Stanley Fort

Stanley Fort
Hong Kong
Stanley Fort
Location within Hong Kong
Coordinates 22°12′04″N 114°13′05″E / 22.201°N 114.218°E / 22.201; 114.218Coordinates: 22°12′04″N 114°13′05″E / 22.201°N 114.218°E / 22.201; 114.218
Type Barracks
Site history
Built circa 1841
Built for War Office
In use 1841-Present
Garrison information
Occupants People's Liberation Army Ground Force

Stanley Fort is a military installation on the south side of Hong Kong Island. Built originally to serve the British Armed Forces, it now houses the Hong Kong garrison of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Force. It has also been used as Kai Chi Children's Centre and the Aberdeen Rehabilitation Centre.[1]

History

The fort, which occupied a site of 128 hectares, was founded in 1841 on the Stanley Peninsula at the southern side of Hong Kong Island. It had barracks and officers quarters. Coastal artillery batteries protected Victoria Harbour. During the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941, the fort was where British and Canadian troops mounted a final last stand. The survivors were the first Commonwealth troops to surrender to Japanese forces. The fallen servicemen were buried in the nearby Stanley War Cemetery.[2]

The fort then became an internment camp for the remainder of the Second World War. In the late 1940s, Stanley Fort reverted to its former purpose as a British Army barracks. By the early 1950s the fort was base of the 27th Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment and a small workshop operated by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The fort had three-storied barracks, a two-storey NAAFI, medical facilities and a Company HQ building. It also had a parade ground and vehicle and equipment park. In 1997, control was handed to the People's Liberation Army following the Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong.[3]

The Stanley Battery Gun Emplacement at Stanley Fort is listed as one of the Grade I historic buildings and thus is protected under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Barracks involved" (PDF). Hong Kong Standard. 24 March 1985.
  2. ↑ "Stanley Barracks". Britain at War. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "1997 St. Barbara - Garrison Church of Stanley Fort". Gwulo. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Item 353" (PDF). Antiques & Monuments Office. Retrieved 26 June 2016.


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