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 (H.K.V.D.C.) 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, which under the cover of acting as a humanitarian aid organisation, would help prisoners of war and internees to escape and at the same time, gather intelligence to further the war effort in the region. The idea was approved by General Archibald Wavell, the Commander-in-Chief, India, and with the agreement of the War Office in London, the new unit was incorporated into the structure of MI9, the Military Intelligence department responsible for support to resistance movements and POW escapes. Ride was appointed the MI9 representative in China and Commandant of the new group. A headquarters was established at Kukong (modern Shaoguan) in Guangdong Province, while a forward operating base was set up at Waichow (modern Huizhou). The group became operational on 6 June 1942.