On August 5, 1884, the French army attacked Keelung, Taiwan, for the first time in a real demonstration of force against the Qing government.
When the Chinese war report had not yet reached Beijing, the French government informed China of the attack on Keelung in the form of a diplomatic note, saying that its actions were a warning to the Qing government that it had ignored the French side's ultimatum and was a last resort. It was threatened that if the Qing government did not want to see similar things happen in other ports, it would immediately return to diplomatic negotiations and seriously deal with France's demand for recognition of mistakes and compensation for the Guanyin Bridge incident.
(Above) French fine art: The Battle of Majiang. The ships shown on the screen from left to right are: the sunken "Yangwu", "Destin", "No. 45", "Walda", "Wildcat"
After watching the French warships cross the majiang river and the minister of shipping, Zhang Peilun (a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty, Zhang Ailing's grandfather, and Li Hongzhang's son-in-law), learned of the Keelung Incident, and was anxious to burn it.
On August 16, Zhang Peilun summoned the pipe belts of the various ships of the Marine Division to report on the situation, held an emergency meeting, and set up a fortification plan on the river: the flagship of the Ship Administration And Water Division, "Yang Wu", the gunboat "Fubo", "Fuxing", "Yixin", the mosquito ship "Fusheng" and "Jiansheng", and the transport ship "Chenhang" and "Yongbao", were arranged in a straight line from the bank of the Ship Administration River to the opposite shore, roughly on the edge of the anchorage of Luoxing Pagoda, forming a defense line on the river. In this way, it was possible to prevent French warships from approaching the ship's administration shelling and landing, and at the same time guard the throat of the channel leading to the provincial capital of Fuzhou.
In addition to the above-mentioned warships, Zhang Peilun ambushed pole mine boats and fire attack ships in the harbors of the Wulong River, a tributary of the Minjiang River, and planned that once war broke out, these small boats would attack from everywhere, harass the French warships, and coordinate the operation of the warships of the Ship Administration And Marine Division to play the role of surprise troops.
Considering that the width of the river where the Chinese and French warships are located is only less than one kilometer, the plan formulated by Zhang Peilun on this unfavorable terrain is generally remarkable. However, the narrow river surface is doomed to the two warships once engaged, it is impossible to do much maneuvering, mainly with a cruel close-range artillery confrontation to determine the victory or defeat, often the first round of shooting may affect the outcome of the battle. In this case, it is clear that the party that opened fire first will have a great advantage, and Zhang Peilun repeatedly asked the Qing court but was not accepted, so the possibility of the shipping administration and marine division taking a preemptive strike is very small. Even without considering this, the firepower of the ships of the Shipyard Marine Division was not an opponent of the French warships.
On August 21, a typhoon descended on the coast of Fujian.
The Eve of the Great War
On August 22, Zhang Peilun, who could not wait for further instructions from the imperial court, fidgeted all day. At this time, the French warship moored on the Ma River received the order to start a war. At 5 p.m. on the 22nd, Gu Ba, commander of the Tokyo detachment of the French Navy, officially received an order from the French government on the temporary flagship "Walda" to attack fujian shipping administration tomorrow.
(Above) Schematic map of the mooring locations of Chinese and French ships before the Battle of Majiang
After nearly a month on the surface of the Majiang River, Gu Ba was already very familiar with the local hydrological situation. After conveying the battle order, Gu Ba began to lay out a detailed battle plan.
The start of the war on the 23rd was set at 2 p.m. The reason is that the water of the Majiang River rises in the morning and gradually recedes in the afternoon. When the first anchor of the warship is lowered, the position of the ship will change with the surge of the tide when the tide is high and low. At 2 p.m., the river had already begun to recede, and according to observations, during this time the tide had just pushed the "Yangwu" and other chinese capital warships in front of the shipyard into the stern of the French ships. At this time, the French warship was able to directly attack the weak stern of the Chinese warship, and if the Chinese warship wanted to rotate the position, when the side of the ship was facing the French ship during the rotation, it gave the French army a good opportunity to attack. The only loophole in such a vicious tactic is that if the marine division fires first in the morning, and under the influence of the high tide, there will be a situation in which the stern of the French warship will face the Chinese warship, and the situation will be completely reversed.
Loss of fighters
On August 23, after the sky was bright, no one expected today to be such a sunny day. After the typhoon passed, the blue sky was like a wash, and the wind and waves on the river surface were calm, a magnificent beauty. "The morning light on Saturday, the twenty-third day, heralds this day as a day when the sky is incomparably pure. The sun shines brilliantly from behind the mountains in the east, and the calm and magnificent Minjiang River flows rapidly..."
At 9:30 a.m., the speed of the Majiang River suddenly increased, and the tide arrived as scheduled. Gu Ba ordered the ships to start preparing for battle, and 15 minutes later, before the telegram informed Chinese, all the French warships completed their preparations on time. The cannon gunners of the 5 pipe guns on the mast are in place, all the guns have been loaded, and the car-style boiler of the pole thunder boat has been filled with steam...
(Above) Outside the newspaper number of the Qing Dynasty reporting on the war on the Fama River. Although the pictures are less western realistic, all the warships are generally well arranged, which is an important Chinese formation material for studying the Battle of Majiang
Before 2 p.m., it was the most tense moment for the French warships. This meant that until the time of the war at 2 p.m. when the lone warriors were scheduled to start, the Chinese warships could launch an attack on the French at any time, which would determine the situation of the war.
At 1:30 p.m., the Ma river receded. According to the flagship order, all the French sailors returned to their respective posts. At nearly 1:45 a.m., Gu Ba ordered the ships to raise anchor and prepare for the march. Watching the French warships on the river one after another anchor, the ships of the Ship Administration and Marine Division moored on the Ma River already felt that the situation was not right, and Zhang Peilun also observed through the shore, and felt more and more that the situation was changing greatly. However, the authorization that Zhang Peilun has received so far is only an edict sent by Prime Minister Yamen many days ago, that is, when he discovers that the French warship is stupid, he will immediately attack. But how to understand the word "stupid"? In the event of a hasty fire, causing the situation to fester and unable to be cleaned up, the Qing government would be held responsible for his rash start of war.
At this time, a special flag, the Signal Flag I, was raised from the front mast of the French flag gunboat "Verda". According to the combat arrangements made by Lone Pull the night before, the meaning of this signal flag at this time was to order the French pole and thunder boats to start attacking.
Blood stained Ma Jiang
Surrounded by the tide, the ships of the Ship Administration And Marine Division, which were facing the French warships at the stern, hurriedly launched their own battle-style counterattacks in the face of the sudden oncoming war, fighting on such a narrow river, the distance between the enemy and us was almost like a white-knife fight, the French warships had already seized the lead, how should the ship administration warships turn the situation around? The Chinese warships that had been guarding the Ma river for nearly a month finally gained the freedom to give it a go after the opponents began to attack, but this obviously came too late. This battle on the river is like a duel, the formation and command can no longer play any role, the most important thing is who does it first, and the other side has almost no chance of winning.
The "Yangwu" ship, commanded by Zhang Cheng, the battalion affairs office of the Shipping Administration and the Pipe Belt, with a displacement of 1560 tons, was the first cruiser built by the shipping administration itself, and it was also the soul pillar of all the Chinese warships on the Ma River at that time, and belonged to the flagship of the whole army. After the surprise attack, the various posts on the "Yangwu" ship entered a combat state one after another, trying to change the passive situation, adjust the position of the ship, and attack the French flagship "Verda" with side fire, in order to play a benchmarking role for the warships under the dragon's banner.
It is conceivable that the "Yangwu" ship at that time must have been like this:
The sailors in the engine room were trying to loosen the steam valve, trying to drive the steam engine, so that the warship could generate power as soon as possible and get rid of the trapped situation. On the bow anchor deck, the sailors used large hammers to smash the heavy anchor chain urgently, because the machine was urgent, it was too late to use the complex operation of the anchor rod to anchor, only to quickly smash the anchor chain, Mars splash, the steel anchor chain seems to be unmoved. On the already wide open-air gun deck, crowded with busy crowds, against the Cannon Shells of the French Warship's Split Head Cover Face Tilting, the bulky 190 mm Front Breech Main Gun of the "Yangwu" ship was pushed by sailors, dragged by scooters, and slowly entered the side gun position along the track laid on the deck. In the gun doors on the side of the ship, the gunners of the 160 mm sub-guns of The Wisworth were all sticking out their heads, wielding long loading poles, and laboriously reaching through the muzzles to fill the reload. The "Yang Wu" ship was like a dragon breaking free from its shackles, moving slowly.
(Above) French fine art: "The Battle of Majiang Begins". The left side of the picture shows the Scene of the French Pole Mine Boat attacking "Yang Wu" and "Fu Bo"
Almost at the same time as the above scene, Zhang Cheng, who was standing on the pipe belt on the "Yangwu" flybridge, suddenly felt a violent vibration under his feet, accompanied by an explosion, and a ball of flame rose from the middle of the starboard side of the hull. At 1:56:40 p.m., the French Navy's "No. 46" pole mine boat successfully hit the "Yangwu" ship with a pole mine, and the wooden hull of the "Yangwu" could not withstand such a heavy blow, and the hull of the ship was blown open by a fatal crack, and the river water continued to pour into the ship along the crack, "The starboard side of it ('Yangwu') suddenly broke open... Huge ships were constantly gasping for breath with fatal blows, and the machines were dying, as if the lungs were breathing their last breath.". It was also at this time that a 160 mm gun on the side of the "Yangwu" side accurately hit the "No. 46" pole mine boat and damaged it.
Although the "Yangwu" that was suddenly hit hard was constantly tilting and sinking, it was still trying to move towards the shallow water area of the river, intending to run aground to save itself, but in the end it could not be supported, and it sank helplessly in the near-shore place, because the river was not deep, and after the sinking, the "Yangwu" still had a large number of superstructures exposed to the water. The battle began in less than 1 minute, and the flagship of the Ship Administration Marine Division sank painfully, which seemed to herald the end of the battle.
The "Fuxing" ship belongs to the "Meiyun" class gunboat built by the ship administration, with a displacement of only 515 tons and a hull length of 51.8 meters, which is more flexible than that of large warships. The Fuxing became one of the first Chinese warships to enter the state of active attack on the enemy in the Battle of Majiang. When the "Yangwu" ship was attacked by the French naval artillery, the "Fuxing" with a small hull and flexible turning was already ready to approach the "Yangwu".
However, before there was time to come to the rescue, the "YangWu" had already unfortunately sunk, and chen Ying, the pipe of the "Fuxing" ship, was grief-stricken and determined to fight to the death to reverse the unfavorable situation in front of him. He drank and persuaded him to retreat, stood on the open air flybridge of the "Fuxing", and ordered all the officers and men of the ship: "Man who eats the king's Lu, should be repaid with death!" Today's events are in and out! My ship is sharply forward for the initiative, when there is a successor, anzhi can not hope to win! Like the "Zhiyuan" ship in the Battle of the Yellow Sea many years later, the small gunboat "Fuxing" rushed towards the direction where the French flagship "Walda" was located.
Witnessing the feats of the "Fuxing" ship, the ship administration and marine division mosquito ships "Fusheng" and "Jiansheng" moored behind the "Fuxing" were encouraged, and under the unified command of the guerrilla Commander Lu Han, the two Mosquito ships advanced with the "Fuxing" from the rear.
The "Walda," "Yishibi," "Viper," and "Wildcat" immediately adjusted the artillery fire that had just bombarded the "Yangwu" to the Attacking Chinese warships, especially the leading Fuxing warship. Chen Ying, who is usually regarded as a weak scholar, is now completely the impassioned appearance of a hero at sea, standing on the open air flybridge, while supervising the loading and preparation of the 160 mm Weisworth cannon below, while constantly encouraging his soldiers. Suddenly, a Haqi Kaisi shell fired from the French ship hit him in the chest, and his head was slowly hanging down, and the blood stained the deck of the flybridge red, and he was only 28 years old when he died. Zhang Chun, the second deputy and six-pin military hero, stepped forward to take over the command, and was martyred by artillery fire. Wang Lianzhi, the Third Vice-Five-Pin Military Meritorious Officer, also fell in the rain of bullets pouring down from the French Army's HaQi Kaiji machine guns...
(Above) Fine art work: "The Battle of Majiang". The smoke-filled warship at the bottom of the picture is the "Flying Cloud" ship, and the warship on its right side that has been severely sideways is the gunboat "Zhenwei". In the upper left of the "Flying Cloud" is the French cruiser "Duju Tuluin", and in the upper right of the "Zhenwei" is the French warship "Triumph".
During the Battle of Majiang, the warships of the Ship Administration Marine Division that participated in the battle were basically open-air artillery deck designs, and in close combat, the Hark Kaiji 5-barrel cannon on the mast of the French warship simply became a nightmare for the ship's government warship. The high-speed rotating barrels and the rain of bullets that poured down hit the artillery decks of Chinese warships to the ground. Although there are always those brave and fearless soldiers, who follow in the rain of bullets and struggle to resist the enemy, they have no strength to fight back in the face of attacks from high places.
……
At 2:15 p.m. on August 23, 1884, there was no longer a trace of Chinese warships on the Majiang River. In less than 20 minutes, the Ship Administration And Marine Division was almost completely destroyed.
By 3:45 p.m., an ammunition depot in the shipyard area had been hit and a violent explosion had occurred. At 4 o'clock, Gu Ba ordered the shelling to stop and prepare to end the day's fighting. When the gunfire of the French warships stopped for a moment, the Krupp guns on the Zhongqi Mountain began to focus on "Walda" and launched a fierce shelling, and many French officers and men, including the lone lieutenant Captain Ravel, were killed and wounded. After nearly an hour of firefights, the heroic fort on the back hill of the Ship Administration was finally suppressed by French artillery fire, the artillery was destroyed, and at 4:55 p.m., the surface of the Majiang River was quiet.
In the twilight, the sunset reflected the river a blood red, and suddenly, a series of fireballs appeared in the upstream harbor, drifting down the river in the direction of the French fleet. Restricted by the direction of the tide and the direction of the wind, the Chinese fire attack ship, which has never been able to play a role, began to appear at this time. However, it did not cause much damage to the French army. As the largest naval fleet battle in the Sino-French War, the Battle of Majiang ended in the silent fire attack of the Chinese side.
In this battle, the Ship Administration Marine Division lost a total of 9 warships, and more than 500 dead with names to be tested, while the French only lost 2 pole mine boats, with a total of 6 dead and 27 wounded.
This article is excerpted from the Sino-French Naval Battle
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