Anti-Aircraft Artillery of Hong Kong & Singapore Royal

Artillery(HKSRA)

Mandeep Singh

The history of Anti-Aircraft Artillery in India precedes the raising of the first Indian Anti-Aircraft
Regiment in 1940. More than a decade earlier, in 1929, a Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery ( 8thHeavy
AA Battery, RA) had been placed in the North West Frontier Province making it the first presence
of any AA Artillery in India but as it was manned only by British gunners, there was no presence
of Indians in this branch of Artillery; as yet.

To trace the first Indian AA gunners, we need to look eastwards at the British garrisons of Hong
Kong and Singapore.

In 1841, four companies Madras Army were sanctioned to be formed at Fort St. George and sent
to Hong Kong for the defence of the newly occupied territories. The first reference of these
companies, called the China Gun Lascars, is available in ‘The Asiatic journal and monthly register for
British and foreign India, China and Australasia’of 1842 which mentions the newly raised companies
as follows:
Under instructions from the Right Honourable the governor in Council, four companies of gun lascars have been
raised for service in China, each consisting of 1 subedar, 1 jemadar, 8 havildras, 115 lascars and 2 bheasties. The
companies are to be lettered from A to D, and will be under the orders of the officer commanding the Madras
Artillery in China for the general duties of the Corps. Officers in command of these companies are authorized to
draw an allowance of Rs 30 a month for stationer, &c.
The Companies were commanded by the Subedar, with no British or Native officer on strength
of the company. The men dressed like all other garrison gunners though their duties seem to have
been purely orderly and fatigue. The men were recruited from (the then) Madras Presidency. The
recruitment base was later expanded to include Punjabi Mussalmans (PM) from Punjab and a PM
was duly raised as a pure company.
The class composition of the Lascar companies underwent another change in 1865 when men of
all Asiatic nations were first enlisted. These included Portuguese half-castes and Jews though a
Punjabi Mohammedan company was retained besides the mixed companies. The duties of the
lascars were slowly expanded to include gun drill and musketry with the men showing signs of
efficiency. Over a period of time, the fatigue duties were restricted and the focus shifted to gunnery
duties.

In 1881, an additional company was sanctioned following the increase in armament in Hong Kong
and at this stage, Colonel Hall, the then Officer Commanding Royal Artillery, Hong Kong,
expressed a desire that the new company should be composed entirely of Sikhs enlisted in the
Punjab, India. The companies were still called the ‘China Gun Lascars’. This led to discontent
amongst the Indian gunners, especially the newly recruited Sikhs who had been enlisted in India
for the Top Khana(Artillery) but it was not till 1891 that the name was changed from China Gun
lascars to ‘Asiatic Artillery’. By now, there were ‘Asiatic Artillery Companies’ at Hong Kong,
Singapore, Ceylon and Mauritius.
To bring about greater control and efficiency, the Asiatic Artillery underwent a reorganisation in
1898 and two separate battalions were formed: “The Hong Kong and Singapore Battalion, Royal
Artillery”, headquartered in Hong Kong, and the “Ceylon Battalion, Royal Artillery”,
headquartered in Ceylon. The next year, Royal Artillery was split into two distinct branches with
Royal Garrison Artillery coming into being. With this, the two battalions were now named the
‘Hong Kong Singapore Battalion, Royal Garrison Artillery’though this lasted till 1924 when it was
decided to again merge the two i.e. the Garrison and Field artillery into a single corps.

In 1934, the units underwent another change and were to be called ‘Hong Kong and Singapore
Royal Artillery (HKSRA). In May, 1934 HKSRA consisted of one mountain and three heavy
batteries at Hong Kong, and one heavy battery at Singapore. With the need for AA defence of
Singapore and Hong Kong, 5th AA Brigade (regiment) was formed in 1934 with the a British HQ
and 7thAA Battery. Two AA Batteries of HKSRA ( No.s 7 and 9) were raised with Punjabi
Mussalman and Sikhs recruited from Punjab in India, and joined the Brigade after training.
These were the first AA batteries of Indian gunners.
By September, 1939, HKSRA had grown into two mountain batteries, two medium batteries, and
one heavy battery at Hong Kong, six anti-aircraft batteries at Singapore and one heavy battery at
Penang. The AA Batteries were organised in to 1 and 2 AA Regiments, HKSRA.

In 1940, the HKSRA was rocked by a mutiny when all personnel were
ordered to wear steel helmets instead of pugris. The Sikh
sepoys of the 20th Heavy Batteryof the12thHKSRA, along with the 2ndBattalion of the 14thPunjab
Regiment refused to wear the helmets. The mutiny spread with 83 Sikh sepoys of the 20thBattery
displaying collective insubordination on December 19 and the Sikhs of Hong Kong rifles refusing
to handle the crates containing the steel helmets. They were joined by Sikhs of the 5 AA Regiment
refusing food. The mutiny was quelled by collective court martial of 83 Sikh gunners in January
1941.
The mutiny and insubordination notwithstanding, the HKSRA acquitted themselves with honour
once hostilities were joined with the Japanese invasion.

Hong Kong, the first to face the Japanese onslaught had only one AA Battery, the 17thAA
Battery, of HKSRA which formed part of 5 AA Regiment. In addition, the regiment had 7thand
18thAA Batteries of Royal Artillery and 5thAA Battery formed from the Hong Kong Volunteer
Defence Corps.
One Japanese sea-plane was brought down by the 17 AA Battery, HKSRA during the Battle of
Saiwan. The Battery suffered losses at Brickhill and Bluff Head when sections where knocked off
by concentrated Japanese air attacks.

Faced with overwhelming odds, the British garrison in Hong Kong surrendered on December 26.
The situation in Malaya and Singapore was similar as the commonwealth forces were not able to
withstand the Japanese offensive.

The AA Batteries in Malaya included the 1stand 2ndAA Regiments of HKSRA and the 3rdLight AA
Regiment made of available Light AA Batteries. They were deployed as thus:

1st HAA Regiment, HKSRA

6 HAA Battery at Johore Bahru and Sungei Buloh
 9 HAA Battery at Johore State and Naval Base

10 HAA Battery at Tengah and Mount Vernon

2nd HAA Regiment, HKSRA

12 HAA Battery at Nee Soon and Holland

13 HAA Battery at Geylang and Club

20 HAA Battery at Tengah

3rd Light AA Regiment, HKSRA with its 14 and 16 LAA Batteries, HKSRA and 1 Indian LAA
Battery with Indian III Corps
The HAA Batteries were initially deployed at the forward airfields. Alor Star aerodrome had 4 x
3” guns of 9 HAA Battery with four more at Kota Bharu. Sungei Patani had eight static 3.7-inch
guns of 13thHAA Battery and two guns at Gong Kedah.
The aerodrome at Tengah was the most heavily defended with 10 HAA Battery and 20 HAA
battery deployed for its defence; as was 4 HAA Battery of 1stIndian HAA Regiment.
The LAA Batteries were split up into Troops and Sections for AA defence of Brigades of the III
Indian Corps.
The AA defences were later augmented by the arrival of British AA Regiments but they all proved
inadequate in the end.

The AA Gunners of HKSRA won the following gallantry awards:

Military Cross
Jemadar Amar Singh, 2 Light AA Regiment, HKSRA

Military Medal
Havildar Udham Singh, 18 Light AA Battery, HKSRA

Naik Mohd Amir, 1 AA Regiment, HKSRA

A large number of AA gunners were taken prisoner and suffered heavy casualties during the
campaign.