Siege of the International Legations

The siege of the International Legations occurred in 1900 in Peking, the capital of the Qing Empire, during the Boxer Rebellion. Menaced by the Boxers, an anti-Christian, anti-foreign peasant movement, 900 soldiers, marines, and civilians, largely from Europe, Japan, and the United States, and about 2,800 Chinese Christians took refuge in the Peking Legation Quarter. The Qing government took the side of the Boxers after the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Tianjin at the Battle of the Taku Forts (1900), without a formal declaration of war. The foreigners and Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter survived a 55-day siege by the Qing Army and Boxers. The siege was broken by an international military force which marched from the coast of China, defeated the Qing army, and occupied Peking (now known as Beijing). The siege was called by the "New York Sun" "the most exciting episode ever known to civilization."
Legation Quarter.
The Legation Quarter was approximately long and wide. It was located in the area of the city designated by the Qing government for foreign legations. In 1900, there were 11 legations located in the quarter as well as a number of foreign businesses and banks. Ethnic Chinese-occupied houses and businesses were also scattered about the quarter. The 12 or so Christian missionary organizations in Beijing were not located in the Legation Quarter, but rather dispersed around the city. In total, there were about 500 citizens of Western countries and Japan residing in the city. The northern end of the Legation quarter was near the Imperial City where the Empress Dowager Cixi resided. The southern end was bounded by the massive Tartar Wall which ringed the entire city of Beijing. The eastern and western ends were major streets.
Rising tensions.
By 1900, foreign powers had been chipping away at Chinese sovereignty for over six decades. After Chinese defeats in the First and Second Opium Wars, the Qing government had been forced to sign several "unequal treaties" with the Western powers, granting them the right to free trade in the previously isolationist nation along with extraterritoriality for subjects of Western nations. Similar terms were obtained by the Japanese after their victory in the First Sino-Japanese War; inflaming anti-Japanese sentiments in China. Anti-Japanese and anti-Western sentiments helped lead to the formation of the "Yihetuan", whose stated goal was to drive foreigners and foreign influence (including Christianity) out of China.
Boxer movement.
Authorities differ as to the origin of the Boxers, but they became prominent in Shantung (Shandong) in 1898 and spread northward toward Beijing. They were an indigenous peasant movement, related to the secret societies that had flourished in China for centuries—and which, on occasion, had threatened Chinese central governments. The Boxers were named—probably by American missionary Arthur H. Smith—for their acrobatic rituals which included martial arts, twirling swords, prayers and incantations. Similar to other anti-Western millenarianism movements around the world, such as the Ghost Dance in the US, the Boxers believed that with the proper ritual they would become invulnerable to Western bullets. The religious and magical practices of the Boxers had "as a paramount goal the affording of protection and emotional security in the face of a future... that was fraught with danger and risk." The Boxers had no central organization but appear to have been organized on the village level. They were anti-foreign and anti-missionary. Their slogan was "Support the Qing! Destroy the Foreigner!". Initially feared as a possible threat by the Chinese government, they slowly gained the support of influential politicians in Beijing, who saw the Boxers as a movement that could be used to eliminate foreign influence in China.
Boxers attack Christians.
In early 1900 the Boxer movement spread rapidly north from Shandong into the countryside near Beijing. Boxers burned Christian churches, killed Chinese Christians and intimidated Chinese officials who stood in their way. Two missionaries, Protestant William Scott Ament and Catholic Bishop Favier, reported to the diplomatic ministers (Ambassadors) about the growing threat. American Minister Edwin H. Conger cabled Washington, "The whole country is swarming with hungry, discontented, hopeless idlers." Requesting a warship to be stationed offshore of Tianjin, the nearest port to Beijing, he reported, "Situation becoming serious." On May 30, the diplomats, led by British Minister Claude Maxwell MacDonald, requested that foreign soldiers come to Beijing to defend the legations and the citizens of their countries. The Chinese government reluctantly acquiesced, and the next day more than 400 soldiers from eight countries disembarked from warships and traveled by train to Beijing from Tianjin. They set up defensive perimeters around their respective missions.
On June5 the railroad line to Tianjin was cut by Boxers in the countryside and Beijing was isolated. On June11 a Japanese diplomat, Sugiyama Akira, was murdered by soldiers of Gen. Dong Fuxiang and the next day the first Boxer, dressed in his finery, was seen in the Legation Quarter. The German Minister, Clemens von Ketteler, and German soldiers captured another Boxer. In response, that afternoon thousands of Boxers burst into the walled city of Beijing and burned most of the Christian churches and cathedrals in the city, killing many Chinese Christians and several Catholic priests. The Chinese Christians were accused of collaborating with the foreigners. American and British missionaries and their converts had taken refuge in the Methodist Mission and an attack there was repulsed by American Marines. Soldiers at the British embassy and German legations shot and killed several Boxers.
Dilemma of the Chinese Government.
In mid-June the Chinese government was still indecisive about the Boxers. Some officials—Ronglu, for example—counseled the Empress Dowager that the Boxers were "rabble" who would be easily defeated by foreign soldiers. On the other side of the question were anti-foreign officials who advised cooperation with the Boxers. "The Court appears to be in a dilemma," said Sir Robert Hart. "If the Boxers are not suppressed, the Legations threaten to take action—if the attempt to suppress them is made, this intensely patriotic organization will be converted into an anti-dynastic movement." The event that irrevocably pushed the Chinese government to the side of the Boxers was the attack by foreign warships on the Taku Forts on June 17. The attack was made to try to maintain communications with Tianjin and aid an army under the command of Adm. Edward Seymour in its attempt to march to Beijing during the Seymour Expedition and reinforce the Legations.
On June 19 the Empress Dowager sent a diplomatic note to each of the legations in Beijing informing them of the attack on Dagu and ordering all foreigners to depart Beijing for Tianjin within 24 hours. Otherwise, said the note, "China will find it a difficult matter to give complete protection." Upon receipt of the note, the diplomats convened and agreed it would be suicidal to leave the Legation Quarter and travel to the coast in an unfriendly countryside. The next morning, June 20, Baron von Ketteler, the German Minister, proposed to take up the matter with the Zongli Yamen, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, but he was murdered by a Manchu officer, Capt. En Hai of the Hushenying, while en route to the meeting. With this, the Ministers informed all their citizens in Beijing to take refuge in the Legation Quarter. Thus began the 55-day siege.
Besieged.
The British, American, French, German, Japanese, and Russian military guards each took responsibility for the defense of their respective legations. The Austrians and Italians abandoned their isolated legations. The Austrians joined the French and the Italians collaborated with the Japanese. The Japanese and Italian force established defense lines in the Fu – a large mansion and park where most of the estimated 2,812 Chinese Christians taking refuge were housed. The American and German Marines held positions on the Tartar Wall behind their legations. The 409 guards had the job of defending a line that snaked through of urban terrain. The great majority of foreign civilians took refuge in the British Embassy, the largest and most defensible of the diplomatic legations. A census of civilians counted 473 people: 245 men, 149 women, and 79 children. About 150 of the men volunteered to participate, to a greater or lesser extent, in the defense. The civilians included at least 19 nationalities of which British and Americans were the most numerous. Large numbers of Chinese Christians were conscripted for labor, especially for building barricades.
The British Minister Claude MacDonald was selected as the commander of the defense and Herbert G. Squiers, an American diplomat, became his chief of staff. The guards of the different countries, however, operated semi-independently and MacDonald could only suggest, not order, coordinated action. The guards were not well armed. Only the American Marines had sufficient ammunition. The defenders had three machine guns. The Italians had a small cannon. Fortunately, an old cannon barrel and ammunition was found in the Legation Quarter and from it a serviceable artillery piece was constructed that the Americans called "Betsy" and others called "the International".
The foreigners ransacked the Legation Quarter for food and other supplies. Food and water were adequate, although the foreigners without private food stocks subsisted on a steady diet of horsemeat and musty rice. However, the Chinese Christians, especially the Catholics, had a much harder time of it and by the end of the siege were starving. The Protestant missionaries took care of their converts, but the Chinese Catholics were mostly neglected. Medical supplies were scarce but a sizeable number of doctors and nurses, mostly missionaries, were present.
American missionaries took over management of most necessities for life in the Legation Quarter, including food, water, sanitation, and health. MacDonald’s most important appointment was Methodist Missionary Frank Gamewell as chief of the Fortifications Committee. Gamewell and his crew of "fighting parsons" were universally acclaimed for their defensive works surrounding the British Legation.
About three miles distant from the Legation Quarter a similar siege took place at the Beitang or North Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church. Thirty-three priests and nuns, 43 French and Italian soldiers, and more than 3,000 Chinese Christians held off the Chinese army and Boxers. There was no communication during the siege between the Beitang and the Legation Quarter.
Chinese attacks and resolve.
For several days after June 20—the official beginning of the siege—neither the foreigners inside the Legation Quarter nor the Chinese soldiers outside it had any coherent plan for defense or attack. The number of Chinese soldiers ringing the legations is uncertain, but certainly numbered in the thousands. On the west were the Gansu Muslim soldiers of Dong Fuxiang and on the east were units of the Peking Field Army. The overall commander of the Chinese forces was Ronglu—who was anti-Boxer and disapproved of the siege. Chinese policy equivocated between belligerence and conciliation during the 55-day siege. Several attempts by Ronglu to effect a cease-fire failed because of suspicions and misunderstandings on both sides.
The Chinese first attempted to extinguish the foreigners in the Legation Quarter by fire. For several days at the beginning of the siege they set fires in the buildings around the British Legation. On June 23, most of the buildings of the Hanlin Academy, the national library of China, and its books, many irreplaceable, burned. Both sides blamed the other for its destruction. The Chinese Army then turned its attention to the Fu, the refuge for most of the Chinese Christians, and the domain of Lt. Col. Goro Shiba, the most admired military officer in the siege. Shiba, with his small group of Japanese soldiers, mounted a skillful defense against the Chinese who advanced behind walls built ever-closer to the Japanese, gradually threatening to surround them in a vise-like grip. British soldiers were often detailed to reinforce the Japanese during attacks and all admired Shiba's work. The most desperate fighting took place near the French Legation, where 78 French and Austrians and 17 volunteers were under assault in convoluted urban terrain, in which the front lines were only from each other. The French also feared that Chinese sappers were digging tunnels for mines beneath their positions.
The Germans and the Americans occupied perhaps the most crucial of all defensive positions: the Tartar Wall. Holding the top of the tall and wide Wall was vital. If it fell to the Chinese, they would have an unobstructed field of fire into the Legation Quarter. The German barricades faced east on top of the wall and west were the west-facing American positions. The Chinese advanced toward both positions by building barricades ever-closer. It was a claustrophobic existence for the soldiers on the wall. "The men all feel they are in a trap," said the American commander, Capt. John T. Myers, "and simply await the hour of execution." Added to the daily advances of the Chinese were the nightly serenades of rifle and artillery fire and firecrackers designed to keep the foreigners awake and alert. "From June 20 to July 17 we had nightly attacks," said a missionary woman. American Minister Conger said "that some of them, for furious firing, exceeded anything he experienced in the American Civil War." The hard-pressed Legation guards saw their numbers diminish daily with casualties.
The Chinese were divided on the prosecution of the siege. The anti-Boxer faction, headed by Rong Lu, and the anti-foreign faction, headed by Prince Duan, squabbled at the Chinese court. Cixi, the Dowager Empress, vacillated between the two. She declared a truce for negotiations on June 25, but it endured only a few hours. She declared a cease-fire on July 17 which lasted for most of the remainder of the siege. As a sign of good will, she sent food and supplies to the foreigners. The disagreements among the Chinese occasionally resulted in altercations and violence between Boxers and soldiers and between different units of the Imperial army.
Fight on the Wall.
The most critical threat to the survival of the foreigners came in early July. On June 30 the Chinese forced the Germans off the Tartar Wall, leaving the American Marines alone in its defense. At the same time a Chinese barricade advanced to within a few feet of the American positions and it became clear that the Americans had to abandon the wall or force the Chinese to retreat. At 2:00 am on July 3 the foreigners launched an assault against the Chinese barricade on the wall with 26 British, 15 Russian and 15 Americans under the command of American Capt. John T. Myers. As hoped, the attack caught the Chinese sleeping; about 20 of them were killed and the survivors expelled from the barricades. Two American Marines were killed and Capt. Myers was wounded and spent the rest of the siege in the hospital. The capture of Chinese positions on the Wall was hailed as the "pivot of our destiny" by one of the besieged. The Chinese did not attempt to regain or advance their positions on the Tartar Wall for the remainder of the siege.
Darkest days and a truce.
Sir Claude MacDonald said July 13 was the "most harassing day" of the siege. The Japanese and Italians in the Fu were driven back to their last defense line. While the Fu was under heavy attack the Chinese detonated a mine beneath the French Legation, destroying most of it, killing two soldiers and pushing the French and Austrians out of most of the French Legation. Frank Gamewell began digging bombproof shelters as a last refuge for the besieged. The end seemed near.
The next day, however, a conciliatory message was received from the Chinese, which raised hopes—dashed again on July 16 when the most capable British officer was killed and journalist George Ernest Morrison was wounded. However, American Minister Conger carried on a communication with the Chinese government and on July 17 firing died down on both sides and an armistice began.
It was just in time; more than one-third of the legation guards were dead or wounded. The motivation on the Chinese side was probably the realization that an allied force of 20,000 men had landed in China and retribution for the Boxers and the siege was at hand.
Relief of the Legations.
On July 28 the foreigners in the Legation Quarter received their first message from the outside world in more than a month. A Chinese boy—a student of the missionary William Scott Ament—sneaked into the Legation Quarter with the news that a rescue army of the Eight-Nation Alliance was in Tianjin away and would advance shortly to Beijing. The news was hardly reassuring, as the besieged had been expecting an earlier rescue. The Chinese government also passed along inquiries about the welfare of the besieged from their governments. A British soldier suggested that an appropriate reply would be, "Not massacred yet."
After many relatively quiet days, the night of August 13, with the rescue army just outside the gates of Beijing, may have been the most difficult of the siege. The Chinese broke the truce with an artillery barrage of the British Legation and heavy fire in the Fu. However, the Chinese confined themselves to firing from a distance rather than mounting an assault until, at 2:00 am on August 14, the defenders heard from the east the sound of a machine gun, a sign that the rescue army was on the way. At 5:00 am came the sound of artillery outside the walls of Beijing.
Five national contingents advanced on the walls of Beijing on August 14: British, American, Japanese, Russian and French. Each had a gate in the Wall for its objective. The Japanese and Russians were delayed at their gates by Chinese resistance. The small French contingent got lost. The Americans scaled the walls rather than attempting to force their way through a fortified gate. However, it was the British who won the race to relieve the siege of the legations. They entered the city through an unguarded gate and proceeded with virtually no opposition. At 3:00 pm the British passed through a drainage ditch—the "water gate"—under the Tartar Wall. Sikh and Rajput soldiers from India and their British officers had the honor of being the first to enter the Legation Quarter. The Chinese armies ringing the legation quarter melted away. A short time later the British commander, Gen. Alfred Gaselee, entered and was greeted by Sir Claude MacDonald dressed in "immaculate tennis flannels" and a crowd of cheering ladies in party dresses. The American troops, under Gen. Adna Chaffee, arrived at 5:00 pm.
The commanding Muslim general, Ma Fulu, and four cousins of his were killed in action against the foreign forces. After the battle was over, the Chinese Muslim forces guarded the Empress Dowager Cixi when she fled to Xi'an with the entire Imperial Court; general Ma Fuxiang assisted in guarding Cixi.
Casualties.
The foreigners were united in declaring the miraculous nature of their survival. "I seek in vain some military reason for the failure of the Chinese to exterminate the foreigners," said an American military officer. Missionary Arthur Smith summed up the Chinese military performance. "Upon unnumbered occasions, had they been ready to make a sacrifice of a few hundred lives, they could have extinguished the defence [of the Legation Quarter] in an hour." However, the equivocation on the part of the Chinese to use their military assets decisively against the Legation Quarter does not deny the fact that soldiers on both sides fought and died in large numbers. The foreign soldiers defending the Legation Quarter suffered heavy casualties. Of the 409 soldiers, 55 were killed and 135 wounded, a casualty rate of 46.5%. In addition, 13 civilians were killed and 24 wounded, mostly men who participated in the defence.
A small Japanese force of one officer and 24 sailors commanded by Col. Shiba distinguished itself defending the Fu and the Chinese Christians there. It suffered greater than 100% casualties. This was possible because many of the Japanese troops were wounded, entered into the casualty lists, then returned to the line of battle only to be wounded once more and again entered in the casualty lists. The French force of 57 men also suffered more than 100% casualties.
Chinese military casualties are not known, nor were deaths among the Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter recorded.
Propaganda.
During the siege Sheng Xuanhuai and other provincial officials suggested the Qing court give Li Hongzhang full diplomatic power to negotiate with foreign powers. Li Hongzhang telegraphed back to Sheng Xuanhuai on June 25, describing the war declaration a "false edict" (luanming). Later, the "Southeast Mutual Protection" was reached by provincial officials as a consensus not to follow Empress Cixi’s declaration of war. Li Hongzhang also totally refused to listen to orders from the government for more troops when they were needed to fight against the foreigners, which he had available, derailing the Chinese war effort.
Li Hongzhang used the siege as a political weapon against his rivals in Beijing, since he controlled the Chinese telegraph service; he exaggerated and lied, claiming that Chinese forces committed atrocities and murder upon the foreigners and exterminated all of them. This information was sent to the Western world. He aimed to infuriate the Europeans against the Chinese forces in Beijing, and succeeded in spreading massive amounts of false information to the West. This false information spread by Li played a part in the massive atrocities which the foreigners later committed upon the Chinese in Beijing. For refusing to obey the Chinese government's orders and not sending his own troops to help the Chinese army at all during the Boxer Rebellion, Li Hongzhang was praised by the Westerners. For his role in the siege of the International Legations, he is criticized by the PRC official history, which has only recently begun to allow different interpretations through popular media such as TV series aired by the official CCTV.
Aftermath.
The Empress Dowager and her court fled Beijing on August 15. She remained in exile in Shanxi province until 1902, when she was permitted by the foreign armies occupying Beijing to return to reoccupy the throne. For China, the Boxer Rebellion was a disaster but turned out, ironically, about so well as could be expected. China remained together as a single country, while prior to the Boxer Rebellion it seemed likely to be divided by the colonial powers. The Chinese government supported the Boxers, who otherwise might have turned anti-Qing and hastened the extinction of the dynasty, but was unsuccessful in killing the foreigners in the Legations. Had the Chinese succeeded, retribution from the Western nations and Japan might have been more severe. Ronglu later took credit for saving the besieged: “I was able to avert the crowning misfortune which would have resulted from the killing of the Foreign Ministers”. Ronglu was being disingenuous, as his forces came very close to breaking the ability of the besieged to resist.
The Boxer movement disintegrated during the siege. Some Boxers were incorporated into the army but, probably, most returned to their homes in the countryside where they became targets for punitive expeditions by the foreign military forces occupying Beijing after the siege.
The military occupation of Beijing and much of northern China became an orgy of looting and violence in which foreign soldiers, diplomats, missionaries, and journalists participated. Reports of the behaviour of the foreigners in Beijing caused widespread criticism in Western countries, including from Mark Twain. While the rescue of the besieged foreigners in the Legation Quarter was seen as a proof of the superiority of Western civilization, the sordid aftermath of the siege may have contributed to many people in the United States and Europe reevaluating the morality of forcing Western culture and religion on the Chinese.


Convoy HX 72

HX 72 was a North Atlantic convoy of the HX series which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. The convoy comprised 43 ships of which 11 were sunk and another damaged by German U-boats who suffered no losses.
Background.
HX 72 was an east-bound convoy of 43 ships which sailed from Halifax on 9 September 1940 bound for Liverpool and carrying war materials.
The convoy comprised contingents from Halifax, Sydney and Bermuda. Its Commodore was Rear Admiral HH Rogers, RNR in .
Escorts at this stage of the campaign were generally meagre; convoys generally were unescorted, or had just an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) as protection against surface raiders until reaching the Western Approaches. HX 72's ocean escort was the AMC , though at sunset on 20 September "Jervis Bay" detached to meet a west-bound convoy. HX 72 was not due to meet the Western Approaches escort until the afternoon of 21 September, so HX 72 was unprotected when it was sighted at last light by Prien of .
The U-boat Arm (UBW) was also sparse, able to maintain only a few boats at any one time in the North Atlantic, operating at the edge of the Western Approaches to intercept convoys before their escort had joined.
"U-47" was on weather duty, her armament depleted after an attack on Convoy SC 2 earlier that month, and was able only to report contact.
After reporting the convoy Prien shadowed the convoy, while U-boat Control (BdU) summoned all available U-boats.
During night and following day a pack of 6 boats was gathered, and , which were nearby, and others en route from Germany.
Action.
Kretschmer, in "U-99" made contact around midnight of 20/21 September and attacked, hitting "Invershannon". Rogers ordered a turn to port to try and shake off the attack, but this failed;" U-99" attacked again, hitting "Baron Blythswood", which sank, and "Elmbank", which was disabled. "U-99" and "U-47" then attacked "Elmbank" with gunfire, but she did not sink until morning, at which point "U-99" left the scene to return to Lorient.
 arrived before dawn, and sank "Blairangus", which was straggling. Rogers dropped smoke and turned again, to try and shake off his pursuers, but failed once more; "U-47" and "U-48" continued to shadow throughout the daylight on the 21st.
On 21 September, Prien and Bleichrodt were joined by 4 other boats of 2nd U-boat Flotilla, , , and , while arrived at nightfall.
However that afternoon the Western Approaches escort also arrived, causing the U-boats to draw back. At this stage, escorts usually arrived piecemeal, but by evening 5 warships had arrived, the sloop , destroyer and 3 corvettes, , and .
At nightfall on 21/22 September "U-100" struck, entering the convoy to attack at close range. Attacking before moonrise Schepke hit three ships within minutes, causing confusion. , "Torinia" and "Dalcairn" were sunk, and the convoy began to scatter in confusion. The escort sought to retaliate, but searched outside the convoy perimeter, where the rest of the pack was gathered; they were unable to find Schepke, but were able to frustrate further attacks. "U-48" hit "Broompark", which was damaged, but no other boat was successful. Just after midnight "U-100" struck again, sinking 3 more ships; , "Scholar", and "Frederick S Fales". She also attacked "Harlingen", but was spotted; "Harlingen" avoided the torpedoes aimed at her, and returned fire with her stern gun, scoring several hits, but causing little damage.
As the convoy broke up, two more ships were hit; "U-100" sank "Simla", while "U-32" damaged "Collegian".
This was the end of the action; HX 72 was scattered, but the U–boats were unable to pursue, as the presence of the escorts had forced them to submerge. The remaining ships of HX 72 proceeded independently, while the escorts tried to gather the convoy back together, but no further attacks took place and all remaining ships reached port safely.
Conclusion.
HX 72 had lost 11 ships of 72,727 gross register tons, of which Kretschmer sank three and Schepke seven ships.
Whilst undoubtedly a victory, and a vindication of Donitz's wolfpack tactic, most of the UBW's successes were achieved by two of its aces using their high-risk tactic of penetrating the convoy to attack from within. The other boats following the more traditional approach from the flank, and at longer range, were far less successful.
Table.
Allied ships sunk


Karl Eikenberry

Karl Winfrid Eikenberry (born November 10, 1951) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from April 2009 to July 2011. From 2011 to 2019, he was the Director of the U.S. Asia Security Initiative at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and a Stanford University professor of the practice; a member of the Core Faculty at the Center for International Security and Cooperation; and an affiliated faculty member at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and The Europe Center.
Eikenberry is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences where he co-directs the Academy's multiyear project on civil wars, violence, and international responses, and a member of the Academy's Committee of International Security Studies. He serves on the board of The Asia Foundation, American Councils for International Education, the Asia Society of Northern California, Academic Exchange, and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He is a faculty member of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and a member of the Working Group on Science and Technology and U.S.-China Relations organized by the UC San Diego 21st Century China Center and the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations. Additionally, Eikenberry is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and Institute for International Strategic Studies.
Early life and education.
Eikenberry was born in 1951 in Hammond, Indiana and graduated from Goldsboro High School in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1969. He then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation in 1973.
He received an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, where he would later return as a National Security Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also earned an M.A. in political science from Stanford University. In addition, Eikenberry has studied in Hong Kong at the UK Ministry of Defence Chinese Language School, earning the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Interpreter's Certificate for Mandarin Chinese, and at Nanjing University, earning an advanced degree in Chinese history.
Military career.
In the Army, Eikenberry commanded and held staff positions in airborne, ranger, and mechanized infantry units in the United States, Korea, and Europe. He also served as Assistant Army Attaché and later as the Defense Attaché in the United States Embassy in Beijing, People's Republic of China. His other political-military assignments included Senior Country Director for China and Taiwan in the Office of Secretary of Defense, Foreign Area Officer Division Chief and Deputy Director of the Strategy, Plans and Policy Directorate on the Army Staff, and Director of Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate, United States Pacific Command, Camp Smith, Hawaii.
Eikenberry served two tours of duty in the war in Afghanistan. His first tour in Afghanistan, from September 2002 to September 2003, he filled two positions—his primary duty was as the U.S. Security Coordinator for Afghanistan and the second position was the Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan (OMC-A). As the Security Coordinator, he worked closely with Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Pakistan Lakhdar Brahimi to forge a unified international effort to build a cohesive security sector.
Security sector reform (SSR) followed a lead-nation approach agreed upon in January 2002, in which the G8 nations would each lead a specific sector—the United States was responsible for the Afghan National Army; Germany, the Afghan Police; UK, counter-narcotics; Italy, judicial reform; and Japan and the United Nations took on the task of disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating the militias. In his role as Chief of the OMC-A he was the chief architect of the strategy that established the new Afghan National Army.
Eikenberry succeeded Lieutenant General David Barno as Commander, Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, on May 4, 2005. During his second tour from May 2005 to February 2007, he was responsible for transferring operational responsibility for southern and eastern Afghanistan to the NATO International Security Assistance Force and the international training of the Afghan National Army and Police Forces. He also commanded the military task force sent to Pakistan to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the wake of the October 8th, 2005 Kashmir earthquake. He completed his military career in Brussels, Belgium as the Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.
Ambassador.
On January 29, 2009, the "New York Times" reported that President Barack Obama had chosen Eikenberry to be the next U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, replacing William Braucher Wood. The choice of a career army officer for the sensitive post was described by "The Times" as "highly unusual". On April 3, 2009, the Senate confirmed Eikenberry's nomination, and on April 29, 2009, he was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. The official announcement of his nomination was made on March 11. Following his confirmation as ambassador, he retired from the U.S. military with the rank of Lieutenant General on April 28, 2009. As the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, he led the civilian surge directed by President Obama, overseeing the growth of the embassy staff from 350 to 1,400 civilian personnel from eighteen United States Government departments and agencies, and the administration of bilateral development assistance budget of over $4 billion USD annually.
Leak of classified cables.
In November 2009, Eikenberry sent two classified cables to his superiors in which he assessed the proposed U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. A description of the content of the cables was leaked soon after. In January 2010, the "New York Times" obtained and published the cables, which "show just how strongly the current ambassador feels about President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan government, the state of its military, and the chances that a troop buildup will actually hurt the war effort by making the Karzai government too dependent on the United States". In June 2010, General McChrystal was described in a "Rolling Stone" profile as feeling blindsided by Eikenberry's statements in the leaked cables. On the other hand, Eikenberry is described elsewhere as being frank and vocal about his concerns about the Karzai government as being an unreliable partner for the United States in its efforts in Afghanistan.
Career at Stanford University.
After his position as ambassador in Afghanistan, in September 2011 Eikenberry became the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and subsequently the William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. While at Stanford University, Eikenberry joined the faculty of the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies, served as a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences congressionally mandated Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, acted as a consultant for NATO and the RAND Corporation, and lectured and written on civil-military relations, U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy and Sino American relations, counter-insurgency and state-building strategies, and the contribution of the arts and humanities to America's international competitiveness.
Awards and decorations.
Personal decorations and badges.
Eikenberry's personal decorations include:
Academic Awards.
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Centennial Medal
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree, North Carolina State University
Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree, Ball State University
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree, University of San Francisco
Other.
George F. Kennan Award for Distinguished Public Service
State of North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award
Goldsboro High School Athletic Hall of Fame
In August 2007 Eikenberry was given the key to the city of Goldsboro, North Carolina by the mayor.
In November 2018, Eikenberry was the Keynote Speaker at the Stanford Model United Nations Conference.


Nine Power Treaty Conference

The Nine-Power Treaty Conference or Brussels Conference was convened in late October 1937 as a meeting for the signatories of the Nine Power Treaty to consider "peaceable means" for hastening the end of the renewed conflict between China and Japan, that had broken out in July. This Conference was held in accordance with a provision of the Nine-Power Treaty of 1922. The actual conference was held in Brussels, Belgium, from November 3 to 24, 1937.
Background.
Japanese diplomatic isolation and souring of the Japan–U.S. relationship became significant because of the progression of the Second Sino–Japanese War in July 1937. Chiang Kai-shek appealed to the signatories of the Nine-Power Treaty to help resist Japanese aggression. Japan refused to participate in the Conference, maintaining that its dispute with China was outside the purview of the Nine-Power Treaty. Germany also refused to participate.
Convening of the conference.
On November 3, the Conference finally opened in Brussels. While the Western powers were in session to mediate the situation, the Chinese troops were making their final stand in Shanghai and had all hopes for a western intervention that would save China from collapse. However, the Conference dragged on with little progress.
Posture of the United States.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary Hull gave instructions to Norman H. Davis, the U.S. delegate to the conference, stating that the first objective of the foreign policy of the United States was national security, and that consequently the U.S. sought to keep peace and promote the maintenance of peace; that it believed in cooperative effort for the preservation of peace by pacific and practicable means; that this country as a signatory to the Kellogg-Briand Pact had renounced war as an instrument of national policy; and that "public opinion in the United States has expressed its emphatic determination that the United States keep out of war". Mr. Davis was instructed to keep in mind the interest of the United States in peace in the Pacific and in the Far East as evidenced by the Washington Naval Conference, the statements relating to foreign policy made by the President in his Chicago address of October 5, and this Government's statement of October 6 on the controversy between China and Japan. In the view of this Government the primary function of the Conference was "to provide a forum for constructive discussion, to formulate and suggest possible bases of settlement, and to endeavor to bring the parties together through peaceful negotiation".
It was emphasized to Davis that if the U.S. were to avoid an ultimate serious clash with Japan, some practical means must be found to check Japanese conquest and to make effective the collective will of the powers which desired the settlement of international controversies by peaceful means; that the Conference might be an agency for bringing to bear upon Japan every moral pressure directed toward bringing about a change in Japanese attitude and policy. Finally, Davis was instructed to "observe closely the trend of public opinion in the United States and take full account thereof."
November 15 declaration.
On November 15, the Conference adopted a declaration affirming that the representatives of 15 states considered the conflict between China and Japan to be of concern to all countries parties to the Nine-Power Treaty and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. In the presence of this difference between the views of the Conference and the Japanese Government, the Conference considered that there was no opportunity at the time for carrying out its terms of reference so far as they related to bringing about peace by agreement.
Conclusion of conference.
On November 24, the Nine-Power Treaty Conference convened for the last time and then adjourned indefinitely, without producing any measures that would stop Japanese aggression. At this point, the Washington System had completely collapsed.
In a declaration, dated November 24, 1937, the Conference stated that it strongly reaffirmed the principles of the Nine-Power Treaty; that it believed that a satisfactory settlement between China and Japan could not be achieved by direct negotiation between the parties to the conflict alone and that an acceptable agreement could be achieved only by consultation with other powers principally concerned; that it strongly urged that hostilities be suspended and resort be had to peaceful processes; that the Conference deemed it advisable temporarily to suspend its sittings; that the conflict remained, however, a matter of concern to all the powers assembled at Brussels; and that the Conference would be called together again when it was considered that deliberations could be advantageously resumed.
The United States delegate reported at the conclusion of the Conference that it had demonstrated the "unwillingness of Japan to resort to methods of conciliation" and that the Japanese continued to insist that the issues between Japan and China were exclusive to those two countries whereas the Conference powers, with the exception of Italy, affirmed that the situation was of concern to all members of the family of nations.
In his report, General Chen Cheng wrote that throughout much of the Shanghai campaign, sound military strategy was often supplanted by political strategy. It was the nation's tragedy that political strategy, especially the one as precarious as the hope for foreign intervention, forced the troops to make exorbitant sacrifices in Shanghai and led almost to total annihilation. He wrote that because China was weak, it was in dire need of foreign help and had to sacrifice just to prove its capacity to fight and will to resist. By the end of the battle, even though hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops died just to make the point that China was ready to sacrifice, the final hope for a western intervention never materialized.


Geoanna

Geoanna was a steel auxiliary schooner built in 1934 by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Long Beach, California. "Geoanna" was requisitioned during World War II for service briefly with the U.S. Navy before transfer to the U.S. Army for Southwest Pacific operations. There "Geoanna" served as a United States Army Signal Corps communications ship with a mixed United States Army, Navy and Australian civilian crew through the New Guinea and Philippine campaigns. The ship remained in the Philippines after post war disposal.
Pre War.
"Geoanna" was designed by George L. Craig and built at the Craig shipyard as hull number 155 with ownership vested in the George L. Craig Trust. Registry information shows the yacht registered with official number 234117, a gross tonnage of 122, net tonnage 90, registered length of , breadth, and depth of . Original crew was stated as five. The yacht on the 31 July 1935 trial cruise, with George Craig and nephews James G. Craig and John Craig II as well as local yachtsmen, was rigged with a Marconi mainsail and gaff-rig foresail with sail area. The yacht, with a waterline length of had a 150-horsepower auxiliary diesel engine, fuel capacity for 2,000-mile (unit type not stated) cruising radius and accommodations for ten persons. "Geoanna" was described as the "largest and most costly steel sailing yacht built on the Pacific Coast" in years.
In 1938 "Geoanna" was sold to the Seven-Up Bottling Co. of Los Angeles. The yacht is shown as registered with call letters WNAP. Donald K. Washburn, president of the company, sailed the yacht in races that included the 1939 Trans-Pacific race from San Francisco to Diamond Head, Honolulu, Hawaii. "Geoanna" was the largest yacht in the race and was one of two yachts broadcasting daily progres by shortwave radio.
When requisitioned the yacht was the property of the Seven-Up Bottling Co. of Los Angeles. The company had bought the vessel from the original owner in 1938 for $60,000 and made some updates at additional cost before requisition. "Geoanna" was requisitioned 1 February 1942 for war service by the United States Maritime Commission. The War Shipping Administration had set a just value of $20,000, of which $15,000 was paid.
World War II.
On 1 February 1942 the vessel was acquired by the U.S. Navy from the Maritime Commission and placed in service 19 February 1942 as the unclassified miscellaneous vessel "Geoanna" (IX-61). "Geoanna" was never commissioned and thus never bore the USS designation. The vessel was assigned to the 11th Naval District performing miscellaneous duties for Port Director, San Pedro, California. On 2 July 1943 "Geoanna" was turned over to the United States Coast Guard for service as a Coast Guard operational training ship until being redelivered to the Maritime Commission by the Navy 28 August 1943.
The U.S. Army acquired "Geoanna" on 3 September 1943 for service in the Southwest Pacific Area. That command modified the vessel as a communications ship for use by the Army Signal Corps. On 12 December 1943 the ship became part of the Army operated radio communication fleet joining the other sailing ships "Volador" and the previously operating, Australian registered vessels, "Harold" and "Argosy Lamal". A crew of mixed Army, Navy and Australian civilian personnel operated these predecessors of the CP, or Command Post, ships in the Port Moresby, Woodlark and Laee-Salamau areas. "Geoanna" was given the Army designation of TP-249. The ship served as a communications relay during operations of the Western New Guinea campaign into the Moluccas through landings at Tacloban in the Philippines.
Post war.
After the war in "Seven-Up Bottling Co. of Los Angeles, Inc., V. United States" the United States Court of Claims set the yacht's value at $30,000 when requisitioned and ordered payment of the additional $15,000. The ship remained in the Philippines after the war, was reportedly undergoing restoration and subject of additional lawsuits as late as 2009.


Operation Otto

Operation Otto (also known as Plan Otto) was the code name for two independent plans by Nazi Germany. The 1938 plan was to occupy Austria; the second envisaged an attack on the Soviet Union and was developed from July 1940.
The two plans.
The original Operation Otto was the plan to occupy Austria during the Anschluss in 1938. It was named after the crown prince of Austria-Hungary at the time, Otto von Habsburg.
The High Command of the German Army (OKH) also used Operation Otto as the code name in July 1940 for their original plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union. The plan was later renamed Operation Barbarossa in December 1940. The Germans estimated 240 destroyed Soviet divisions, with only 60 remaining intact. With such an overwhelming margin of victory, the plan was not completed, under the assumption that the Soviet Union could never recover. During Operation Barbarossa, the Germans in reality destroyed 248 divisions, but due to the Soviet mobilization, there were an additional 220 divisions remaining, far more than the expected 60. Hitler, being haunted by the fate of Napoleon (who had taken Moscow but failed to destroy the Russian Army), altered the plan by placing less emphasis on the capture of Moscow and more on destroying the Red Army.


French Far East Expeditionary Corps

The French Far East Expeditionary Corps (, CEFEO) was a colonial expeditionary force of the French Union Army that was initially formed in French Indochina during 1945 during the Pacific War. The CEFEO later fought and lost in the First Indochina War against the Viet Minh rebels.
The CEFEO was largely made up of voluntarily-enlisted indigenous tirailleurs from the French Union colonial or protectorate territories, the exception was the French Foreign Legion, which consisted mainly of European volunteers. The use of metropolitan recruits were forbidden by the government during the First Indochina War to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home.
History.
Composition.
The CEFEO was largely made up of voluntarily-enlisted indigenous tirailleurs from the French Union colonial or protectorate territories in the Northwest Africa Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, and South-East Asia. An exception was the French Foreign Legion which consisted mainly of European volunteers.
In 1954, CEFEO included 177,000 men, including 59,000 indigenous people. Colonial soldiers made up the bulk of the ground forces. Between 1947 and 1954, 122,900 North Africans and 60,340 Black Africans landed in Indochina, or 183,240 Africans in total. On February 1, 1954, they represented 43.5% of the 127,785 men of the ground forces (excluding indigenous Vietnamese). Most of the professional airborne units (BPC) and the entire Chief of Staff were metropolitan French, as were some artillery and specialist units.
From September 1945 to the cease-fire in July 1954, a total of 488,560 men and women served in Indochina:
In early November 1953, the French U.N. volunteers returning from the ended Korean War joined the French Union CEFEO and sailed from Incheon to Vietnam. They would be later involved in the battle of Mang Yang Pass of June and July 1954.
Pacific War (1945).
The CEFEO was created in early 1945 as a replacement for the older Far East French Expeditionary Forces ("Forces Expéditionnaires Françaises d'Extrême-Orient", FEFEO). Its purpose was to support Saigon-based General Gabriel Sabattier, divisional commander of colonial "Indochina French Forces" ("Forces Françaises d'Indochine") and Free French Forces resistance small groups C.L.I. then fighting with the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army Group during the March coup. After the 1944 Liberation of France and the fall of Nazi Germany in Europe the following year, the French authorities wanted to "free" the last Axis powers occupied territories in Southeast Asia, these included the newly established Empire of Vietnam, which was a Japanese colony. On June 7, 1945, Leclerc was nominated commander of the CEFEO. On June 22, Leclerc transferred command of the 2nd Armored Division ("2ème D.B.") -the famous unit which had liberated Paris in August 1944- to Colonel Dio. Leclerc received command of the Far East French Forces ("Forces Françaises en Extrême-Orient") on August 15.
First Indochina War (1946–1954).
In 1946, nationalist, then communist popular rebellion movement rose up against established colonial rule in the French Indochina federation then including Laos, Cambodia, Tonkin (North Vietnam), the Annam (Middle Vietnam) and Cochinchina (South Vietnam), all states being protectorates excluding the latter which was a colony with Saigon as its capital. In 1946, they would become associated states within the French Union and by 1949 Tonkin, Annam and the Republic of Cochin China would merge as the State of Vietnam. The communist Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh overwhelmed its rival nationalist movements and organized itself as a guerilla army using guerrilla warfare, then in the 1950s support—using conventional warfare. The First Indochina War officially lasted from November 20, 1946 until July 20, 1954 and was settled by the Geneva Agreements.
Dissolution (1956).
After withdrawal of the last CEFEO troops from the independent Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1956, the corps was disbanded by General Pierre Jacquot.
Far East Forces.
South Vietnam Ground Forces ("Forces Terrestres du Sud Vietnam", FTSV).
Among the French ground forces in the Far East was the 6th Engineers Regiment (6 RG).
Far East Air Forces ("Forces Aériennes en Extrême-Orient", FAEO).
Among the aircraft supplied to the French in Indochina in 1950-51 were B-26 Marauders that went to Bomber Group 1/25 "Tunisie", B-26 Invaders, P-63 Kingcobras, C-47 Dakotas that went to Transport Group 1/64, 2/64, 2/63 which had both C-47s and C-119 Packets (but these were only operated by US civilian pilots of Civil Air Transport), former U.S. Navy F6F Hellcats that went to 11th Carrier Assault Flotilla (on "Arromanches" until April 30, 1954), SB-2C Helldivers that went to 3rd Carrier Assault Flotilla (on "Arromanches" until April 30, 1954), F8F-1B Bearcats that went to Groupe de Chasse (Fighter Group) 1/22 "Saintonge" and Group de Chasse 2/22 "Languedoc", PB4Y2 Privateers that went to the 28th Bomber Flotilla, and F4U Corsairs that went to 14th Carrier Fighter Flotilla (on "Belleau Wood" on May 1, 1954).
At the beginning of April 1954, Lt. General Earle E. ("Pat") Partridge, Commander of the U. S. Far East Air Force (FEAF), had arrived in Saigon and begun talks with his French counterpart, Gen. Lauzin, as well as with Gen. Navarre. He had brought with him Brigadier General Joseph D. Caldara, then the chief of the FEAF Bomber Command—the man who would fly and command the "Vulture" missions (bombing the area around Dien Bien Phu with 98 B-29 Superfortresses). The Americans had arrived at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Airport in a discreet B-17, so as not to alert hostile eyes to the unfamiliar configuration of the B-29 Superfortress. From the beginning, the Americans were appalled at the total lack of French preparedness for anything like the control of a major saturation bombardment operation. French Col. Brohon later said that this project involved the use of "several A-bombs" in the Dien Bien Phu area.
Caldara decided to judge the situation for himself. On April 4, 1954, in the dead of the night, he flew his B-17 with an American crew over the valley of Dien Bien Phu, repeated the mission later with a French C-47 Dakota; and then once more with the B-17. The overall plan was simple enough; the two wings of B-29s from Okinawa and the one from Clark Air Base would rendezvous east of the Laotian capital of Vientiane, head for their target; and exit from Indochina via the Gulf of Tonkin. The French at the highest levels seemed to have no idea of the awful destructive power of the 98 Superfortresses. This bombing mission died a slow death as Winston Churchill was against it, but LBJ was Called Scuttler of this 1954 Bombing. Late that month on 29 April 1954 C-124 Globemasters from the 322nd Air Division were in the process of air-lifting into Indochina the brand-new 7th BPC (Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux), en route from Europe to Vietnam via Colombo, Ceylon. Thus U. S. Air Force aircraft and personnel were actively involved in Vietnam in 1954.


Plan W

Plan W, during World War II, was a plan of joint military operations between the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom devised between 1940 and 1942, to be executed in the event of an invasion of Ireland by Nazi Germany.
Although Ireland was officially neutral, after the German Blitzkriegs of 1939–40 that resulted in the defeat of Poland, the Low Countries and France, the British recognised that Germany planned an invasion of Britain (Operation Sea Lion) and were also concerned about the possibility of a German invasion of Ireland. German planning for Operation Green began in May 1940 and the British began intercepting communications about it in June. The British were interested in securing Ireland, as its capture by German forces would expose their western flank and provide a base of operations for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of the Atlantic and in any operations launched to invade Great Britain as part of Operation Sea Lion.
Irish-British co-operation was a controversial proposal for both sides, as most members of the Irish political establishment had been combatants in the Irish War of Independence between 1919 and 1921. However, because of the threat of German occupation and seizure of Ireland and especially the valuable Irish ports, Plan W was developed. Northern Ireland was to serve as the base of a new British Expeditionary Force that would move across the Irish border to repel the invaders from any beach-head established by German paratroopers. In addition, coordinated actions of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy were planned to repel German air and sea invasion. According to a restricted file prepared by the British Army's "Q" Movements Transport Control in Belfast, the British would not have crossed the border "until invited to do so by the Irish Government," and it is not clear who would have had the operational authority over the British troops invited into the State by Éamon de Valera. The document added that most people in Ireland probably would have helped the British Army, but "there would have been a small disaffected element capable of considerable guerrilla activities against the British."
By April 1941, the new BTNI commander, General Sir Henry Pownall extended his planning for a German invasion to cover fifty percent of the entire Irish coastline. He believed that German troops were likely to land in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Westport, Galway, Sligo, and County Donegal, i.e. on the southern or western coasts. British Army personnel also carried out secret intelligence-gathering trips to glean information on the rail system south of the border.
Context.
Political context and early planning.
Discussions over the possible German invasion of Ireland had been ongoing in Britain since the beginning of 1939. In June 1940, Britain's political and military establishment had witnessed the seemingly invincible German Blitzkrieg which led to the defeat of Poland, the Low Countries, and France, and the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. The British suspected that, following their defeat in France, the next step would be a German invasion of Britain – Operation Sea Lion. They did not know, but also suspected, that there was a plan to invade neutral Ireland – Operation Green.
In this context, they embarked on the policy of planning, together with the Irish authorities, for the defence of the island. This was a controversial proposal as most of the Irish political establishment had been combatants in the Anglo-Irish War against the British between 1916 and 1921. For instance, the Fianna Fáil politicians in the Irish government included Éamon de Valera, Seán T. O'Kelly, Seán Lemass, Gerald Boland, Oscar Traynor, Frank Aiken, Seán MacEntee, and Thomas Derrig, all of whom had been active against the British. On the British side, Winston Churchill, and many senior members of his administration had forcibly opposed their bid for an independent Irish state, including setting up the controversial Black and Tans to oppose militant separatism.
However it was not so different from de Valera's position in 1921. During the debates on the Anglo-Irish Treaty in late 1921, de Valera had submitted his ideal draft, known as "Document No.2" which included:
De Valera had proposed that a final settlement between Ireland and Britain would give regard to Britain's future maritime defence, in recognition of Britain's longstanding fear of invasion from the west.
Among the Irish opposition party's Fine Gael leadership, W. T. Cosgrave, Desmond Fitzgerald, Richard Mulcahy and several others had also fought in the previous Irish Civil War and the Irish Army had thousands of veterans from that conflict. Major General Joseph McSweeney, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Irish Army's Western Command in 1940, had been in the GPO during the Easter Rising. Colonels Archer and Bryan of Military Intelligence G2 had also fought in the conflicts. The IRA member Tom Barry volunteered his services to the Irish Army in 1939 and became operations officer in the 1st Division.
British strategic assessment.
After the invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands, the British were convinced that an invasion of Ireland would come from the air, via paratroopers. They were not satisfied with the Irish government's defence capability, particularly against airborne troops. The topic of reoccupying the 26 counties of Ireland had been a matter of political conversation in Britain since the beginning of the war. In June 1940, Malcolm MacDonald offered to "give back" the six counties comprising Northern Ireland – an offer of Irish unity – if Ireland would join with the Allies, but the offer was not taken seriously. The same month Major General Bernard "Monty" Montgomery was busy planning the seizure of what he referred to as "Cork and Queenstown (Cobh) in Southern Ireland" "(sic)". Winston Churchill was to also refer to the "... most heavy and grievous burden placed upon Britain by the Royal Navy's exclusion from the three Treaty Ports [in Ireland]." "The Economist" reported that Britain should seize the ports if they become "a matter of life and death". The remarks were made in the face of mounting losses in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Attempts were also made on 26 June 1940 to split the consensus in Ireland over the neutrality policy via a possible coup attempt. An approach was made to Richard Mulcahy (leader of Fine Gael at the time) by an Irish-born ex-British Army lieutenant colonel who was a city councillor in the State. Mulcahy recorded that the ex-officer:
"...called to say that 'the people in the North are prepared to make a military convention with this country [Ireland] without reference to the Northern Government... He wanted someone to go up there from here unofficially, to speak to someone in authority and say how the land lay. In reply to questioning, he stated that the people he referred to were the British Army authorities in the North."
This was in effect a proposal for a joint military command of all of Ireland, which the unidentified ex-British Army lieutenant colonel said had been stimulated after discussion with "important members of the British Army in the North of Ireland." It is possible that the simultaneous discussions could have been an attempt to pressure Éamon de Valera, the Taoiseach. Unionist politician Sir Emerson Herdman also called to speak with de Valera about obtaining "unity of command" and to ask if Ireland would enter the war in return for an end to partition. Herdman appears to have been acting on behalf of Craigavon, but when de Valera rebuffed him, he was of the view that:
"the only thing to do now for Britain is to send in powerful forces here, and prevent this country being seized, or prevent them [the British] having to use and lose large numbers of troops in putting the Germans out if they got here."
Therefore the W-Plan had a dual purpose:
Knowledge of German planning.
Planning began for Operation Green in May 1940, and the British had intelligence about it beginning in around June of that year. The British were interested in securing Ireland as its capture by German forces would expose their western flank, and provide a base of operations for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of the Atlantic and in any operations launched to conquer Britain as part of Operation Sea Lion. The British suspected that the Germans target for an invasion attempt would be Cork, particularly Cork Harbour with the naval base at Cobh because it was the nearest to Luftwaffe bases in north west France.
Irish defence status.
Irish preparations for defence of the island included protecting against the possibility of British or German attack. The Irish Army drew up contingency plans for an invasion from across the border although only two of its eight brigades were normally based in the northern half of the country. The Second Division did prepare two lines of defence against British invasion, placing explosives beneath bridges along rivers and canals in County Donegal to County Louth. The first line of defence, through Leitrim and Cavan, was centred on the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell canal. The second line chosen was the Boyne. After a delaying action with a conventional static defence, the 2nd Division was to "split up into smaller groups and start guerrilla resistance against the British."
More detailed defence plans were drawn up for local areas. In Cork city, any seaborne invaders would be engaged by motor torpedo boats and the 9.2 inch and six-inch guns of the Treaty Ports. If the enemy were able to effect a landing in strength, the forts would be demolished by explosives (as would the harbour quays and railway), a blockship would be sunk in the harbour channel and the Haulbowline oil refinery set on fire. The defence of the city itself would be undertaken by the local defence force (LDF) and a regular army battalion, while the First Division would carry out operations in the surrounding countryside.
Development of Plan W.
The first meetings, 1940.
The first meeting on establishing a joint action plan in the event of a German invasion was on 24 May 1940. The meeting was held in London and had been convened to explore every conceivable way in which the German forces may attempt an invasion of Ireland. At the meeting were Joseph Walshe, Irish secretary of External Affairs, Colonel Liam Archer of Irish Military Intelligence (G2), and officers from the Royal Navy, British Army, and the Royal Air Force. The War Office wanted direct liaisons between the Irish military authorities in Dublin and the British General Officer Commanding in Belfast. Walshe and Archer therefore agreed to fly in secret to Belfast with Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke. In Belfast, two British Army staff officers were collected and the group travelled back to Dublin by rail. This meeting was held underneath Government buildings in Kildare Street and included a number of Irish Army officers. The meeting was informed that General Sir Hubert Huddleston, the General Officer Commanding (GOC.) Northern Ireland, was already under orders to take a mobile column south of the border to help the Irish Army if the Germans invaded.
Clarke also met with the Irish Army Chief of Staff, General Daniel McKenna, who explained that the British would not be allowed into the south of Ireland before the Germans arrived. Clarke also met with the Irish Minister for Co-ordination of Defensive Measures, Frank Aiken and discussed "new ideas for the mechanical improvement of the war." The point of these meetings was to secure an understanding on the threat faced by both Britain and Ireland, and the benefit of joint action – the details would later be worked out by the respective armed services.
Clarke returned to London on 28 May 1940, where he reported that the Irish Army had given him full details of their organisation and equipment "without reservation" and had in return requested information on British troop strength in Northern Ireland. It had been agreed that in the event of a German invasion, the Irish would call for assistance from Huddleston in Belfast. The British Army's advance from Northern Ireland into neutral Ireland was to be called Plan W.
Operational details.
As noted, Cork was the suspected target of an invasion because it was the nearest landfall between Luftwaffe bases in north-western France and the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland was to serve as the base of a new British Expeditionary Force, that would move into the State to repel the invaders from any beach-head that was established. Troops of the 53rd Division in Belfast were held in readiness for the advance. A brigade of Royal Marines stationed at Milford Haven were also prepared to seize a bridge-head in Wexford the moment the Germans landed. Officers at the headquarters (HQ) of British troops in Northern Ireland, Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, County Antrim estimated that the Germans could embark five divisions by sea to Ireland although "not more than 2 to 3 would reach land". Up to 8,000 German airborne troops could be flown into the State, some of them by seaplanes which would land on the lakes. The British striking force of 53 Division, later augmented by the 5th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, were to concentrate on the west of Down and Armagh borders, then drive across the border and race towards Dublin along three main roads – the Belfast – Dublin coastal road through Dundalk, Drogheda and Balbriggan, the inland road through Ardee and Slane, and the Castleblayney — Carrickmacross — Navan road. It is not clear who would have had the operational authority over the British troops invited into Ireland by de Valera, but it is assumed the British would retain command.
By December 1940 the plan had been extended. While the first British striking force headed for Dublin, the British 61st Division, in a separate operation, would move across the border into County Donegal and secure the Treaty port of Lough Swilly for the Royal Navy, providing the British Government with a third of the naval defence requirements that they had been requesting from de Valera for more than a year. The British Troops in Northern Ireland (BTNI) war diary of the time lists 278 Irish troops at Lough Swilly and only 976 Irish troops in the rest of Donegal.
The diary goes on to say that in the event of an invasion "close co-operation is to be maintained with Éire forces including Local Security Force if friendly". It is a feature of other British documents from the time; for example one reads "If Éire be hostile it may be necessary for Royal Signals units to take over the civil telephone system".
According to a restricted file prepared by the British Army's 'Q' Movements Transport Control in Belfast, the British would not have crossed the border "until invited to do so by the Éire Government", but the document added that although most people in the State probably would have helped the British Army, "there would have been a small disaffected element capable of considerable guerrilla activities against us."
Sir John Loader Maffey, the British representative to Ireland since 1939, was to transmit the code word "Pumpkins" (later replaced by "Measure") to begin the troop movement of the 53rd Division onto Irish soil. This codeword would be received by Huddleston and Lieutenant General Harold Franklyn, the BTNI commander.
Elaborate plans were made in Belfast to supply the BEF with guns, ammunition, petrol, and medical equipment by rail. The British marshalling yards at Balmoral, south of Belfast, were extended to take long ammunition and fuel trains which were loaded and ready on new sidings. In addition three ambulance trains were equipped and positioned around Belfast and an ambulance railhead established to take the wounded returning from the south of Ireland. British soldiers stripped the sides from dozens of coal trucks transforming them into flat cars for armoured vehicles and tanks that would be sent southwards. Once the 53rd Division was committed in Ireland, the British military authorities planned to run thirty-eight supply trains on the two railway lines to Dublin every day – thirty down the main line through Drogheda (if the viaduct over the Boyne river remained undamaged), and the remainder along the track which cut through County Cavan. The Port of Belfast was estimated to have needed to handle 10,000 tons of stores a week and could receive up to 5,000 troops every day for the battle-front.
The RAF were to fly three Hurricane fighter squadrons into Baldonnel Airfield southwest of Dublin and two Fairey Battle light bomber squadrons into Collinstown to attack German troops in Cork. The British 1st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment was to be moved into the State to defend the Drogheda viaduct, Collinstown, and Baldonnel. The Royal Navy was to issue instructions that all British and foreign ships depart from Irish ports. Vessels in Londonderry were to head for the Clyde and boats in Belfast were to head for Holyhead and Liverpool. As many ships as possible would be cleared from Irish ports and taken to the Clyde, Holyhead and Fishguard. Royal Navy officers in Dublin were to direct this exodus and the taking on of refugees was not to be encouraged. British submarines were to patrol off Cork and the Shannon in readiness for an invasion, and should one occur, the Royal Navy was to declare a "sink on sight" zone in the western approaches and off the south and west coasts of Ireland.
By April 1941, the new BTNI commander, General Sir Henry Pownall extended his planning for a German invasion to cover fifty percent of the entire Irish coastline. He believed that German troops were likely to land in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Westport, Galway, Sligo, and Donegal. British Army personnel also carried out secret intelligence gathering trips to glean information on the rail system south of the border.
Irish planning.
By May 1940 Irish troops were already organised in mobile columns to deal with parachute landings. By October 1940, four more regular army brigades had been raised in the State and LSF recruiting figures were increasing. The German style helmets of the army had been replaced by the pale green uniforms and rimmed style helmets of the British Army. They had a total of sixteen medium armoured cars, and thirty Ford and Rolls-Royce light armoured cars. By early 1941, two infantry divisions had been activated. First Division was headquartered in Cork and included:
1st Brigade (HQ Clonmel: 10th, 13th, 21st Battalions), 3rd Brigade (HQ Cork: 4th, 19th, 31st Battalions), 7th Brigade (HQ Limerick: 9th, 12th, 15th Battalions)
Second Division was headquartered in Dublin and comprised:
2nd Brigade (HQ Dublin 2nd, 5th, 11th Battalions), 4th Brigade (HQ Mullingar 6th, 8th, 20th Battalions), 6th Brigade (HQ Dublin 7th, 18th, 22nd Battalions)
There were also two independent brigades:
5th Brigade (southeast Ireland 3rd, 16th, 25th Battalions)
8th Brigade: (Rineanna 1st, 23rd Battalions)
There were also three garrison battalions and the Coastal Defence Artillery forts at Cork, Bere Island, Donegal, Shannon and Waterford. The Irish Defence Forces, regular and reserve, were an all-volunteer force.
If the Germans had landed where the British and Irish expected them to, they would have been engaged by the Irish Army's Fifth Brigade who had primary responsibility for the defence of Waterford and Wexford. They would have been soon supported by General Michael Joe Costello's 1st Irish Division from Cork and General Hugo MacNeill's 2nd Division. The British would establish their railhead near the Fairyhouse race course and be given billets at Lusk, Howth, and Portmarnock north of Dublin.
The Irish Air Corps consisted largely of nine Avro Anson light bombers and four Gloster Gladiators, which provided the only fighter defence for the country. However, in 1940 six second-hand Hawker Hinds were added to the Air Corps and later in the war the Irish cannibalised and repaired several Allied aircraft that had crash landed in their territory, eventually putting two RAF Hurricanes, a Fairey Battle and an American-built Lockheed Hudson into service. From 1942 onwards a total of twenty Hawker Hurricanes entered Irish Air Corps service.
The Marine Service only acquired its first Motor Torpedo Boat in January 1940, increasing to a total of six by 1942. However, the only patrol vessels were the "Muirchu" and the "Fort Rannoch", two former British gunboats. Besides these vessels there was one "mine planter" and a barge. The Marine Service did not acquire any other ships during the war.
The Local Security Force was intended to harass and delay enemy forces by dynamiting bridges (already chambered for the purpose) and organising small ambushes and sniping attacks. Armament was paltry at first, with many units making do with requisitioned shotguns, but from 1941 on, American M1917 Enfield rifles became available. In January 1941, the LSF was split into two, the 'A' force moving from police to military control and taking the new title Local Defence Force. The B Group retained the title LSF and functioned essentially as an unarmed police reserve throughout the Emergency. In general, those aged under forty went with the LDF, those older remained with the LSF.


Pillbox affair

The Pillbox affair, also known as the Pillbox incident, was a military and political episode which occurred in Britain between November 1939 and January 1940 during the Second World War. The British War Minister, Leslie Hore-Belisha, visited France and the positions of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in mid-November.
Hore-Belisha and the commander of the BEF, General, later Field Marshal, John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, did not get along well together; Gort disliked Hore-Belisha for his colourful personality and unorthodox manner of conducting matters relating to the British Army, and the Minister rapidly came to recognise that.
During his visit, Hore-Belisha oversaw the placement of the troops of the BEF, not the defences being constructed. On his return to Britain, he complained to the War Cabinet and the Army Council that too few pillbox defences were being built for the BEF.
Gort and colleagues friendly to him were greatly angered by what they saw as this unjust and ill-founded criticism and began a campaign against Hore-Belisha, which culminated in January 1940 in Hore-Belisha's being dismissed from the post of War Minister. This campaign succeeded in large part due to anti-Semitism and class prejudice in both the Army and Parliament.


Task Force 95

Task Force 95 was a United States Navy force of World War II. It was established at Okinawa in July 1945 and conducted three operations into the East China Sea before the end of the war in mid-August that year. Task Force 95 was active as late as November 1945.
The designation was reactivated for use during the Korean War, when it was used for the United Nations Command Blockading and Escort Force, often helmed by the British Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet. Vice Admiral William Andrewes served as Commander, Task Force 95 (CTF 95), for a period.
World War II operational history.
Surface sweeps.
Task Force 95 (TF-95) was established in early July 1945 at Buckner Bay in Okinawa under the command of Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. The formation was responsible for protecting American forces at Okinawa, including by providing radar pickets to detect incoming air raids, and sweeping the East China Sea of Japanese shipping. Upon formation, TF-95 comprised the large cruisers and , four light cruisers and several destroyers.
TF-95 undertook its first anti-shipping sweep into the East China Sea between 17 and 24 July. At this time it comprised "Alaska" and "Guam", light cruisers , , and and nine destroyers. No Japanese ships were encountered. Official historian Samuel Eliot Morison noted that "direct results were few but the fact that a surface sweep of Japan's home waters could be made with impunity demonstrated how low the enemy's air and naval power had sunk".
Three destroyers assigned to TF-95 were struck by Japanese kamikaze aircraft in July. was hit while in Buckner Bay on 19 July. This resulted in two members of her crew being wounded and damage which was judged to be beyond repair. was sunk on 28 July while operating as a radar picket off Okinawa; 47 members of her crew were killed. was also damaged by a kamikaze on 29 July during a radar picket patrol near Okinawa, with 22 of her crew being killed and 45 wounded.
TF-95 also included Task Group 95.7 in the Philippines, which was responsible for delivering training. The heavy cruiser was "en-route" to join this Task Group for training ahead of joining the main body of TF-95 when she was torpedoed and sunk on 30 July.
The Task Force's second operation began on 1 August. This operation involved the ships used in the first attack, which were designated Task Group 95.2, as well as a covering force designated Task Group 95.3. The covering force comprised battleships , and , escort carriers , and , heavy cruiser , light cruiser , six destroyers and three destroyer escorts. During this operation Task Group 95.2 patrolled along the Chinese coast north of the Yangtze Delta each night. As with the first operation, no Japanese ships were located. The escort carriers conducted two anti-shipping strikes which resulted in the sinking of a coastal barge as well as damage to a small cargo ship and shore installations. One of these attacks was made on 6 August, during which aircraft from all three escort carriers struck shipping in Tinghai. Fighters flying from the carriers also shot down four Japanese aircraft. One American fighter, a Grumman F4F Wildcat, was shot down by anti-aircraft guns. Two other Wildcats and three Vought F4U Corsairs were damaged. TF-95 broke off the operation on 6 August, and reached Buckner Bay the next day.
In his report on the 1-7 August operation, Oldendorf noted that Japanese shipping in the East China Sea had been "practically eliminated" by air and submarine attacks. He judged that "appropriate targets for Naval guns no longer existed in the area near the Yangtze mouth. Historian Brian Lane Herder has observed that despite its lack of results, "TF-95 tightened the pressure on Japan, and its mere existence demonstrates the extravagance of naval power the Allies were bringing to bear [in] the final weeks of the war".
Minesweeping and post-war.
A large minesweeping force, designated Task Group 95.4 also operated in the East China Sea during the final days of the war. Task Group 95.4 departed Buckner Bay on 11 August. At this time it comprised four light minelayers, 40 minesweepers, 10 motor minesweepers and several support ships. The Task Group returned to Buckner Bay on 25 August; during this operation it destroyed 578 mines.
The battleship arrived at Okinawa on 12 August, and became Oldendorf's flagship. That night a Japanese aircraft penetrated Buckner Bay and torpedoed "Pennsylvania". A total of 20 American sailors were killed, and Oldendorf and many others were wounded.
Oldendorf continued as the commander of TF-95 until November 1945.
World War II organization.
Historian Jürgen Rohwer provides the following structure for Task Force 95, but does not specify when it applied:
Korean War.
During the Korean War, a major fleet exercise occupied during the first months of 1954, and she then began preparations for a journey to the Western Pacific. On 14 June, she stood out for Yokosuka, Japan, where she arrived 23 June, mooring alongside for two days of tender availability. "Philip" then got underway for the Shimonoseki Straits and Chinhae, Korea. After reporting for duty with Task Force 95, "Philip" steamed to Inchon to join and act as plane guard for the British carrier on the United Nations Blockade. "Philip" escorted "Warrior" to Kure, Japan, 4 July, and sailed on to Sasebo for a week's restricted availability.


Hong Kong Military Service Corps

The Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) (Traditional Chinese: 香港軍事服務團) was a British army unit and part of the British garrison in Hong Kong (see British Forces Overseas Hong Kong). Throughout the history of Hong Kong, it has been the only regular British army unit raised in the territory made up almost entirely of Locally Enlisted Personnel (LEP).
Overview.
History.
The history of Hong Kong ethnic Chinese soldiers serving in the British Army can be traced back to the 1880s when Hong Kong locals were employed by the Royal Engineers in the building of barracks and defence works.
Many ethnic Chinese from Hong Kong fought alongside the British troops in the defence of Hong Kong in World War II. The British Battle Group consisted of 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion Royal Scots and the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment. Other Battle Groups were Royal Artillery, Canadian Battalions, Indian Forces and the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force. A large number of ethnic Hong Kong Chinese were killed or became prisoners of war.
Ethnic Hong Kong Chinese also saw active service outside Hong Kong in Burma in 1942 against the Japanese forces, where they fought alongside the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.
In January 1948 the Hong Kong Chinese Training Unit (HKCTU) was formed by the Hong Kong ethnic Chinese who had served in the various artillery and coastal defence units during the Battle of Hong Kong in World War II, with the aim of recruiting and training Hong Kong ethnic Chinese soldiers to assist and support the British Garrison in Hong Kong. Hong Kong-born ethnic Chinese soldiers (British Dependent Territories Citizens) of the HKCTU pledged allegiance to the Monarch of the United Kingdom and were enlisted into the General Service Corps (GSC) of the British Regular Army and they wore the GSC capbadge. Members of the HKCTU were later frequently nicknamed, locally, in Cantonese Chinese, as "sui lui pao bing" () or "sui ngau" () in memory of their predecessors. Those enlisted before World War II were numbered HK1802xxx; those who joined after World War II, HK1826XXXX and HK1827xxxx.
In 1962 the HKCTU became the Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) and consequently the GSC capbadge was replaced by a Dragon emblem. Initially the Dragon insignia, which was a Division Sign, had represented the Hong Kong Garrison and all British army soldiers serving in Hong Kong wore a Dragon cloth-badge on their uniform. The Dragon logo was officially adopted by the HKMSC as their Corps Badge and Corps Flag. The HKMSC became a part of the General Service Corps of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the United Kingdom.
British Army careers.
The HKMSC offered locally recruited and trained Hong Kong Chinese soldiers the opportunity to pursue a full career in the British Regular Army up to and including Queen's Commissioned Officer rank in the General List (HKMSC). As all members of the HKMSC were British Regular Army soldiers, they received a Regular Army Service Record Book when they left the army. Many of them were also awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (LS&GC) after 15 years of good and loyal service. British gallantry awards, membership of orders of chivalry, decorations and medals were also presented /granted to some HKMSC soldiers; these include the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM), the British Empire Medal (BEM), Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) status and Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) status.
HKMSC soldiers paid United Kingdom income tax (at a 'Hong Kong' rate), via the MoD, like their British counterparts.
The unit's Headquarters and Training Depot were originally located in Lyemun Barracks in 1948, between Shau Kei Wan and Chai Wan. It then moved to the Stonecutters Island in 1985. The HQ and Depot was commanded by a British Lieutenant Colonel, as Commandant, with a British Depot Adjutant and a Hong Kong Chinese Corps Adjutant (both Majors), a British Depot Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) and a Hong Kong Chinese Corps RSM (both WO1s) and a British Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS) and Superintendent Clerk (ORQMS), (both WO2s). Recruitment, selection and training was carried out by Training Company, commanded by a British Army Major, adopting the British Regular Army Recruit Training Syllabus. The HKMSC recruit training instructors were all initially trained in Hong Kong by the KHMSC, then in the UK. Training Company were also responsible for training the Ammunition Sub-Depot guards, made up of Hong Kong Sikhs (recruited as their religion barred them from smoking). The Deputy Commander British Forces (a Brigadier), was the Brigadier HKMSC (a largely honorary title).
Military life.
The Hong Kong Military Service Corps maintained its reputation for loyalty and military skills at the highest level, often outshining British and Gurkha troops based in Hong Kong. The HKMSC Shooting Team won the Team and Individual champion pistol shot a number of times at RASAAM (the Regular Army Skill at Arms Meeting) at Bisley, in the UK, and in 1992 a Training Company team representing the HQ and Depot HKMSC won the Dragon Cup for military skills (outperforming the Queen's Gurkha Signals in signalling and the British Military Hospital team in first aid); the competition was not held again.
The HKMSC reached a peak strength of 1,200 men, providing the British garrison in Hong Kong with support personnel. All HKMSC soldiers did their basic training in Hong Kong and afterwards from time to time attended upgrading and trade courses in the United Kingdom. HKMSC soldiers who were posted to and served with other non-HKMSC units wore the other units' cap badges. Unit personnel were enlisted as light-infantry, Regimental Police, interpreters and clerks in Dragon Company of the General Service Corps (GSC) headquartered in Osborn Barracks, Kowloon Tong; officers and drivers in 29 Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) based in Gun Club Hill Barracks; crews for 415 Maritime Troop based on Stonecutters' Island; dog handlers in the Defence Animal Support Unit (DASU) of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC) based in Sek Kong; officer instructors in the Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC); officers and clerks in the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC); technicians in the Royal Signals (R Sigs) of the Queen's Gurkha Signals (QGS) and engineers and armourers in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). HKMSC trained physical training instructors (PTI) also served in the Army Physical Training Corps (APTC), as medics in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) based in the British Military Hospital (BMH), military police in the Royal Military Police (RMP), helicopter support crews in 660 Squadron AAC, Army Air Corps (AAC) based at Sek Kong Airfield, cooks in the Army Catering Corps (ACC), Weapons and Supplies Storekeepers in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) and intelligence staff in the Intelligence Corps.
The modern era.
During the Gulf War and in the early 1990s, the HKMSC provided officers and soldiers, primarily drivers and ambulance crews, to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) on peacekeeping operations.
In 1996 the unit was disbanded prior to the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China in 1997. Just before the handover, the Hong Kong Ex-servicemen Association was formed by some of the local ex-servicemen; the association has branches in the UK and Canada.
In July 2006, Britain granted full British citizenship to all Gurkha soldiers and their dependants who had served in Hong Kong, however only 500 HKMSC soldiers and their families were granted British citizenship under the British Nationality Selection Scheme (BNSS) before the HKMSC was disbanded.
Some ex-HKMSC soldiers who were resident in the United Kingdom re-enlisted in the British Army on a Military Local Service Engagement (MLSE), with the Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS), and others joined the British Territorial Army (TA).