Stanley Fort is a military installation on the south side of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km2, . The island had a population of a ...

. Built originally to serve the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

, it now houses the Hong Kong garrison of the Chinese

People's Liberation Army Ground Force The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF; ) is the land-based service branch of the People's Liberation Army and the largest and oldest branch of the entire Chinese armed forces. The PLAGF can trace its lineage from 1927 as the Chine ...

. It has also been used as Kai Chi Children's Centre and the Aberdeen Rehabilitation Centre.

History

The fort, which occupied a site of 128 hectares, was founded in 1841 on the

Stanley Peninsula Stanley Peninsula (), formerly known as Tai Tam Peninsula (), is a peninsula of southern Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Located between Tai Tam Bay and Stanley Bay, it joins north to Hong Kong Island at the town of Stanley Stanley may refer t ...

at the southern side of Hong Kong Island. It had barracks and officers quarters. Coastal artillery batteries, such as Stanley Battery and Bluff Head Battery protected the southern approaches. During the

Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...

on December 25, 1941, the fort was where British and Canadian troops mounted a final counterattack against Japanese positions at St Stephen's College. The fallen servicemen were buried in the nearby Stanley Military Cemetery. The fort then became under the control of the Japanese who modified the fort to make it more shell-proof during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. 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 Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

. The fort had three-storied barracks, a two-storey

NAAFI The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs ...

, 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 Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special admin ...

. 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.

References

Hong Kong Island Military of Hong Kong under British rule Forts in Hong Kong Stanley, Hong Kong Grade I historic buildings in Hong Kong {{HongKong-struct-stub

History

See also

References