2-995-701 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The storming and capture of the North Fort, Peiho, on the 21st August, 1860 - from a sketch by our special artist, 1860. British forces in China. 'The plan of attack...was, that the first division of English, with the rest of the French, should cross the river, and threaten the southern forts; while the second division should assault the nearest northern forts...working parties were thrown out to erect batteries for the siege train, and reconnoitring parties examined the intervening ground as closely as possible, in order to select the most favourable points for attack. The Chinese evidently had some inkling of what was going on, for they threw out showers of fireballs from the walls of the fort in order to discover where our men were...At daybreak the next morning the division then advanced, some four or five of our batteries having got into position, and pouring in a tremendous fire upon the fort with precision...The Chinese replied with great spirit, but little apparent skill, almost all their shells bursting short, and their round shot falling everywhere but in the right places...the batteries...opened a still more telling fire, exploding two immense magazines inside the fort, and in about an hour nearly silencing the enemy's big guns'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.