The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China by David J. Silbey

Author:David J. Silbey
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781429942577
Publisher: Macmillan

The effects of the constant shelling and the sniping began to wear on the civilians in the concessions. Most Western civilians had to retreat to the “large cellars” of the buildings for refuge and left them only rarely. The sniping made even the shortest journey a risk, and the constant shelling interrupted rest and brought fear. By the beginning of July, one observer remembered, all in Tianjin “were worn out by broken sleep and apprehension.”20

Skirmishes

These harassing efforts were supplemented by attacks aimed at capturing the railway station at the northeastern end of the foreign enclave. This was a worthy goal as, at a single stroke, it would isolate the forces in Tianjin from their supply line down to the ocean and make it more difficult to use the train lines to get up to Beijing. On July 3, the Chinese started by mounting a heavy artillery barrage on the foreign city and the Russian camp. The next day, the bombardment continued, and Chinese forces began to move in the area near the Western Arsenal. This turned out to be a “demonstration” to draw allied attention, and the Chinese units involved retreated under cannon fire from the British guns. But it had done its job of drawing scrutiny and thus allowed the real Chinese attack to go in with tactical surprise. This was helped by “rain and thick mist” as well as a heavy preparatory bombardment, and the attackers got into the railway station itself. “The fighting was stubborn,” the British account of the battle recalls, and the British were forced to rush reinforcements into the station to help the “roughly-handled” defenders. Captain Barnes was part of the relief. He and his men “doubled through the French Concession, up one road and down another, with the bullets…whistling their vicious note over our heads.” It started to rain, and they could only see a few feet in front of them. They reached the station eventually:

Here the din was appalling. Rifles incessantly crackling all round, bullets pattering on the corrugated iron or singing away over the Settlement, and a perfect deluge of rain falling impartially on the lot, made a combination of noise that was bewildering, to say the least of it.21

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