Dates: 1927 -
April 1927- Headquarters RAF China is formed at Hong Kong, following the addition of an RAF army co-operation squadron to the existing Shanghai Defence Force.
British Forces Overseas Hong Kong consisted of the elements of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Much of the British military left Hong Kong prior to the handover in 1997. The present article focuses mainly on the British garrison in Hong Kong in the post Second World War era.
Most of the members of the British Forces in Hong Kong were from Britain but there were locally enlisted personnel (LEP) who served as regular British Forces members in the Hong Kong Squadron of the Royal Navy as well as the Hong Kong Military Service Corps.
The Royal Hong Kong Regiment a military unit part of the Hong Kong Government, trained and organised along time lines of British Territorial Army and supported by British Army personnel holding key positions. These British Army personnel for their duration of service to the Royal Hong Kong Regiment are seconded to the Hong Kong Government. In the post WWII era the majority of the regiment’s members have been local citizens of Chinese descent.
Before, during and shortly after the Second World War, there was normally a division of land forces maintained in Hong Kong. For most of the post-war period, however, the army garrison has been reduced to a brigade of three to four infantry battalions with support and training elements.
