I am Tang Di, a history enthusiast. Welcome everyone [Follow] me to talk about the past and the present together, and to discuss the general trend of the world. A gentleman is just learning and making friends for the rest of his life! The battle in Tianjin started from June 17 to

I am Tang Di, a history enthusiast. Welcome everyone [Follow] me to talk about the past and the present together, and to discuss the general trend of the world. A gentleman is just learning and making friends for the rest of his life!

The battle in Tianjin started from June 17 to July 14, lasting for nearly one month, killing and injuring about 2,000 enemy troops.

This is the battle that lasted the longest, fought the most fiercely, and annihilated the enemy in the Eight-Nation Alliance War. In China's recent foreign wars, it is very rare that one battle can annihilate about two thousand enemies.

In this battle, was the main force of China Boxer or Qing Dynasty regular army?

In order to clarify this issue, it is necessary to examine the specific situation of the Tianjin Battle in stages.

The first phase of the Tianjin Battle

From the afternoon of June 17 to June 26, the first phase of the Tianjin Battle.

This stage of battle includes three main contents:

(1) besieging the concession, (2) cutting off the enemy's traffic line between Dagu and the concession, and preventing the enemy from reinforced the concession. (3) Block the besiege of Seymour's army and prevent it from withdrawing from the concession.

At the beginning of the first phase, the Chinese combat forces included the 10th Battalion of Nie Shicheng's army, the Huai Army's training army less than 3 battalions, and a total of about 6,000 regular Qing army troops. The Boxer Rebellion had about 30,000 people.

Concession area has a total of more than 2,000 invading troops, including 1,700 Russian troops, stationed in Laolongtou Station on the left bank of Baihe, and hundreds of other foreign troops stationed in the right bank of Baihe.

China has an advantage in terms of military strength and number of weapons, and its combat technology and military command capabilities are not as good as the other side.

Russian Accompaniment reporter Janchewitzky wrote in his book "Eight-Nation Alliance Witnesses":

"The Chinese are not stingy with ammunition, and are always destroying the concessions, the fragile fortifications we have been hastily built by the station, as well as trenches, inner forts and barricades." "Chinese artillery soldiers are familiar with the terrain of Tianjin and are good at firing artillery. They do not launch shells to various places in the concession, but choose a certain point and fire a few robes in this direction. If they see the shells hit accurately, they will appear When smoke, fire and buildings collapse, they will aim at that point and fire two or three guns, and then choose a new direction. ...The Chinese used ordinary arc grenades, which can destroy brick and stone walls, and their fragments can destroy everything they encounter.

Chinese also used ordinary gunpowder blasting grenades, which will blow up buildings and cause fires. "

From these records, we can see that the Qing army's shelling caused the invaders to suffer a heavy blow.

In addition to shelling the concession, the Qing army launched fierce attacks on Laolongtou Railway Station from the morning of June 18 to 22. On June 18 alone, more than 110 enemy troops were killed and injured at the railway station.

Under the fierce attack of the Qing army, by June 21, the Russian army in the concession had about 200 casualties.

Russian Army Command lost confidence in continuing to resist and was ready to withdraw from Tianjin. On June 22, the Seymour army occupied the Xigu arsenal on the way to retreat. Nie Shicheng and mobilized seven battalions of the Wuwei Front Army to besiege the Seymour army, greatly weakening the attack on the concession. The invading army trapped in the concession got a breather.

The battle to block Dagu reinforcements was also very fierce. On the evening of June 19, the Russian army in the concession sent people to Dagu for help. On the 20th, about 600 reinforcements set off by train. The railway was destroyed by the Boxer Rebellion in the middle and had to get off the train and walk. Later, he was bombarded and fired by the Qing army and was forced to retreat.

21 and 22nd, Dagu sent 1,600 reinforcements to join the previous reinforcement army and continue to advance. On the way, he was "violently shot" by the Qing army. Dagu to Tianjin Concession was only more than 40 kilometers, but under the Chinese interception, Dagu reinforcements took a total of three days and paid the price of 224 casualties before arriving at the concession on the afternoon of June 23.

The second phase of the Tianjin Battle

June 27 to July 11 are the second phase of the Tianjin Battle. After the Dagu reinforcements and the Seymour army gathered together in the concession, the total number of invading troops in the concession area soared to more than 6,000, and their combat effectiveness was enough to compete with China. Therefore, the invading army changed from comprehensive defense to defending the concession with most of its troops, while concentrating some of its troops to focus on attacking.

On the morning of June 27, about 2,000 Russian troops launched an attack on the Tianjin Machine East Bureau, which was stubbornly resisted by the Qing army. After several hours of fierce fighting, the Russian army still failed and had to ask for help from the concession. Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries immediately gathered a reinforcement of about 800 people to attack the Qing army from the side. A large number of Boxers in Tianjin rushed to join the war when they heard the news and restrained some of the enemy troops. In the afternoon, a gunpowder depot in the bureau was shot and exploded, and the bureau lost its power.

Machine East Bureau was an important military stronghold and arms supply area of ​​the Qing army. Its loss caused significant losses to the Qing army and the war situation was in a reversal. At this moment, Zhang Decheng and led about 5,000 people from the "No. 1 Group in the World" to arrive in Tianjin on June 28. The next day, Ma Yukun led more than 5,000 troops of the left army of the Wuwei Army to Tianjin (the remaining thousands arrived one after July 4), and China was able to stabilize its position.

After China's troops are strengthened, it will re-deploy. The task of carrying out key attacks on Laolongtou Station was replaced by Ma Yukun's troops, while Nie Shicheng's army was scattered around the concession to maintain a siege.

Huai Army , Training Army and the Boxer Regiment are mainly deployed in Tianjin City and between Tianjin City and the Concession, mainly responsible for defending the city, and sometimes cooperate with the Nie and Ma troops to launch an attack on the concession.

Starting from July 1, China launched attacks on the stations and concessions many times, regaining the initiative on the battlefield. On July 9, the invading army concentrated its forces to counterattack south and west of the concession, and successively captured many positions of Nie Shicheng. Nie army suffered heavy casualties, and Nie Shicheng also died heroically.

The rest of the department is directed by Yulu’s servant Ma Yukun. In order to reverse the situation, Ma Yukun's troops launched an unprecedentedly fierce offensive against Lao Longtou Station on July 11, striving to occupy the station and cut off the access between the concession and Dagu. After several hours of fierce fighting, 150 enemy troops were killed and injured, but the station was not occupied.

At this stage, the Qing army's Nie Shicheng's troops and Ma Yukun's troops were the main forces of China, and the Boxer Rebellion, the Huai Army and the Training Army also played an indispensable cooperative role.

On July 10 and 11, another 4,000 invading troops entered the concession from Dagu. The invading troops in the concession area have exceeded 10,000, and their combat strength has exceeded that of China.

So, the invading army moved from defense to large-scale attack.

The third phase of Tianjin Battle

July 12th to 14th is the third phase of Tianjin Battle. On July 12, the command of the invading army decided to concentrate most of its troops to launch a general attack on Tianjin City.

html in the early morning of the 213th, the invading army attacked in two groups. After fierce battles, the right-road army, dominated by the Russian army, captured most of the positions of Ma Yukun's troops and approached Tianjin City from the east. On the afternoon of the 33rd, Ma Yukun led his troops to flee to Beicang . The left-road army, dominated by the Japanese army, first captured the Western Machinery Bureau, and then attacked the south gate of Tianjin City. The Boxer Regiment defending the city resisted stubbornly with the Huai Army, killing and injuring hundreds of enemy troops.

14th, Tianjin fell. During this stage, the Qing army and the Boxer Regiment fought hard and failed to defend their positions.

In general, during the entire Tianjin battle, the Qing army was basically the main force of China. The Boxers only took on the task of the main force at the last moment, that is, after Ma Yukun led his troops to escape.

Is the main force the Qing army or the Boxer Regiment?

In the Battle of Tianjin, the Boxer Rebellion was not the main force of China, but the role played by the Boxer Rebellion is also indispensable and cannot be underestimated.

For most of the first and second phases of the Battle of Tianjin, although the Qing army surpassed the invading army, its advantages were very limited. China's military mission is very heavy. It must not only carry out a key attack on Laolongtou Station, but also siege the entire concession. It must not only concentrate its forces to attack the concession, but also divide its troops to guard Tianjin City and many important strongholds. It must not only set up defenses on the passage between Dagu and Tianjin to prevent the invading army from reinforcement of the Tianjin Concession from Dagu, but also deploy troops along the railway north of Tianjin to prevent the enemy from invading in the direction of Beijing.

Such a heavy military task alone could not be undertaken by the Qing army in Tianjin.

After the outbreak of the war, Yu Lu began from the urgent need to resist the foreign enemies, gave up his once stubbornly insisted on suppressing the Boxer Rebellion and decided to cooperate with the Boxer Rebellion to fight the enemy.

He handed over some strongholds on the second line to the Boxer Regiment or assisted the Qing army to garrison, and the city defense of Tianjin City was also handed over to the Huai Army, the Jianjun and the Boxer Regiment.

This allowed the main force of the Qing army, Nie Shicheng's troops and Ma Yukun's troops who later arrived in Tianjin to concentrate their main forces to fight the invading army on the front line.

In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the Boxer Rebellion, a lot of rifles and a small number of new artillery were also sent to the Boxer Rebellion.

Russian military reporter Janchewitzky wrote in "Eight-Nation Alliance Witnesses" about the situation in Tianjin on June 17:

"There are Boxers wearing red turbans everywhere on the streets, but now they not only hold spears and knives, but some also hold rifles."

This book also talks about the situation in Tianjin during the retreat of the Seymour army, which blocked the army's Boxers team had "three-pound, six-pound cannons, and machine cannons."

British officer Gipps said in "North China Operation Record" that when the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Tianjin City, most of the Boxers defended the city were "worn in red" Boxers, "their rifle firepower was always very fierce." Partial improvement of the weapons of

allowed the Boxer Regiment to further exert its advantages of large numbers and brave combat, and played a considerable role in cooperating with the main forces of the Qing army.

In addition to taking on some defensive tasks, the Boxers also played a certain role in cooperating with the Qing army in besieging the concessions and blocking the enemy's traffic lines. When Yu Lu reported the battle situation in Tianjin, although he mainly emphasized the achievements of the Nie and Ma divisions, he also mentioned the Boxer Rebellion many times.

For example:

On June 18, "The foreign soldiers in the purple bamboo forest went out to fight again. Our army blocked everywhere, and the forts of each battalion were fired and bombarded. The Boxers also attacked the war everywhere and worked together to fight hard. At dusk, the foreign soldiers were attacked back."

June 19, "Foreigners are fighting fiercely because their nests are difficult to protect. Our army joined forces to fight with them. After a long time, the enemy's power gradually became unsupported."

In the battle to siege Xigu arsenal, "The Martial Guards gathered to train the army and the Boxer Regiment's people, and pounced several times in recent days, hurting and killing many foreigners."

In the battle of Chenjiagou on June 27, "The Wuwei Front Army commanded Hu Dianjia, joined forces with the militia to intercept the attack, quickly fired giant cannons, and killed many foreign soldiers."

On the evening of July 6, Zhang Decheng led thousands of regiments of people to fight with the Huai Army in Majiakou, repelled foreign troops' invasions, and pursued them with the victory, burned many foreign buildings near the concession.

July 9, Hu's Ancestral Department "joined the Yi He regiment commander Zhang Decheng and the group of many people, and Ma Jiakou attacked Zizhu Forest."

In the records of the Battle of Tianjin, British officer Gipps also mentioned the situation of the Boxer Regiment fighting with foreign soldiers many times, especially the battle on July 4:

"A large group of Boxer Regiments left the South Gate and headed towards the West Machinery Bureau. ... They squeezed into a group, surrounded by a large banner in the center, forming a huge team. ... When they entered our range, they fired at them. One round of shells fell right in the middle. At the same time, the sentries on the earthen encirclement immediately gathered and fired continuous rifle shooting at them."

Despite this, the Boxer Regiment continued to advance towards our position, jumping while firing smoke bombs with rifles."

The above Chinese and foreign historical materials show that although the Boxer Regiment was backward in weapons and combat technology, they were still very active. When arranging the combat plan, Yu Lu and others also listed the Boxer Regiment as one of the important forces.

Yu Lu mentioned in the July 4 memorial:

" It is now proposed that the two armies of Ma Yukun and Nie Shicheng will unite the two armies of Zhang Decheng and Cao Futian , and attack the Zizhu Forest in their division, making them overwhelmed. "

This shows that the Boxer Rebellion is indeed an indispensable force in the battle situation in Tianjin.

At the last moment of the battle in Tianjin, the Boxer Rebellion played a more prominent role. On the afternoon of July 13, after Ma Yukun led his troops to escape, the Boxer Rebellion and some Qing troops shouldered the arduous task of defending Tianjin city.

Liu Enpu When reporting the battle situation in Tianjin, he said:

"Before I heard that the Song army and the horses retreated to Beicang, 18 miles. Although the people of the field did not retreat, they had no arms."

Under the difficult conditions of isolation and lack of arms, the Boxers and the Qing army defended the city fought bravely to fight the attack of the superior enemy.

Gipps' "North China Operation Record" wrote:

"The Chinese people bravely defended their positions...Their rifle firepower was always very fierce. ...Most of them were wearing red clothes, hiding behind battlements, waiting for an opportunity to shoot out. "

From noon to evening on the 3rd, they repeatedly repelled the attacks of the invading army, killing and injuring many enemy soldiers.

A foreign official said:

"I have seen battles around the world, but I have never seen more difficult battles like dealing with these untrained Chinese people. "

To sum up, although the Boxer Regiment was not the main force in the Battle of Tianjin, they cooperated with the Qing army in various ways and played an indispensable cooperative role. Without the active participation of the Boxer Regiment, the Qing army would never have maintained a siege against the Tianjin Concession, which was occupied by a large number of invading troops, for more than twenty days. The Battle of Tianjin could not have lasted for so long, and the number of enemies that were annihilated could not have been so large.

should be fully affirmed in a realistic manner and should not belittled, nor should it be erased.

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