please upload an image of the front cover of the Honkon Chosa Sakusen book? Or do you have a link for the image of the book?

Submitted by David on Fri, 2008-04-11 12:00.

Rusty, please can I check if you meant "Kennedy Road" instead of "Hennessy Road" above?

Here's a rather empty map of pillboxes in Hong Kong. If you know any more, please add a place for it, and type pillbox as the tag, so it will be added to the map.

MrB

Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2008-04-24 18:18.
Rusty has kindly sent in a photo of the cover of this book.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2008-04-25 01:17.
Thank you very much Rusty. Greatly appreciated for posting the photo cover of the book.

Submitted by David on Mon, 2008-04-28 12:21.

Following Rusty's suggestion I visited the PRO and found several maps. The best source was titled "Diary of Principal Items of Historical Interest during Hostilities in Hong Kong". Appendix 8 in that book is a Map of Hong Kong island showing the locations of pillboxes around the coast.

Pillbox number 1 was located at Sandy Bay, then they are numbered anti-clockwise around the coast, finishing at number 72 on the shoreline near the Jubilee Battery.

There were more than 72 pillboxes in total, as in some places you'll find multiple pillboxes sharing the same number (eg 17 and 17A, 38 and 38A). Also it doesn't show the inland pillboxes such as JLO 1. Still, it's a good start to tracking down more of them.

Thanks again to Rusty for the lead.

MrB

Submitted by David on Mon, 2008-05-05 18:45.

When I'm wandering the countryside looking for old pillboxes, I'd like to ask people I see if they know where the pillboxes are. The map is sometimes a bit vague, so it would be good to get local help.

In English I'd say something like "I'm looking for old buildings near here that were built in the war, especially a pillbox. Please do you know of anything like that near here?"

I'd be very grateful if you could write the equivalent question in Chinese, and I'll ask MrsB to tell me how to pronounce it.

Many thanks, MrB

Submitted by Rusty on Tue, 2008-05-06 17:01.

Well, as a local Chinese am I. I would like to tell you that local Chinese may not know about the pillboxes well. Rumors were everywhere, but few were true indeed... ^^*

In Chinese, you may say, ”我想問下你知唔知附近有無打仗時嘅......"

That blank could be...

Trench 戰壕

Pillbox 機槍堡/堡壘(the second one is not entirely correct in English, but it is commonly use among "local Chinese"...)

Gun Emplacement or battery 炮位/炮台

Outpost 哨站

Redoubt 堡壘

Tunnel 地道

Hangar 飛機庫

Execution site 行刑場

Military Post station 憲兵站

Houses of Comfort Women 慰安所　(Somewhere in Wan Chai)

These are all I can think of that you may find in HK...

Submitted by David on Tue, 2008-05-06 17:26.

Thanks Rusty, that's perfect. In fact it'll probably be a good idea for me to print it out and carry it with me, so if all else fails I can point at the chinese!

MrB

Submitted by David on Wed, 2008-05-07 10:11.

Here are my mangled transliterations of the phrases I am most likely to use:

我想問下你知唔知附近有無打仗時嘅......?
ngoh seung mun ha, lay ji m ji foo gan yau mo da jeung si ge ...?
I'd like to ask, do you know if there are any wartime ... nearby?

That '...' could be:

堡壘
bo4 loei5
pillbox / redoubt / castle / other military building

炮台
paau1 toi6
battery (eg 'paau toi saan' is chinese for 'Fortress Hill')

地道
dei6 do6 (can also use 'soei3 do6')
tunnel

飛機庫
fei1 gei1 foo3
aircraft hangar

And for our local readers, please can I ask for your help with two more translations: 'air raid', and 'air raid shelter'.

Thanks & regards, MrB

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2008-05-07 10:25.
Hello MrB, air raid = 空襲 air raid shelter = 防空洞

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2008-05-07 10:37.
Second World War = 第二次世界大戰 in short word WWII = 二戰 Gin Drinkers Line = 醉酒灣防線 Also known as Shing Mun Redoubt = 城門堡壘 Luk Keng = 鹿頸 Military defense = 軍事防衛 British army = 英軍

Submitted by David on Wed, 2008-05-07 10:52.

Maybe we should start an online translation business ;-)

Thanks for your help,

MrB

Submitted by OldTimer (not verified) on Thu, 2008-05-08 03:00.
Great site! I enjoy reading these translations thanks also to Rusty. For me they are an eye-opener, and the Cantonese pronouciations are impressive. May I suggest during the expedition one supplements these with a quick draw on a note-pad - like a warplane parked inside a hangar, or dome with guns sticking out. Seniors remember these places and some, like me, could have hearing difficulty; and some speak different dialects perhaps.

Submitted by David on Thu, 2008-05-08 14:25.

Oldtimer, that's a good idea. I wouldn't trust any of my drawings to help anyone understand what I'm asking about, but I'll take along a copy of 'War Relics in the Green'. It's a small paperback, and has several photos of pillboxes that I could show.

Submitted by 40something (not verified) on Mon, 2009-04-06 23:01.

There are a couple down from Victoria Rd (junction of Victoria & Mt Davis Rd) near the secretive Mt Davis Detention Center / Concentration Camp that was once operated by RHKP Special Branch a.k.a. The White House 

http://zonaeuropa.com/20060508_2.htm 

I managed to find a way into the unmarked/abandoned cluster of buildings yesterday just before sunset... spooky. One of them has a heavily fortified armoury with gun holes facing the front gate. There's a rack inside with labels to read Red Team / Blue Team / HQ... I can smell the tension back in '67.             

Submitted by David on Tue, 2009-04-07 21:18.

Hi, here's some more information about the area below Victoria Road.

Submitted by moddsey on Wed, 2009-09-23 10:27.

The Chung Hom Kok Battery comprised two gun emplacements. Today, only No.2 gun emplacement with its protective dome can be seen. No. 1 gun emplacement further up the hill has since disappeared. There are two searchlight positions below the protective dome to the left and right on the rocks above the water's edge.

Chung Hom Kok Battery

2009 Chung Hom Kok Battery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close-up

Chung Hom Kok Battery Close-Up