Christopher Maltby
Christopher Maltby | |
---|---|
Mentioned in Despatches (4) | |
Relations | Air Vice Marshal Sir Paul Maltby (brother) |
Military career
Educated at Bedford School, Maltby attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from where he was commissioned into 95th Russell's Infantry of the Indian Army in 1910.[1] In the years leading to war, he served in the Persian Gulf.[2]
He saw service in the
With the war over, he then went to the Staff College in
He served in the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/J.K._Lawson_and_C.M._Maltby.jpg/220px-J.K._Lawson_and_C.M._Maltby.jpg)
He was made Commander of British Troops in China in August 1941.[1] He was unimpressed when he assumed the post on 19 July 1941. In his first letter to his wife upon arrival, he wrote, "the Governor is a very sick man and only wants to go quietly, and there is still a tremendous lot to be done on the civil defence side, so I am afraid my start must be demanding things. Why must one always have to fight the civil administration?" Meanwhile, the Hong Kong sappers impressed Maltby during the ceremony on 1 August so much that he proposed to the War Office to raise a ‘Chinese infantry battalion’ with the prospect of ‘further expansion’ on 8 August. The War Office approved the proposal on 24 August; it was the beginning of the first locally raised Hong Kong infantry unit in the British Army, the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment.[3]
He initially established a 10-mile line of defence known as Gin Drinkers Line across the Southern part of the mainland but was rapidly forced to withdraw his troops back to Hong Kong Island.[4] General Takashi Sakai began a bombardment of the Island and, after a brief counter-attack by British Troops which commenced on 19 December 1941,[4] Maltby surrendered to the Japanese at Queen's Pier on 25 December 1941.[5] He was a prisoner of war from 1941 to 1945.[1][2]
Retirement
Reverting to his permanent rank of colonel, Maltby retired on 10 June 1946.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Christopher Michael Maltby Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- ^ a b c d e f Smart 2005, p. 208.
- ISBN 9780192845740.
- ^ a b Fall of Hong Kong
- ^ "Photos of the fall of Hong Kong". Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
- ^ "No. 37674". The London Gazette. 2 August 1946. p. 3939.
- ^ "No. 37809". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 December 1946. p. 5953.
- ^ "No. 39954". The London Gazette. 4 September 1953. p. 4750.
Bibliography
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.