British Army Aid Group

The British Army Aid Group (BAAG; Chinese: 英軍服務團) was a para-military organisation for British and allied forces in southern China during the Second World War. The BAAG was officially classified in the British Army's order of battle as a MI9 unit that was responsible for assisting prisoners of war to escape from the Japanese Army's POW camps.

After the Battle of Hong Kong, Lt. Colonel Sir Lindsay Ride, who was then a professor of Physiology at The University of Hong Kong, was captured. Before the end of the battle, he had been the commander of the Hong Kong Voluntary Defence Corps Field Ambulance, and, once hostilities commenced, was given command of the Combined Field Ambulance. Shortly after being captured, Ride escaped from Sham Shui Po POW camp to China with three trusted men. There, in order to further the war effort, support the Chinese, and shore up damaged British prestige in the area, he suggested forming a group that became known as the British Army Aid Group. The Ming-Ai (London) Institute interviewed Ride's daughter as part of the British Chinese Armed Forces Heritage project.

Throughout the war the BAAG sent agents to gather military intelligence in southern China and Hong Kong and these agents had also facilitated many of the POWs' escapes from Hong Kong to the Allied Command Headquarters in Chungking, China's war-time capital. Escaped POWs were then debriefed by BAAG staff and subsequently rejoined the war effort. 128 men, for example, were re-trained for further operations in Burma with the Chindits.

After the war, the BAAG played a vital role in the resumption of British sovereignty over Hong Kong.

See also

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