1. First Aid Posts in Hong Kong, December 1941

The first aid station was the first place that would give treatment to an injured person. People with minor injuries would be treated and released, while people with more serious injuries would be sent on to a Casualty Clearing Station.

I think the list above is of the first aid posts that were in built-up areas, intended for civilian casualties and under civilian control.

Note from WW2 volunteer nurses, part 2:

... the Civil Defence Corps Regulations in July, 1941 established an Auxiliary Nursing Service (ANS). ANS nurses, with nurses of St John Ambulance, also staffed first aid stations throughout the urban areas.

There were also first aid posts around Hong Kong that were intended for members of the armed forces and were under military control. In practice, both types were likely used by both wounded civilians and members of the armed forces.

Hi Brian,

I've added the sources I could find to the list at the top of the page. Please could you add sources to the other entries?

Regards, David

Notes about Hong Kong's First Aid Posts extracted from Selwyn-Clarke's post-war report:

CONVERSION OF CIVILIAN MEDICAL FACILITIES TO WAR FOOTING

First-aid Posts. In addition to casualty clearing and relief hospitals, some nineteen premises were taken over to serve as first-aid posts. For the most part, schools were used for this purpose, since it had been decided that it would be dangerous to continue schools during hostilities.

These first-aid posts were sited so as to ensure that wounded would not have to be carried for more than a mile in any district. A mobile first-aid unit was organised on each side of the harbour to be available to proceed to any area where casualties were heavy.

SCHEME OF OPERATIONS

On Hong Kong Island there were three main areas, while the Kowloon peninsula was divided into Kowloon north and Kowloon south. Each area had an Area Medical Officer in executive charge of all medical and health services and this officer had with him the Area Medical Transport Officer and Liaison Communication Officers responsible for maintaining all forms of communication.

When an incident occurred, the A.R.P. warden reported the location, etc. to one of the Report Centres and thence to A.R.P. Headquarters. The Medical Communication Liaison Officer in turn reported casualties to the nearest first-aid post or posts and to the Area Medical Headquarters. In turn, the Area Medical Headquarters collated information and passed it on to General Medical Headquarters and to neighbouring Area Medical Headquarters, after taking such action as might be necessary to organise supplementary aid from other first-aid posts.

The staff of each first-aid post consisted of three private practitioners recruited specifically for the purpose and on eight-hour shifts, a varying number of first-aid parties of four members of St. John Ambulance Brigade stretcher bearers and a number of nurses, either members of St. John Ambulance Nursing Division or of an 'ad hoc' organisation called the Auxiliary Nursing Service brought into being as a supplementary nursing service. The aim was to have groups of 144 St. John Ambulance Brigade personnel in every first-aid post, so that 72 would be on duty for twelve hours per day in shifts. In point of fact, circumstances necessitated the acceptance of a lower standard of staffing of the nineteen posts, some of which had but two doctors and as few as twenty-four stretcher bearers. A senior member of the Medical Department was seconded to act as Supervisor and Training Officer to the first-aid post personnel.

MOBILISATION

The long-expected blow fell on the morning of December 8, 1941 simultaneously with the destruction of the greater part of the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, and followed rapidly by the sinking of H.M.S. Prince of Wales and Repulse in Malayan waters.

Approximately 1,000 stretcher bearers and nurses belonging to St. John Ambulance Brigade manned the nineteen first-aid posts on the Kowloon peninsula and on Hong Kong Island, where they were placed under the supervision of sixty private practitioners.

CAPTURE OF KOWLOON

Finding that the Japanese had advanced still further by the afternoon of December 11, and had penetrated into the outskirts of Kowloon itself, orders were given to withdraw most of the staffs of first-aid posts and subsidiary hospitals in the more advanced positions and to concentrate the personnel and more valuable equipment in the three main hospitals on the peninsula.

Within four days of the actual outbreak of war in Hong Kong, the whole of the peninsula was in Japanese hands and enemy batteries were established in Kowloon. These batteries shelled the northern face of Hong Kong Island, directing their fire on British battery positions and pill-box machine-gun emplacements guarding the shore line, ammunition, food and fuel dumps, transport parks and other military objectives. As the area is very restricted, it was inevitable that several hospitals and first-aid posts suffered considerable damage from both shelling and bombing. [...] two first-aid posts received so many direct hits that they had to be closed [...]

Please can I check which market is mentioned in CO 129/590/25? The comment above says "King's College, Central Market, Heep Yun and Fung Keung factory:", but in the list at the top of the page it says Wanchai Market.