Battle of Zhenhai - The 'battle of Zhenhai', 1 March 1885

The 'battle of Zhenhai', 1 March 1885

Early in the afternoon of 1 March Courbet reconnoitred closer on board Nielly. The Chinese shore batteries and Chinese warships opened a vigorous fire. They were firing at extreme long range, but some of their shots landed within a hundred metres of the French cruiser. Unharmed, Nielly returned fire and slowly rejoined the squadron. The duel lasted a little over half an hour, and it is doubtful whether Nielly’s fire was much more effective than that of the Chinese, though the French claimed to have killed a number of soldiers ashore and inflicted slight damage on one of the shore batteries.

On the evening of 1 March Courbet gave orders for an attack the next day, but on the morning of 2 March the risks of the operation became evident. Silencing the Chinese batteries would be a long and slow business, and while the French ironclads were duelling with the forts they would be exposed to the fire of the three Chinese cruisers. Even if the French warships succeeded in suppressing the Chinese defences and forcing the barrage, the Chinese cruisers might still have eluded them by heading upriver towards Ningbo. Courbet decided not to incur unnecessary casualties, and cancelled the planned attack.