Miss Li should be identical to Lee Siu-wah (李兆華) who directed the 14 year old 'Small Boy' - Li Shek (李石) and the village elder Kwai Suk (Yau Kwai) to remove Lt. Kerr to another hiding place near Tiu Cho Ngam upon learning of the massive Japanese man hunt in the area. She also directed them to bring cooked food in the form of the Hakka Lo Mic Chee to feed Kerr. Later, she led Black Boy Lau (Lau Hak-tsai) and his teammate to see Kerr in hiding. These people were all working for the Kong Kau Brigade of the pro-Communist guerrillas which later became the East River Colunm Guerrillas upon gaining direct US liaison & recognition.
Over the weekend I had the chance to talk to Mr Gong Shan (江山), the fifth son of Miss Li and Mr Gong Shui (江水).
Miss Li was originally Malaysian-Chinese, coming to Hong Kong in 1938.
In 1944/5 she left the New Territories and moved into Guangdong.
Shortly after the end of the war, she was one of approximately 4,500 East River Column guerillas who were transported from Guangdong to northern China on board two ships of the American Navy.
I hadn't heard of the post-war transportation before. Does anyone know what it was called in English? I'd like to see if there are any on-line descriptions in English we can link to.
According to the legends of the Communist East River Column Guerrillas, their Hong Kong & Kowloon Independent Brigade (Kong Kau Tuk Lap Tai Tui) had its HQ at 172 Nathan Road, on the 1st & 2nd Floor, headed by Yuan Keng and Raymond Wong Chok-mui (BAAG No.99). Since they already had armed units in the NT, they claimed to have been asked by the British Military Administration to co-operate to form an armed force to maintain law & order in HK. However, the ERCG HQ directed them to withdraw. Some 2,400 were transferred out of Hong Kong to go to Yin Toi in Shantung on 30th June 1946, onboard three US Navy Landing Crafts. Only a Party Cell was left in HK to do political work. Raymond Wong remained. A farewell manifesto was published in HK.
It was in Jan 1946 that the Nationalists & the Communists signed a truce. In April 1946, Gen Chang Fa-huei of Kwangtung entered into agreement with the ERCGs to withdraw up north to Shantung. In June 1946, all out civil war resumed.
Despite repeated ceasefire violations committed by both sides after the signing of the twenty-four-point agreement, over 2,400 guerrillas and some female cadres of the East River Column out of the 3,174 actually arrived at the point of embarkation area of Shayuchong and achieved their mission of “victorious repatriation” on 29 June 1946. As the area was full of KMT soldiers, six US officers who worked in the three sub-teams had to collect the widely scattered small guerrilla units at various assembly points and provide an escort to some of the guerrillas who had to go on a ten-day trek to the embarkation point on the beach north of Bias Bay.
Three landing craft (numbers 585, 589 and 1026) from Task Force 78 (Amphibious Group 3), assigned by the commander of the US 7th Fleet, were provided for the journey. To offer additional protection, USS George provided
convoy protection from the point of embarkation to the final destination in Shandong.
Landing craft are typically used to ferry troops between a larger ship and a beach, not to make a long journey such as this. Also the landing craft only carry 1-200 people, so wouldn't have had the capacity to move this group.
The photos have been uploaded, hoping to help you identify the these ships. According to records, 2,583 people boarded three ships, with about 800 people on each ship. One soldier recalled their experience of retreating north: the soldiers lived in the large cabin and all the female soldiers lived in one room. So they should have been transported via these three ships.
Thank you for sharing these photos, which confirm the men and women of the East River Column travelled north on three American vessels of type "Landing Ship, Tank":
Comments
Miss Li
Miss Li should be identical to Lee Siu-wah (李兆華) who directed the 14 year old 'Small Boy' - Li Shek (李石) and the village elder Kwai Suk (Yau Kwai) to remove Lt. Kerr to another hiding place near Tiu Cho Ngam upon learning of the massive Japanese man hunt in the area. She also directed them to bring cooked food in the form of the Hakka Lo Mic Chee to feed Kerr. Later, she led Black Boy Lau (Lau Hak-tsai) and his teammate to see Kerr in hiding. These people were all working for the Kong Kau Brigade of the pro-Communist guerrillas which later became the East River Colunm Guerrillas upon gaining direct US liaison & recognition.
Miss Li
Over the weekend I had the chance to talk to Mr Gong Shan (江山), the fifth son of Miss Li and Mr Gong Shui (江水).
Miss Li was originally Malaysian-Chinese, coming to Hong Kong in 1938.
In 1944/5 she left the New Territories and moved into Guangdong.
Shortly after the end of the war, she was one of approximately 4,500 East River Column guerillas who were transported from Guangdong to northern China on board two ships of the American Navy.
I hadn't heard of the post-war transportation before. Does anyone know what it was called in English? I'd like to see if there are any on-line descriptions in English we can link to.
Regards, David
Transfer of East River Column Guerrillas
According to the legends of the Communist East River Column Guerrillas, their Hong Kong & Kowloon Independent Brigade (Kong Kau Tuk Lap Tai Tui) had its HQ at 172 Nathan Road, on the 1st & 2nd Floor, headed by Yuan Keng and Raymond Wong Chok-mui (BAAG No.99). Since they already had armed units in the NT, they claimed to have been asked by the British Military Administration to co-operate to form an armed force to maintain law & order in HK. However, the ERCG HQ directed them to withdraw. Some 2,400 were transferred out of Hong Kong to go to Yin Toi in Shantung on 30th June 1946, onboard three US Navy Landing Crafts. Only a Party Cell was left in HK to do political work. Raymond Wong remained. A farewell manifesto was published in HK.
It was in Jan 1946 that the Nationalists & the Communists signed a truce. In April 1946, Gen Chang Fa-huei of Kwangtung entered into agreement with the ERCGs to withdraw up north to Shantung. In June 1946, all out civil war resumed.
re: Transfer of East River Column Guerrillas
Thanks Lawrence. Using your material to search I came across this passage by Chan Sui-jeung in his book, East River Column: Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After:
Despite repeated ceasefire violations committed by both sides after the signing of the twenty-four-point agreement, over 2,400 guerrillas and some female cadres of the East River Column out of the 3,174 actually arrived at the point of embarkation area of Shayuchong and achieved their mission of “victorious repatriation” on 29 June 1946. As the area was full of KMT soldiers, six US officers who worked in the three sub-teams had to collect the widely scattered small guerrilla units at various assembly points and provide an escort to some of the guerrillas who had to go on a ten-day trek to the embarkation point on the beach north of Bias Bay.
Three landing craft (numbers 585, 589 and 1026) from Task Force 78 (Amphibious Group 3), assigned by the commander of the US 7th Fleet, were provided for the journey. To offer additional protection, USS George provided
convoy protection from the point of embarkation to the final destination in Shandong.
Landing craft are typically used to ferry troops between a larger ship and a beach, not to make a long journey such as this. Also the landing craft only carry 1-200 people, so wouldn't have had the capacity to move this group.
I found this list of WW2 amphibious craft: http://www.navsource.org/archives/phibidx.htm
Possible matches for the numbers 585, 589 and 1026 are the LST (Landing Ship Tank) on this page: http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/16idx.htm. Maybe they'd be big enough to move the group.
Or perhaps they used the smaller landing craft, but to ferry people to the USS George?
Regards, David
Landing craft No. 1026
Landing craft No. 589
About Transportation
The photos have been uploaded, hoping to help you identify the these ships. According to records, 2,583 people boarded three ships, with about 800 people on each ship. One soldier recalled their experience of retreating north: the soldiers lived in the large cabin and all the female soldiers lived in one room. So they should have been transported via these three ships.
re: About Transportation
Thank you for sharing these photos, which confirm the men and women of the East River Column travelled north on three American vessels of type "Landing Ship, Tank":