I was captivated when I first saw this photograph of HMS Marlborough at Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta. The two Victorian-era warships  dominate the image set against the grandeur of the appropriately named harbour. HMS Marlborough lies at anchor and displays to us her full broadside. The photograph was take in the early 1860s and is incredibly clear for such an early photograph depicting the days of the sailing navy.  She was a First Rate battleship carrying 131 guns on three gun decks. Certainly a ship that projected power and one not to be messsed with! She was flagship of the Med ..read more

The submarine HMS Thetis was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead. She was laid down in December 1936 and launched in June 1938. A year later, in June 1939, three months before war began, she sank during sea trials in Liverpool Bay with ninety-nine fatalities. She was salvaged, repaired and renamed HMS Thunderbolt and commissioned in October 1940. She entered war service with considerable success but was sunk, for the second  time, in March 1943 with the loss of all hands.  The accidental sinking of HMS Thetis in 1939 was, and remains, the worst peacetime loss of ..read more

Ralph James Shrigley was born in Scotland in 1898. During the First World War, he served with the 2nd Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers. He must have been wounded in action because his army service records indicate "GSW" or gun shot wound (to abdomen). He was discharged from the army in January 1919 a couple of months after the war ended. I believe he enlisted in 1917. As a matter of interest, Winston Churchill also served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Ralph Shrigley (sourced from Facebook Battle of HK Page) At the age of thirty, Ralph married Janette Agnes Whyte Howard (nee Brown) in Glasgow in 19 ..read more

I received an email from one of the the administrators of a Facebook site, focused on local history in Liverpool. The site has more than 40,000 members, one of which had come across a trunk that had once belonged to Brigadier Cedric Wallis. The trunk was in Perth, Western Australia. How did it get there?    On the eve of battle, Sunday 7 December, Staff Captain Peter Belton wrote in his diary that he decided to move into Brigadier Wallis' flat in Argyle Street, Kowloon. Belton was a staff officer with the Mainland Brigade HQ and he reported to Wallis. Given the increase in tension an ..read more

Pillbox No. 9 was a Beach Defence Unit (BDU) consisting of a pillbox (PB) and a separate Lyon Light structure. The Lyon Light (searchlight) was housed in a concrete structure with steel shutters.  It had a crew of two men. A small generator powered the searchlight. Communication between the PB and the Lyon Light (LL) structure was effected by voice pipe. The LL structure was normally 10 to 50 metres away from the PB and usually situated above the PB. The PB had telephone connection with Company (Coy) HQ and the other pillboxes in their platoon/group. PB 9 was situated on Aberdeen Praya Ro ..read more

Site Visit:    1 February 2022  Manning:    'C' Coy 1/Mx    PB 14 is situated on the shoreline below Brick Hill and quite close to the Country Club.  To get to it  - you have to leave the raised concrete pathway known as Mills & Chung Path and go down to the rocky foreshore. Walk past the back of the Hong Kong Country Club clambering over the rocks and you will get to the PB which is reasonably accessible. The PB and Lyon Light structure both remain.  The story is a sad one in that the crew in the two structures were surrounded and eventual ..read more

Site visit:  11 February 2022 The photo below shows part of Stone Hill Shelters. On the outbreak of of the battle, these shelters were utilised as Company (Coy) HQ for both 'B' Coy 1/Mx (Middlesex) and 'B' Coy RRC (Royal Rifles of Canada). After the redeployment of troops, following the Japanese landing, the shelters were occupied by East Infantry Brigade for a few days before Brigade HQ relocated to the Prison Officers Club. The shelters are much more extensive than I had realised. On my most recent visit (11 February 2022) I found another five demolished shelters along the ravine (wate ..read more

 Site Visit:  11 February 2022 Manned by: 'B' Coy 1/Mx Both the pillbox (PB30) and the Lyon light structure (LL30) remain in reasonable condition. They are located at Turtle Cove one of the most scenic beaches on Hong Kong Island.  A passageway protected by a stone wall links the PB and LL about 10metres apart. I was able to get inside the PB. In the PB I found the voice pipe and likewise the other end of the voice pipe was still in situ at the LL.  The voice pipe allowed communication between the LL and the PB.  A primitive system of communication but it worked and w ..read more

  PB at the dam at Aberdeen Upper Reservoir During the Battle for Hong Kong 'C' Coy Winnipeg Grenadiers had their Company HQ situated near the Upper Reservoir.  There are still a number of war ruins to be seen around the area of the reservoir.  A metal road (closed to vehicles), Aberdeen Reservoir Road, leads from Wan Chai Gap to the Aberdeen Upper Reservoir. The Winnipeg Grenadiers (WG) Battalion HQ was located at Wan Chai Gap. As you approach the Upper Reservoir from Wan Chai Gap a road on the right-hand side leads off to the Lower Reservoir and from there to Aberdeen. The n ..read more

I am in search for any traces of PB 19 at the northern end of Middle Bay. I go down some old steps beside No. 20 South Bay Road  leading  to a rocky beach some 30 metres north of the shark nets at Middle Bay.  On the way down I go past a number of WW2 type concrete stanchions for  anchoring down the barbed wire. PBs normally had a barbed wire perimeter around them and this indicated that I was on the right track. Concrete stanchion for barbed wire fencing Concrete stanchion and gate post No. 20 is a new-build and even the previous building had engulfed the PB into the se ..read more