BAAG names and code-numbers

Submitted by David on Tue, 01/27/2015 - 20:00

Elizabeth Ride has kindly sent a list of additional British Army Aid Group (BAAG) numbers, and the people they refer to.

In most cases these people were BAAG agents, working for the British in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation. They were referred to in written messages by number rather than name, for added security in case the message was intercepted by the Japanese. eg it was safer to send a message by runner that "62 was going to be in Shum Chun on Thursday" than include 62's name.

I've added these new names to the names we already had, and the combined list is shown below. Elizabeth hopes the list will uncover additional information about these brave individuals, and writes "This list is very sketchy and I hope your readers might be able to add to it, correct it, or even corroborate it."

A couple of notes about the format:

  • "(?)" - Where a number has a question mark, eg "BAAG No. 9 (?)", Elizabeth doesn't have verifiable proof that this number belongs to the named person. However the circumstantial evidence suggests it is true.
  • "i", "ii". In some cases, numbers were re-used, eg No. 51 was originally used for Mak Lum, and later used for Yeung Por. In that case I've added a suffix ".i" for the first person to use this number, and ".ii" for the second.

<?php
$view_args = array();
$view_name = 'list_of_baag_numbers'; //name of view
$view = views_get_view($view_name);
if (!empty($view)) {
echo $view->execute_display('default', $view_args);
}
?>

Thank you to Elizabeth for sharing her research with us. This list is a small part of the Elizabeth Ride Collection, which includes a wealth of information about the BAAG. You can read more about the collection at: http://gwulo.com/node/13968

Elizabeth is always happy to receive inquiries from researchers with questions about the BAAG. 

Comments

A most comprehensive list, but I do not see a listing for Rudy Choy aka  Rudy Choa/ Choi, Wing-hay who was a member of BAAG.

I know he was imprisoned by the Japanese and released in late 1943.

 

regards

Hi Fivestar,

This list shows people that were referred to by number in a BAAG document - think of it as a way to quickly look up a person's name if you see a number given.

It only shows a small fraction of the people involved with the BAAG, as anyone without a number isn't included.

We have a slightly longer list that includes anyone tagged 'BAAG', and you'll find Rudy mentioned there: http://gwulo.com/list-of-person?tid=BAAG&title_1=&order=field_nickname&…

But again there were many more people involved with the BAAG. If you can add any more, please make a Person page for them (http://gwulo.com/node/add/person), and give them the tag BAAG so they appear in the list.

Regards, David

BAAG FIGS Group P was formed circa July 1944 as an outgrowth of the former Group M consisting largely of former HK Police Resevists.  Group M was led David Loie (M.S.) which soon met its demise in 1943 after activation.  Tso-Chun-on was amongst its instigators, although Tso did not take any role in Group M; he went to Kweilin and may have worked with the ISLD.  Group P was formed with some remnant members of Group M at the initiation of Thomas Wong Wing-tim (No.18) & Mol Kai-sang (C.C.) who was formerly the i/c of Group M Rear HQ in Free China.  Ip Kam-wing (No.49) became the leader.  There were some 18 persons known to have been involved in Group P.  Consideration was given to deploy Group P in security & counter-espionage work when it was formed.