Operation Armour

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Operation Armour was a British mission by the South East Asia Command in August–September 1945 to reoccupy Hong Kong and restore its supplies after World War II. Its main goal was to bring in fresh troops, food and other essentials.

Hong Kong’s food situation had been getting worse since the early 1940s. Intelligence from the British Army Aid Group warned of shortages, and after Japan surrendered the colony had about 4,000 tons of rice—enough for only a few weeks. Guangzhou had fallen back to Nationalist Chinese forces, but they would not export food to Hong Kong because they were short of supplies themselves.

The plan for Operation Armour was formalized on August 21, 1945. On August 31, a convoy left Trincomalee carrying HMS Glengyle and Smiter with No. 132 Squadron RAF, HMIS Llanstephan Castle with 3 Commando Brigade, and HMCS Ontario. On September 12, the rice convoy City of Worcester departed Rangoon with 6,300 tons of rice and arrived in Hong Kong on September 26.

Conditions worsened in November due to a shortage of ships in Southeast Asia. Acting on Admiral Cecil Harcourt’s request, SEAC diverted four rice convoys to Hong Kong. By December, the colony received about 4,000 tons of coal, 18,000 tons of rice from Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, and flour, milk, sugar, canned beef, peanuts, coconut oil and biscuits from Australia and India.

A reconstruction force called the Shield Force, about 3,400 personnel from various RAF units (including the No. 5358 Airfield Construction Wing), was diverted from its original route to Okinawa and arrived in Hong Kong on September 4 to help restore public services.