The London Gazette of TUESDAY, the 2Jth of JANUARY, 1948 Published By
tnumb, 3819° 699 SUPPLEMENT TO The London Gazette Of TUESDAY, the 2jth of JANUARY, 1948 published by Registered as a newspaper THURSDAY, 29 JANUARY, 1948 The War Office, January, 1948. OPERATIONS IN HONG KONG FROM STH TO 25x11 DECEMBER, 1941 The following Despatch was submitted to the the so-called " Gmdrinkers' Line," with the Secretary of State for War, on 2is£ hope that, given a certain amount of time and November 1945, by MAJOR-GENERAL if the enemy did not launch a major offensive C. M. MALTBY, M.C., late G.O.C., British there, Kowloon, the harbour and the northern Troops in China. portion of the island would not be subjected to artillery fire directed from the land. Time was SIR, also of vital importance to complete demolitions I 'have the honour to address you on the of fuel stores, power houses, docks, wharves, subject of the operations in Hong Kong in etc., on the mainland; to clear certain food Decemiber, 1941, and to forward herewith an stocks and vital necessities from the mainland account of the operations which took place at to the island; to sink shipping and lighters and Hong Kong 'between 8th and 25th December, to clear the harbour of thousands of junks and 1941. sampans. It will be appreciated that to take such irrevocable and expensive steps as men- 2. In normal circumstances this despatch tiori^dln the foregoing sentence was impossible would have been submitted through Head- until it was definitely known that war with quarters, Far East, tout in the circumstances in Japan was inevitable.
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