Bunkers - Stanley View - Stanley Mound | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Bunkers - Stanley View - Stanley Mound

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Submitted by Unknown user (not verified) on Thu, 2011-03-10 13:59

Reading books about the period December v1941 - I see a lot of references to Stanley View and Stanley Mound. Does anybody know where these to features are ? I assumed that Stanley View was where the bukers are 500 metres down Chung Hom Kok Road (now a garden centre) ? I assumed Stanley Mound is the hill on the Wilson Trail due north of Stanley ? Also coming down Stone Hill via steep ravine that comes out on the road from Chung Hom Kok to the Stanley intersection I came across serveral bunkers facing the ravine - I assume a Coy HQ either Royal Rifles or HKVDC - anybody know about these ? They are near what is called Stanley Mound reservoir although due east of Wilsom Trail and at least a km to the east.

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Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2011-03-10 17:09.

Hi there,

If you look up Stanley Mound at the search up there, you should be able to find this.

There was an AOP up there.

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by Philip Cracknell (not verified) on Thu, 2011-03-10 23:08.

Thanks for the reply - never quite sure whether that hill where the OP was is Stanley Mound or whether that is one of the Twins and the Mound is to the east of that. There are trails from the sumit which go east which I have followed to Sone Hill, Notting Hill and Bridge Hill where the Royal Rifles were in action. The hills and trails in that section are very overgrown.  BCoy under Capt Weedon had Co HQ at Stanley Mound and I wonder if that was the bunkers I referred to facing the ravine and near the Stanley Mound Reservoir on the road from Chung Hom Kok towards Stanley. Anu ideas out there ?

If anybody can tell me where Stanley View is I would be obliged.

Anybody who has read  "Underground from Hong Kong"  by Benny Proulx might like to know I found the series of huts referred to in his book all the way up the hill in rows like an Aztec village (his description) where he was based in Dec 1941 as part of secret Naval Mine Control Section. They are directly behind the Cheshire home and completely hidden in the undergrowth.

PC

 

Submitted by David on Fri, 2011-03-11 14:36.

Hi Philip,

I've made a Place to show the location of Stanley Mound, but I'm not sure about Stanley View.

The huts behind the Cheshire Home sound interesting. If you could make a Place (and show us some photos?), I'd be interested to see them.

Regards, David

Submitted by Philip on Sun, 2011-03-13 04:17.
Hi David I took a lot of photos and will be delighted to share them. Benny Proulx's book is a great read. He talks of watching the Japanese aircraft bombing HMS Thracian beached on nearby Round Island. When the fort with two 6 inch guns was abandoned around 19th Dec they blew up the guns and one of Benny's colleagues was killed by flying fragments. They then went on to fight as infantry and Benny ended up in the siege of Repulse Bay Hotel. After the capitulation he escaped from Sham Shui Po and made it back through China to write his book in 1943. Philip

Submitted by David on Sun, 2011-03-13 21:34.

Thanks Phil, I look forward to seeing the photos.

That book sounds interesting. Have you seen it in any of the local libraries, or is it a personal copy?

Regards, David

Submitted by HO Lim-peng (not verified) on Mon, 2011-03-14 03:12.

I remember exploring around these huts around 1996. I had presumed they were gunners' quarters for the 6" battery. Bizarrely, the inside rear wall of one of the huts was covered by a well - preserved mural of an English fox-hunting scene. 

I would like to know more  the naval mine control section

Submitted by Craig on Mon, 2011-03-14 17:13.

I've also been hunting for "Stanley View". I've attached a battle map showing stanley on the 24th Dec '41. On the map it shows Stanley View quite far down Stanley Gap Rd, just out of view. I'm guessing that it was located at the current junction of Chung Hom Kok Rd (where there some big water pipes). I haven't actually been able to go for a look around, but I remember seeing old foundations there when I was younger, I'll need to go for a proper sniff around.

It would also be the frist view of Stanley people would see when coming from Repluse Bay, prehaps the origin of the name? 

I've got no real evidence, its just guessing at the moment.

Ps: The map also proves that the "Mound" and the "Twins" are the same. 

Stanley 1941

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2011-03-17 12:09.

Hi there,

I suspect there had been some sort of a bunker or a forward dressing station here, just about 20 metres away from the steep curve of the main road.  Street view shows some whitewashed building there.   The area had been fenced off these days, but I remember someone had been living in at least one of the buldings.

My 2 cents,

T

Submitted by Phil C. (not verified) on Thu, 2011-03-17 23:52.

Hi T: Thanks for the photo and thats the very place where I came down the ravine passing a dead wild bore who had fallen into the ravine and broken it's neck. There are quite a lot of bunkers here which makes me wonder whether it would be a Coy HQ - I went through the storm drain under the road and found more bunkers beneath the road about where you took the photo.  I read that B Coy Middlesex had their Company HQ at Stanley Mound - that could not be up the hill  where at best they have had a section on the OP - so I think they may have been here - the spot is marked on Craigs sketch map by a flag but the legend does not say what the flag represents. I also remember that squatters were living in these bunkers say 10-15 years ago. The Ravine gives (tricky) access to the Mound and Stone Hill.

As for Stanley View I think either around the intersection with Chung Hom Kok Road Craig - on the hill side beyonf (north) of Stanley Gap Road there are weapons pits and another bunker. Further down the road there is onld fellow who lives in several bunkers in a garden centre. He showed me around the bunkers several of them in very good condition and you know what there is fromn there a perfect Stanley View ......maybe thats where it was and there was a RA battery here which fired on Repulse Bay Hotel Garage. I tend to think Stanley View is either here or up at the intersection.

Submitted by Phil C. (not verified) on Thu, 2011-03-17 23:57.

Craig: Would love to join up on any of your field trips - I do the same and very interested in that period 1941-45.

 

Phil C.

Submitted by tonyb on Tue, 2011-03-22 09:01.

I was in this area in January and can confirm that the fences that are still there wont keep anyone out.  There are a lot of cuts and breaks; its quite easy to get in and explore.

As the light was fading, we didnt venture in too far but we did explore a few of the buildings for about 15 minutes.  We will go back and look some more in the future.

Submitted by Craig on Tue, 2011-03-22 13:37.

Hi Phil,

          If you call crashing through the bush in a Indiana Jones/Rambo manner a field trip then you are very welcome.

It is starting to warm up, and I have already seen a serpent this year, so it won't be too long before I lean towards water based activites, but there are a couple of things I want to try to get done in the coming weeks.

If you drop me a line at my generic email address, I'll be in touch and we can arrange something.

hk_splash@yahoo.com

Regards, Craig

 

 

 

Submitted by Craig on Tue, 2011-03-22 17:50.

I had a break in my day so I dashed down to have a look around.

I first went to have a look at the junction of Chung Hom Kok (C.H.K). rd, were I suspect "Stanley View" once stood. I was suprised to find a ww2 era latrine there, which has a toilet a three unrinals (exatly the same layout to the toilet in Tai Tam park, just down from Parkview: Bottom of http://gwulo.com/node/3812 ).

There was also lots of old concrete and rubble, but no solid evidence of an old house. However, the nearest "known" bunkers are several hundred metres away down Stanley Gap and C.H.K. rd so it seems a very odd place to put a bog. So it would stand to reason there must have been other military building in that area.... within dashing distance.

I then went and had a look down the road at the other bunkers near the fire station. There are two sets, one right next to the fire station, with lots of plants outside. The other is a little further up right next to the electirc sub-station, and overlooks Stanley, but these have been pretty much totally distroyed with just a couple of walls still standing. (From memory) It is at these distroyed bunkers where I believe one our Boys (British) went on top of the roof with a Bren Gun to shoot at the Japanese coming down the Twins (mound) when the Middlesex Reg. was retreating to Stanley.

So: No answers, only more questions.

CHK

 

Submitted by tonyb on Tue, 2011-03-22 19:41.

I knew about the TaiTam toilets, but not this one.  Could you please let me know exactly where these ones are?

Submitted by Admin on Wed, 2011-03-23 09:43.

Notes from Rob Weir:

Just to add my bit to Gwulo post on Stanley View/Mound etc.
 The bunkers referred to in the ravine were originally shelters built prewar, as a Coy. HQ for defenders of the area. There were at least seven in the group, and the Canadians used them at one stage. Brig. Wallis also used them as Brigade HQ after withdrawing from Tai Tam Gap, but found them unsuitable and moved to the Stanley Prison Officers Club.

The garden centre shelters on CHK Road, and another demolished set adjacent the electricity sub station, appear to have been part of the West Bay HAA Battery, built in 1941. The two gun positions were further down the road, on the opposite side, and are now a housing estate.

At the junction of Repulse Bay Rd/Headland Rd are three shelters, basically intact, and on the Stanley side of the CHK Rd/Stanley Gap Rd junction is a set of military issue "shell proof" toilets.

The buildings above the Cheshire Home were part of the quarters for the troops of the battery, and still retain a very faded camouflage paint scheme on the walls of some. There is also the engine room for the searchlights plus other associated battery buildings. A BOP and some further huts, at the southern end, were demolished during slope stabilisation. I have heard of Mine Stations at Tai Tam Reservoir and Brick Hill, but have no other details, so it is quite possible there was one at CHK.

The AA defence of CHK Battery was an AALMG position grafted onto a large boulder above the huts. Spectacular views, and nowhere to hide.

Submitted by Philip on Thu, 2011-03-24 08:44.
Interesting since I live at the bottom of Chung Hom Kok road I pass the building you pictured quite often ......did not realize that it was a latrine. The bunkers go all round that hill ie between the sub station and the garden centre. There is a great Stanley View from there .......I think this must be the place given there were guns placed near here as well. If you go down the road towards Stanley there're is a small trail leading up to the storm sewer on the hillside and on the way up you pass what look like firing pits and a couple of ruined bunkers. Phil C.

Submitted by Philip on Thu, 2011-03-24 08:59.
Thanks Rob that was a very interesting posting. Do you think the bunkers around the garden centre hill is what is referred to as Stanley View ? Or was it up at the intersection ? The bunkers down at the Ravine I thought may have been occupied by B Coy Middlesex at some stage ? Interesting that they were temporarily used as Brigade HQ ? They do provide access to Stanley Mound and Stone Hill but it's a bit of a climb up the rock strewn ravine. Phil C

Submitted by Philip on Thu, 2011-03-24 09:03.
Benny Proulx and his Navy section were in 6 of the huts behind No 1 Gun now the Cheshire Home and the others were RA. One of Bennys team was killed by flying fragments when the gun was blown up . The book is a good read and was written in 1943 after he escaped. Do you know whether the reservoir at the intersection with Stanley Gap Road was around in 1941 ? Phil C

Submitted by 80sKid on Wed, 2013-07-31 20:44.

Did people ever work out where Stanley View was?

Submitted by Philip on Sat, 2013-08-03 10:54.

I take it as the hillock at the junction of Chung Hom Kok Road and the road from Stanley to Repulse Bay. The hill now has a service reservoir at the top. There are still some bunkers left on the junction with Headland Drive. There is a bomb proof toilet still there at the junction with Chung Hom Kok Road. Across the road on the slopes opposite the junction there is a bunker and machine gun pits. Further down Chung Hom Kok Road are the bunkers that were used by the HAA Battery (West Bay) the bunkers are now a garden centre. At the bottom of the road are the bunkers that formed Chung Am Kok Artillery Fort which had two  6 inch Naval Guns. On the slopes above are the bunkers built into the hill that were part of the secret Mine Control Station.

Phil C.

Submitted by gw on Thu, 2014-01-09 13:20.

On the subject of the exact location of Stanley View, R.E. Jones' home drawn "Fire Positioning Map", dated 1-11-1943, at www.gwulo.com/node/17655 marks "Stanley View" as being the saddle over which the road from Stanley to Repulse Bay passes between its junctions with Chung Hom Kok Road and Headland Road.