Belgians in Boxer rebellion help needed

[duivelindoosje]

Reading Wargames Illustrated issue 316 february 2014 pag 98 - 103, did find on page 100 that next to the siege of the Legation ( 55 days of Peking) there was another siege taking place at the Peking Cathedral, where Catholic priests, Chinese Christians were defended by 43 French and Belgian soldiers.

Any one has more information about the siege of the Peking Cathedral? or the involvement of the Belgians?

Yes i already see those Foundry DA guys ( DA031 and DA 033) beeing deployed in China

Thank you

[Conquistador]

Wikipedia caveats apply:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Saviour,_Beijing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Peking_%281900%29

Some books referenced that may be useful:

http://books.google.com/books?id=iOahF7fBu1EC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=peking+cathedral+siege&source=bl&ots=7-okr9Ei6T&sig=MhJE-ISNkB5wccj1IWu00P1Vn-Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7_DsU6LIM9LMsQSl_4KIAw&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=peking%20cathedral%20siege&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=K-qdMZOS33oC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=peking+cathedral+siege&source=bl&ots=PeFpK0gmNP&sig=9eW-j79sQeJlQVZgtzG_PGr7UYg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7_DsU6LIM9LMsQSl_4KIAw&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=peking%20cathedral%20siege&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=gXgdAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=peking+cathedral+siege&source=bl&ots=HSAiojNMHp&sig=UyRR_DLoEMhCk5gHHRXLKkoAYjk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7_DsU6LIM9LMsQSl_4KIAw&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=peking%20cathedral%20siege&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=cf-AAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=peking+cathedral+siege&source=bl&ots=-J7floEGrX&sig=vUp777LesfhuTZzBTyBOGOtSTpI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7_DsU6LIM9LMsQSl_4KIAw&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=peking%20cathedral%20siege&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=3gQWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=peking+cathedral+siege&source=bl&ots=4KsSyX1jMo&sig=WUL75ySYfq3OP6ohwfTXYH2f-Qk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=H_LsU_30EsvKsQST3oDADQ&ved=0CBwQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=peking%20cathedral%20siege&f=false

http://boxerrebellion.providence.wikispaces.net/The+Siege+of+Peking

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_boxer.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=5K9BN96p1hcC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=peking+cathedral+siege&source=bl&ots=8KN6iCzJTe&sig=y3zqdfLA76tLMStsw252NS4EyW4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=H_LsU_30EsvKsQST3oDADQ&ved=0CF0Q6AEwDjgK#v=onepage&q=peking%20cathedral%20siege&f=false



Other:

http://chinamarine.org/Peking/PekingToday.aspx

Gracias,

Glenn

[duivelindoosje]

thnak you Glenn for that detailed research

to bad the belgians changed into italians ;-)

"At the Cathedral there were just over 40 French and Italian troops"

on my next trip to the the army museum i will also ask the question

http://www.klm-mra.be/

[Conquistador]

yes, it was "miraculous."   

Gracias, 

Glenn
 

[Conquistador]

Well, it is Wikipedia...

Closest I can find (there, FWIW,) is :

"... The Chinese soldiers ringing the Legation Quarter fired a few shots, wounding a Belgian woman, and then fled. It was 2:30 p.m on 14 August. "

Edit: "... Isolated legations, such as the Spanish and Belgian, and foreign businesses were abandoned.["

I found these unrelated to your questions statements interesting:

"... The relief of the siege at the Peitang did not take place until 16 August. Japanese troops stumbled across the Cathedral that morning but, without a common language, they and the besieged were both confused. Shortly, however, French troops arrived and marched into the Cathedral to the cheers of the survivors..."

I guess bilingualism was a later development...

A somewhat 'hostile' view of the location of the Cathedral today.  Time always wins over man's efforts in this phase of history.  The Belgian Legation is mentioned but nothing about any soldiers.

Edit: dropped link replaced.

http://www.drben.net/ChinaReport/Beijing/Landmarks-Hotspots/DongCheng/Foreign_Legation_Quarter-Former/Dongjiaomin_Xiang_Catholic_Church/Dongjiaomin_Catholic_Church.html


There is a picture of a 1916 map of the legations on the page.

Gracias,

Glenn

[cdr]

No Belgian troops during the actual fighting in Peking. A small detachment (in a very colourful uniform) was created for the international relief force

[answer_is_42]

No Belgian troops during the actual fighting in Peking. A small detachment (in a very colourful uniform) was created for the international relief force

Hm, got a source? Just looked it up in Peter Abbot's Rivals of the Raj and he writes that the German Kaiser prevented them from sending troops, lest the Belgians use it as an excuse to claim colonies. He claims they only sent a 20 man unit to guard their legation in 1904, which was "probably withdrawn in 1914".

[cdr]

see F. Balace La garde de la Légation Belge de Pékin et ses uniformes
(a bataillon of volunteers was created but could not get to China to German and especially British objections)
Belgians in China (Shanghai) organised small uniformed volunteer units.
A second unit (carabinier uniform) was in Peking from 1904 to 1923

[HerbyF]

Any Belgians involved in Peking would have been a few sailors, no soldiers.

[duivelindoosje]

Thank you all for that

Guess if there was a delagation and there were some volunteers then we could got a small unit to defend at least the embassy

Cdr any idea how the uniforms looked like for "Belgians in China (Shanghai) organised small uniformed volunteer units"

Could be fun to let them defend the church with the French

HerbyF, sailors like in commercial sailors? voluntering to help defend the delagation?

some pictures of the legations and the church

http://us.midnightinpeking.com/downloads/postcards/

[fastolfrus]

The Belgian legation was outside the defensive perimeter and abandoned (along with the Austrians) as soon as the siege started.

But as for suitable Belgian defenders look at this picture:

[fastolfrus]

You might find some useful pictures in "Le Petit Journal - Supplement Illustre".
Most pictures have French troops (and sailors) prominently illustrated, but there are quite a lot of illustrations (in colour too)  and there may be a useful one amongst them.

[HerbyF]

But as for suitable Belgian defenders look at this picture:

They look like civillian volunteers with no uniforms.

[duivelindoosje]

thank you Fastalfrus

converted railwaymen and civilians, with very different headwear, very good to know

those with tropical hats will sure put to use

Le petit journal did give some nice picture like that one