A day’s rest--Disgusting cruelty--Japanese in touch with the enemy--A
Conference of Allied Generals--The Allied line of march--The French
troops and their Commissariat--The Allied Cavalry--The Advance-guard
fighting enemy’s cavalry--General Ma’s cook--Half-way to
Pekin--Skirmish at Ho-si-wu--The Tskamoto brigade--Storming Matao--A
surprise at Chang-chia-wan--Under cover--Intelligence of horses--A
halt--Mahommedans.
The day’s rest was partly spent in washing faces and hands (the water
of the river was not fit for bathing, owing to the number of corpses
and dead horses floating in it); and partly in lying about in camp,
trying to keep away tiresome flies, or devouring the contents of
“canned tomato” and “corned beef” tins. When one got tired of these
occupations, one went about to the different camps, where one was
invariably received with much jovial civility.
A disgusting bit of cruelty took place a few yards from the American
camp, owing to the misunderstanding of an order given by a superior
officer.
A crowd of soldiers took before him (the American officer) a Chinese
prisoner, with hands bound behind his back, who, they said, was a Boxer
spy.
“What are we to do with him, sir?” inquired the guard.
“Take him away,” was the reply, “and do with him what you d---- please.”
[Sidenote: CRUELTY]
The fellow was dragged off, knocked about, punched and kicked. They
took him under the railway bridge, and he was having a bad time, when a
French soldier appeared on the scene, and pulling out his revolver shot
him in the face. With his skull smashed, the man fell, and lay still
breathing and moaning, with a crowd of soldiers around him, gloating
over his sufferings. The same French soldier fired another shot at him
as he lay, and then a Japanese soldier stamped on him.
The poor devil, who showed amazing tenacity of life, afterwards had
all his clothes torn off him, the soldiers being bent on finding the
peculiar Boxer charm which all Boxers were supposed to possess. For
nearly an hour the fellow lay in this dreadful condition, with hundreds
of soldiers leaning over him to get a glimpse of his agony, and going
into roars of laughter as he made ghastly contortions in his delirium.
Although this was brought to the notice of the superior officer,
nothing was done to stop the unwarrantable barbarity, and the absence
of interference was of course taken as an encouragement. This was
particularly painful to most officers of the Americans, and to the
majority of the American boys, who were as a rule extremely humane,
even at times extravagantly gracious, towards the enemy.
While the others were resting on August 7, the 41st Japanese regiment,
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ohara, came again into touch with the
enemy, and had a skirmish near South Saison, which was occupied by the
Japanese at three o’clock in the afternoon.
At this place a conference of the Allied Generals was held, at which it
was decided that the Japanese, Russians Americans and British should
advance towards Pekin on the following day, August 8. The order of the
Allies in the line of march was to be: Japanese, Russians, Americans,
British.
It was also decided that the Japanese and Russian forces should
alternately send one battalion of infantry to the left bank of the
river. The various contingents would again collect at Tungchow for
further consultation, before making a rush on Pekin.
Owing to the unprepared state of their commissariat, which made it
almost impossible for them to continue their march, the French troops
were left at Yangtsun to guard the communications.
The Japanese, Russian and British cavalry were placed under the command
of the Japanese senior cavalry officer, Colonel Morioka.
August 8. The Japanese advance guard of General Yamaguchi’s division,
at the head of the Allies, and commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ohara,
started at eight in the morning, followed by the main body of the army
under Major-General Manabe.
The advance guard had some fighting with the infantry and with 300
cavalry of the enemy. The Chinese, after firing a few shots at long
range, ran out of their position and retreated on Hu-chin-shien. The
Japanese lost three men in the brush with Ma’s horsemen, but succeeded
in capturing General Ma’s cook, who volunteered the information that
the Chinese troops were demoralised and fast breaking up, a portion of
the army moving towards Pekin, the other part returning to the southern
provinces, whence it had come.
On August 9 the Allies were half-way between Tientsin and Pekin.
The Japanese advance guard, when 2500 yards from the town of Ho-si-wu,
discovered the enemy in the south end of the village. The Chinese
opened fire, but the Japanese stormed the position, and the enemy ran
away in confusion. A number of them were killed, and some Japanese were
wounded in going through the town by treacherous snipers concealed
inside houses. The town had been ransacked by Boxers and Imperial
soldiers prior to our arrival, and this was the case with nearly every
village we passed through.
[Sidenote: HALF-HEARTED DEFENCE]
[Illustration: JAPANESE STORMING MATAO]
Ho-si-wu was captured at 8.50 +A.M.+, and from some of the inhabitants
made prisoners it was understood that the enemy was here ten thousand
strong, and under the supreme command of Generals Ma and Lü. They had
abandoned the position at the approach of the Allies, after making a
half-hearted defence.
After resting here awhile, the march was continued towards Matao, and
the enemy, who had retreated from Ho-si-wu, was now reported ready to
fight us at the walled town of Shan Matao.
I was then with the Japanese advance guard, composed of light cavalry.
We started the next morning, the 10th, at 3.30 +A.M.+, and at 4.30 the
Tskamoto brigade followed. At Matao itself we had a skirmish with the
enemy, and easily succeeded in putting them to flight.
The photograph given on page 367 shows the Japanese advance storming
Matao, and the ammunition boxes being taken to the front.
[Illustration: JAPANESE ADVANCE GUARD
Under cover while shelled by Chinese]
The right and left wing had come together again in one body, at
An-ping, and having passed Matao spent the night at Shan-Matao.
The Allied cavalry started again at 3.30 the next morning (the 11th),
followed by the Tskamoto brigade and the other Allies. When the advance
guard reached Kao-tchan, south of Chang-chia-wan, we suddenly came in
for a surprise. We were riding gaily through a narrowish street of the
suburbs, and had arrived at the bridge, when we were received with a
few well-aimed shells, which compelled us quickly to turn back and get
under cover of the houses.
[Sidenote: INTELLIGENCE OF HORSES]
The Chinese continued their shelling for some time, but fortunately the
shells passed over our heads, and exploded farther away.
It was most interesting to note the intelligence of horses on such
occasions. It seemed as if they knew the danger, and what was the best
way to protect themselves. As can be seen by the photograph which I
took at the time, the horses were leaning one against the other, packed
close against the wall that gave them cover.
Some Japanese infantry came up, and at the same time the left wing
reached the gate of Chang-chia-wan, while we galloped down the side of
the canal under a pretty thick fusillade and occasional shells. The
enemy, however, were very careful to withdraw their artillery in time,
covering the retreat of their guns with rifle fire. The enemy escaped
in two directions, some to the north-west and some directly north on
Tungchow.
A halt was called here that the Allies might make preparations for
an assault on the large town of Tung-chow, which they believed to be
strongly garrisoned.
Chang-chia-wan was an interesting place, mostly inhabited by
Mahommedans, who had a handsome mosque near the city wall. The priests,
with their pointed blue or whitish caps, were very intelligent and
good-natured--quite a contrast to the Buddhist bonzes. They were much
disturbed by seeing houses of Mahommedans flare up, as they professed
that the Mahommedans were friends of foreigners, not enemies.
The simplicity of their mosque and quarters as compared to the
elaborate, showy display in Buddhist establishments commended itself
to one. The Mahommedans had no good word for the Boxers, who, they
said, had looted the town and committed all sorts of atrocities on men,
women and children, while the Imperial troops, were no better than the
followers of the Ih-hwo-ch’uan. The greater part of the troops, they
said, had left the town the previous day, and only a small number of
soldiers had remained to defend the town. Asked whether they believed
foreigners in Pekin had been murdered, they pulled long faces, and
feared the worst. They seemed to have a perfect horror of the Boxers.