Conquest of Chusan (1841)
Map from a biographical account of the fighting at Dinghai by British Admiral Hugh Gough, first published in 1903
| date | September 29 to October 1, 1841 |
|---|---|
| place | Chusan , China |
| output | British victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 13 warships, 2600 infantry |
5600 soldiers |
| losses | |
|
2 dead, |
Approx. 1500 men losses |
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
At the Second Battle of Chusan , the British Expeditionary Force captured the city of Dinghai, located on the island of Zhoushan, on October 1, 1841 for the second time during the First Opium War .
background
The strategy of the British was to demonstrate their military superiority by conquering coastal cities and thus to force the Chinese empire to a peace with far-reaching concessions. The island of Chusan had been briefly in British possession after the First Battle of Chusan and was cleared again in the spring of 1841 as part of the negotiations of the failed Chuenpi Convention .
The Chinese forces in defense of the island amounted to around 5,600 soldiers. These were stationed on the city wall and an earth wall fortification along the south coast of the island. The British expeditionary force provided seven conventional warships, four steam-powered warships and 19 transport ships for the re-conquest of Zhoushan. The number of soldiers and seamen carried along was about 4,000 to 5,000 men. The arrival of the British fleet was delayed by the weather and the different speeds of the various ships.
course
On September 16, 1842, the Phlegeton fought as one of the first warships to arrive in an artillery battle with the Qing troops on the island. On September 18 the fleet was largely assembled some distance from the island. The commanders in chief of the Navy and the ground forces Hugh Gough and William Parker did not arrive at the fleet until September 25 and 21, respectively. The British commanders wanted to attack Zhenhai first , but due to weather conditions they rescheduled to attack Zhoushan. On September 26th, Gough and Parker conducted a joint inspection of the British fortifications from the steamship Nemesis . The ship came under fire from the coastal batteries, but was able to stay out of their range of action. The British sources describe that they conducted reconnaissance and preparation operations for the attack from September 26-30. The Chinese side rated these reconnaissance missions as the beginning of the battle and saw the turning of the ships as a sign of the effectiveness of their own artillery.
On October 1, 1841, the actual attack by the British Expeditionary Force began. The British brought an artillery battery ashore on the offshore island of Wukuishan . Together with the fleet, this took the coastal defense and the city wall under fire. Under the cover fire of the fleet, British ships brought around 1,500 soldiers ashore east of the coastal fortification. A counterattack by around 800 Qing soldiers failed because of the British fire. The artillery bombardment and the ground attack on the flank of the defenders brought the resistance of the Qing troops to a standstill. On October 1, around 2 p.m., soldiers of the expeditionary force hoisted the Union Jack again over the city of Dinghai.
consequences
No statistics are available on the Qing's losses. What is certain is that all three of the island's regional commanders perished in battle. The British military recorded two deaths and 27 wounded. The Chinese reports to the emperor, written by officials who had not been there, described the battle as a defensive battle lasting several days, in which the outnumbered garrison of the island fought 10,000 to 30,000 soldiers in British service. The British soldiers were portrayed as defected Han Chinese , although the British had no Chinese combatants in their service. As after other battles, the untruthful reporting to the central power prevented adequate preparations for renewed British attacks by the Chinese. After the victory at Dinghai, the British fleet turned to their real destination Zhenhai, the seat of Governor General Yuqian .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stephen R. Platt: Imperial Twilight - The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age. New York 2019, pp. 410-417
- ↑ a b c d Mao Haijian: The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge 2016, pp. 301-307
- ^ A b Julia Lovell: The Opium War. 2nd edition, London 2012, p. 368