Hong Kong Military Service Corps

The Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) (Chinese: 香港軍事服務團) was a British army unit and part of the British garrison in Hong Kong (see British Forces Overseas Hong Kong). Throughout the history of Hong Kong, it has been the only regular British army unit raised in the territory made up almost entirely of Locally Enlisted Personnel (LEP).

The history of Hong Kong ethnic Chinese soldiers serving in the British Army can be traced back to the 1880s when Hong Kong locals were employed by the Royal Engineers in the building of barracks and defence work.

Many ethnic Chinese Hong Kongers fought alongside the British troops in the defence of Hong Kong in World War II. The battle group of the British Battalions consisted of 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion Royal Scots and the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment. Other battle groups were Royal Artillery, Canadian Battalions, Indian Forces and the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force. A large number of ethnic Chinese Hong Kongers were killed or became prisoners of war.

Ethnic Chinese Hong Kongers also saw active service outside Hong Kong in Burma in 1942 against the Japanese forces, they fought alongside the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.

In January 1948 the Hong Kong Chinese Training Unit (HKCTU) was formed by the Hong Kong ethnic Chinese who had served in the various artillery and coastal defence units during the Battle of Hong Kong in World War II, with the aim of recruiting and training Hong Kong ethnic Chinese soldiers to assist and support the British Garrison in Hong Kong. Hong Kong-born ethnic Chinese soldiers (British Dependent Territories Citizens) of the HKCTU pledged allegiance to the Monarch of the United Kingdom and were enlisted into the General Service Corps (GSC) of the British Regular Army. They wear the capbadge of the GSC. Members of the HKCTU were, later, frequently nicknamed, locally, in Cantonese Chinese, as sui lui pao bing (Chinese: 水雷炮兵; literally: "water mine and coastal artillery soldiers") or sui ngau (Chinese: 水牛; literally: "buffalo") in memory of their predecessors. Those enlisted before World War II were numbered HK1802xxx; those who joined after World War II, HK1826XXXX and HK1827xxxx.

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