Gas Mask Nation: Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan

ambulance unit in the HKVDC and had been a professor at Hong Kong University. After the surrender of Hong Kong, Major Ride played a key role in the establishment of the British Army Aid Group (BAAG). After his escape from captivity in Hong Kong, Ride proposed establishing an organization to help prisoners of war, internees and escapees from Hong Kong. It was set up in Kwantang Province and helped over 2000 prisoner of war escapees as well as smuggling food, drugs and messages to the prisoners of war. Hong Kong personnel from HKVDC such as Francis Lee Yiu-piu was one of the first agents of BAAG. He was betrayed to the Japanese Kempetai in April 1942. He was beaten and starved. The Japanese thought he was an intelligence officer of the Nationalist 187th Division and sent him to be shot by the collaborationists in Shenzhen. They released him to let the Nationalist government that they were only protecting the local population. Lee’s story is told throughout the book. He later took part in the Victory Parade London on 8 June 1946 and then worked for Douglas Clague, another BAAG member, after the war. There is a picture of them both in 1943 (123). This is one of the real strengths of this publication as the stories of the British officers are well-known but by diligent research the author tells the hitherto undiscovered stories of the Hong Kong personnel in the various units. The other Second World War unit that is well-documented, mainly by the behind the lines expert Mike Calvert in his Prisoners of Hope (1952), is the story of those who escaped to China with the aid of the BAAG and then fought in Burma in the Second Chindit Expedition as the 125 men of the Hong Kong Volunteer Company in 77th Indian Infantry Brigade under Calvert’s command. He divided the unit into three platoons according to their social and class backgrounds ‘unwittingly reinforcing the divide among them’ (149). One of which with the more experienced soldiers formed the Brigade Defence Platoon. Again the author tells their individual stories alongside the wider context of the Chindit Expedition and the campaign in Burma. He quotes Calvert’s assessment: “they had their shortcoming in attack, as they much preferred to win their battles by cunning, but they had their value in defence. They showed great aptitude for fieldcraft and concealment, and their fortitude under rigorous field conditions in Burma was first class.” (156). The last chapter of the book surveys military service during the Cold War, concluding that the military historical experience in the colonial period is a contested field but in more recent times has become an increasingly more important part of Hong Kong identity. The author has trawled the archives in Australia, the UK and Hong Kong to provide a very thorough examination. As the author states he found very little evidence of the role of locally enlisted personnel of the different ethnicities in Hong Kong such as Chinese, Portuguese, Eurasian and other nationalities in the 1941 Battle for Hong. In this work, he has amply corrected this omission. As with many studies of the British Empire, the role of the British military have dominated the historiography backed up by the official records produced by the military. Thus, it is a much-needed study that deserves a wider reading public than just an academic audience. Although it also warrants inclusion in all university reading lists that cover British imperial military history.