East River Column

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The East River Column or Dongjiang Column (simplified Chinese: 东江纵队; traditional Chinese: 東江縱隊) was an anti-Japanese guerrilla force in Guangdong province and in Hong Kong during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Originally formed by Zeng Sheng (曾生) in Guangdong in 1939, this group mainly comprised peasants, students, and seamen, including Yuan Geng.[1][2] When the war reached Hong Kong in 1941, the guerrilla force grew from 200 to more than 6,000 soldiers.[1]

In January 1942, the Guangdong people's anti-Japanese East River guerrillas (廣東人民抗日游擊隊東江縱隊) was established to reinforce anti-Japanese forces in Dongjiang and Zhujiang Pearl River deltas.[3] The guerillas' most significant contribution to the Allies, in particular, was their rescue of twenty American pilots who parachuted into Kowloon when their planes were shot down by the Japanese.[1] In the wake of the British retreat, the guerillas picked up abandoned weapons and established bases in the New Territories and Kowloon.[1] Applying the tactics of guerrilla warfare, they killed Chinese traitors and collaborators.[1] They protected traders in Kowloon and Guangzhou, attacked the police station at Tai Po, and bombed Kai Tak Airport.[1] During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong the only fortified resistance was mounted by the East River guerillas.[1]

The Hong Kong and Kowloon Independent Brigade of the East River Column (東江縱隊港九獨立大隊), was established on February 3, 1942, in the Rosary Mission Centre (玫瑰小堂), a chapel in Wong Mo Ying, a village in the Tai Mong Tsai area of the Sai Kung District, in Hong Kong.[4][5][6]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Courtauld, Caroline. Holdsworth, May. [1997] (1997). The Hong Kong Story. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-590353-6. pp. 54–58.
  2. ^ Stanford, David. [2006] (2006). Roses in December. Lulu press. ISBN 1-84753-966-1.
  3. ^ [2000] (2000). American Association for Chinese Studies publishing. American journal of Chinese studies, Volumes 8–9. p 141.
  4. ^ Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisal. Rosary Mission Centre, No. 1 Wong Mo Ying
  5. ^ Chan, Sui-jeung (2009). East River Column: Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After. Hong Kong University Press. p. 85. ISBN 9789622098503.
  6. ^ Chen Daming, Hong Kong's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force (香港抗日游擊隊) (Hong Kong: Universal Press, 2000), pp. 26-27; Choi Chung Man, "Sai Kung People's Support for the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Company" (西貢人民對港九大隊的支持), in Chui Yuet Ching, ed., Active in Hong Kong: A Record of Anti-Japanese Efforts of the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Battalion in Sai Kung (活躍在 香江：港九大隊西貢地區抗日實錄) (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing, 1993), pp. 168-172. (References cited in The Tai Po Book, p. 205).

Further reading[]

  • Chan, Sui-jeung (2009). East River Column: Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9789622098503.


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