Timeline of events from Wikipedia's article about the ERC:
- 1938: The Dongguan Model Able-bodied Young Men Guerrilla Team and the Huiyang Bao’an People’s Anti-Japanese Guerrillas are formed in Guangdong province to fight the Japanese troops in the area.
- 1940: The two groups are merged to form the East River Column.
- 8 Dec 1941: Japan invades Hong Kong.
- 3 Feb 1942: The Hong Kong and Kowloon Independent Brigade of the East River Column is established.
- Dec 1943: The Hong Kong and Kowloon Independent Brigade is absorbed into the East River Column.
- 15 Aug 1945: Japan surrenders.
- Mid-1946: Many of the ERC's members are transported north to Shandong province by sea, on American vessels.
- 1 Aug 1947: The ERC became the Guangdong-Guangxi Column of Chen Yi's East China Field Army.
The UK National Archives have an article about the ERC introducing some of the related material they hold. (Thanks to Ian Thirlwell for letting me know about this.)
Type
Armed services
Status
Inactive
Date organisation created
Date organisation closed
Comments
Chan Sui-jeung East River Column Book Recommended
For those with more than a passing interest in the activities of the East River Column during the war, reading Chan Sui-jeung's East River Column: Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After is recommended.
Several mistakes in the…
Several mistakes in the timeline. The East River Column was officially established in 1943, marked by the release of the "Declaration of the Establishment of The East River Column（東江縱隊成立宣言）". When two forces merged in 1940, they were named the "Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas (廣東人民抗日游擊隊）". In 1942, the force was expanded and renamed the "Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps（廣東人民抗日遊擊總隊）." After the declaration in 1943, the force's name was officially changed to "The Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrillas East River Column(廣東人民抗日游擊隊東江縱隊)" , abbreviated as the " East River Column（東江縱隊）."
By the way, it might be worthwhile to add some new contents about the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Brigade（東江縱隊港九獨立大隊） to the timeline, as they are more closely related to Hong Kong's history:
In 1942, the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Brigade established an international working group to cooperate with the BAAG in rescuing people from Hong Kong POW camps .
In 1944, the East River Column worked with the OSS to gather information in HK (the American representative was Merrill Steele ADY).