The Hong Kong Heroes: Unveiling Guangdong and Hong Kong's "La Grande Vadrouille" during WWII | Brothers in Arms (2)

GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — News report from GDToday: This Chinese force was honored by the U.S. President and had its representative decorated by the British Crown. They are the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Brigade of the Dongjiang (East River) Column.

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During World War II (WWII), under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, they were primarily active in Guangdong and Hong Kong, forming the only organized force that sustained resistance against the Japanese invasion throughout the war.

Amidst the overwhelming forces and blockades of the Japanese military, they dramatically rescued dozens of Allied comrades from the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Denmark, and beyond.

In 1966, the film “La Grande Vadrouille,” starring Danielle Thompson and others, which tells the story of the French rescuing British air force pilots during World War II, became a global sensation. However, the numerous rescue operations carried out in Guangdong and Hong Kong, which were equally heroic, remain relatively unknown.

Recently, reporters accompanied the descendant of a rescued Allied soldier to revisit the “escape route” of his father in Hong Kong, and together they uncovered the story of this Brigade and the “La Grande Vadrouille” that unfolded in Guangdong and Hong Kong.

Some of the archives are provided by the Guangdong Provincial Archives and the People’s History Museum in Manchester, UK.

Special thanks to the decendants of Dongjiang Column soldiers, including Deng Liping, Wang Yuzhen, Jiang Shan, Huang Wenzhuang, Liao Guoqiu, Lin Ming and Zhang Fang, as well as Hong Kong Chronicles Institute, and Shenzhen Dapeng New Area Museum.

The Hong Kong Heroes: Unveiling Guangdong and Hong Kong’s “La Grande Vadrouille” during WWII | Brothers in Arms (2)

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