Modern Hong Kong is very different from the Hong Kong of 1941. However, parts of the 1941 battlefield remain almost unchanged. The Gin Drinkers Line, around the areas of the Shing Mun Redoubt and Golden Hill, overlooking Shing Mun reservoir, is located in what is now a country park. It is easily accessible by taxi and the city metro. (http://gwulo.com/shing-mun-redoubt)
The Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence, located in a Victorian fort overlooking the Leiyuemun (Lyemun) Channel, near Shaukeiwan on Hong Kong Island, which saw fierce battle during the night of 18 December 1941, can easily be reached by the city metro. (http://hk.coastaldefence.museum/index.php)
Top left, the grave of Brigadier J. K. Lawson; top right Capt. H. R. Newton, OC D Coy, 5/7 Rajputs; both are in Chaiwan Military Cemetery, Hong Kong. Bottom centre is the memorial to the Free French who fought with the HKVDC. This memorial is at Stanley Military Cemetery, Hong Kong Island. (Author’s collection)
The areas among the Wongneichong Gap can be easily visited by bus from Central or by taxi. The bunkers in which Brig. Lawson fought his last battle are right next to the petrol station, across from the Hong Kong Cricket Club on Wongneichong Road. There is a battlefield trail that starts just opposite the entrance to Parkview Mansion. It loops along and down a hillside to pass an old anti-aircraft battery and a couple of pillboxes, then drops to the Gap itself, ending at the former bunker complex of Brig. Lawson.
There are a number of machine-gun bunkers dotted around the shores of Hong Kong Island that can still be seen. Most convenient are those that lined the shores of Repulse Bay Beach, on the south shores of Hong Kong Island. Although the guns are gone, the site of the batteries can still be seen, though only by car; Pinewood Battery, Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island in what is now the Lung Fu Shan country park is a notable example. Badly damaged on 15 December 1941, it is one of the very few battle sites now standing virtually unchanged since 1941. Another site is the Devil’s Peak Battery on Kowloon. You can take the Hong Kong metro to Yautong Station, followed by a short taxi ride.
Stanley Military Cemetery can easily be reached by car and is located near St Stephen’s Bay in Stanley. Stanley village was one of the battlefields where the Royal Rifles of Canada, HKVDC, and 1 Middlesex, took the last stand. Fighting occurred in the cemetery itself on the afternoon of Christmas Day, when D Coy Royal Rifles of Canada tried to force the advancing Japanese from Bungalow C. Another worthwhile visit is the military cemetery located in Chaiwan, on the north-eastern corner of Hong Kong Island. The site of the cemetery is midway up Cape Collinson Road. A total of 1,528 soldiers, mainly from the Commonwealth, are buried here, including Brig. Lawson and Col. Hennessey.
The official British war memorial is a British-style cenotaph, exactly the same as that in London. It is located in Central, just next to the venerable Hong Kong Club. Behind the cenotaph, towards the sea, is the City Hall where, on adjoining ground, is a memorial garden with an octagonal hall that holds the book that bears all the names of those who fell during 1941–45. From 1962 to 1997, when the memorial garden was built, the book of the fallen contained only British war dead. The names of the Chinese ERC, who contributed so much to the war effort, were added only in 1997 after the change of sovereignty from Britain to China. Both of these monuments can easily be reached by the city metro.
There are two ERC monuments located in the New Territories, one in Wu Kau Tang and a second in Pak Tam Chung. Both are obelisks; the former is unique as it was the only monument bearing a CCP red star in colonial Hong Kong, and the latter is the biggest war monument in Hong Kong. Both can be reached only by car. In mainland China, a museum dedicated to the ERC is located in Guangdong Province, Dongguan City, Dalingshan Township. (http://www.dongzong.gov.cn/page/index.asp) A second, more easily reached museum, also dedicated to ERC, is located in Shenzhen, China, in Longgang District, Dongzhong Road, Huipo Zone. A small office, right in the heart of Shenzhen, was the former forward command post of the ERC. This office is located less than a five-minute walk from Laojie Metro Station in Shenzhen.
Top left, the cenotaph, Hong Kong, Remembrance Day 2011; top right, the regimental cap badge of the HKVDC. Bottom centre, Memorial Garden, City Hall; the hexagonal building in the centre houses the names of all who died in the battle of Hong Kong 1941–45. (Author’s collection)
Stanley Internment Camp (now Stanley Prison) is out of bounds to visitors. St Stephen’s College, a private college, can be visited only with special permission. The sites of North Point Camp, Shumshuipo POW camp, Ma Tau Chung and Argyle Street Camp have all been rebuilt with no trace of their former use.