Hong Kong Volunteer Company

Hong Kong Volunteer Company
Hong Kong Volunteer Company
香港志願連
Country	British Hong Kong
Engagements	Burma Campaign

Hong Kong Volunteer Company (Chinese: 香港志願連) was a company of British-Chinese soldiers that escaped Japanese occupied Hong Kong, and served with the British in India and Burma during the Burma Campaign of World War II.

History[]

Following the surrender of Hong Kong in December 1941, a number of British-Chinese soldiers made their escape to Free China, and volunteered to go to India to join the British Army and fight the Japanese. The volunteer company was initially made up of 128 Chinese members of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp, 49 Chinese members of the British Army, as well as a number of members from the Air Transport Auxiliary, Air Raid Precautions, and other personnel that escaped from Japanese occupied Hong Kong to Free China.^[1] Escapees were assisted by the British Army Aid Group, and transported to Assam, and then to Calcutta by the Royal Air Force.^[1]

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Calvert, a British officer who previously commanded Chinese sappers in Hong Kong before 1941, called for volunteers from the escapees to serve with the Chindits.^[1] By February 1943, the Hong Kong Volunteer Company was put into service with the Chindits in Burma.^[1] They were later deployed to Japanese-occupied Malaya conducting special reconnaissance behind enemy lines.^{[citation needed]}

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d Lai, Benjamin (2014). Hong Kong 1941–45: First strike in the Pacific War. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-7820-0269-7.

Hong Kong Volunteer Company

Contents

History[]

See also[]

References[]

Further reading[]