Everything tagged: Beach Defence Unit

Photos tagged: Beach Defence Unit

1930s
1940s
1940s

Pages tagged: Beach Defence Unit

Pillbox 063, Central (Old Vehicular Ferry Pier) [1939-????]

Submitted by David on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 21:56

Update: Rob has identified this as Pillbox 063]

Although the wartime maps don't show the location of pillbox 061, we're guessing this is where it was.

The red marker shows the approximate location of the northern tip of the western arm of the old vehicular ferry pier. You can see the pillbox on this photo of the ferry pier in the 1950s:

Pillbox 057, Wanchai (Hennessy Rd / Johnston Rd / Stewart Rd) [1939-????]

Submitted by David on Sun, 09/14/2008 - 13:24

UWM's Harrison Forman collection has several photos of this area and the pillbox in 1941 (see below).

Interesting to see there was a gas station on the junction even then, and apparently under the same management. In 1941 the station sign says 'Texaco', and today's station is the ground floor of a building named Caltex House, Texaco being an ancestor of the Caltex brand.

Some points for discussion:

1. Direction.

Pillbox 007, Kai Lung Wan / Kellett Bay [1939-????]

Submitted by David on Wed, 09/10/2008 - 12:18

As usual, the pillbox was built on the old shoreline. In this case, the shore of Kellett Bay.

The bay has been reclaimed, and is now the site of the Wah Kwai Housing Estate. The estate took its first residents in 1990, so the reclamation will have been before then.

I took a walk around the back of the estate, but there is no sign of the pillbox. The hillside slopes have been cut back as part of building the estate, so I guess the pillbox was demolished at that time.

Pillbox 072 [1939-????]

Submitted by David on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 20:42

The coastal pillboxes were numbered anti-clockwise around HK island, from 1 to 72, so this was the one with the highest number.

The map is not very clear, so the location is only an estimate. If it is still there, it should be visible from the ferry to Lamma - I'll take a look next time I head out that way.

If you have any memories or photos of how this looked, please leave a comment below.