Third Battle of Nanking - The Battle

The Battle

On March 14, 1864, Imperial general Zeng Guoquan (曾国荃) attempted his first attack on Nanking using ladders, but this first attempt was beaten back by the defenders. The imperial army then changed tactics, digging a total of ten underground tunnels at Chaoyang (朝阳), Shence (神策), and Jinchuan (金川) Gates, and the defenders in turn, countered by digging tunnels of their own and building a secondary wall behind the first. Five days after the death of Hong Xiuquan on June 1, 1864, Li Xiucheng was finally put in charge of all military and political affairs, but it was already too late, the fate of the city and its defenders were sealed.

On July 3, 1864, Dibao Castle (Dibao Cheng 地保城, nicknamed Dragon's Neck 龙脖子) on Purple Gold (紫金) Mountain fell into the Imperial Chinese army's hands. This strategic location enabled the Imperial Chinese army to build several dozen artillery positions to bombard the entire city, thus suppressing the defenders' firepower and providing cover for other preparations to take the city. One tactic of the attackers was to fill the space between the city wall and the mountain ridge at the Dragon's Neck with earth, sand, logs, rocks and grass, so the land surface was raised to the height of the city wall, thus paving the way to attack the city. Another tactic was to dig underground tunnels just 200 feet away from the city wall so that they could be filled with explosives to blow up the wall. Operations within such close proximity of enemy fire were possible due to sufficient covering fire, thanks to the taking of Dibao Castle. The defenders's attempts to disrupt the preparations were continuously beaten back with heavy loss due to heavy fire from attackers. Half a month later, the preparation was complete.

Realizing the final attack was coming, on the night of July 18, 1864, Li Xiucheng ordered more than a thousand defenders to disguise themselves as attackers to sneak out the city to destroy the tunnel, but the attackers were not fooled and beat back the thousand men formation. The following afternoon at 13：00, the attackers detonated the explosives in the tunnel under Taiping (太平) Gate, the wall breaking and flying 2—10 km far down, killed several hundred people, and collapsed a large section of the city wall. The defenders put up a fierce fight, but were unable to drive back the attackers force of 60,000. The attackers were divided into four fronts after entering Nanking as previously planned:

• The central front led by imperial general Li Chenden (李臣典) attacked toward Hong Xiuquan's palace
• The right front led by imperial general 刘连捷 (Liu Lianjie) pushed toward Shence (神策) gate to link up with imperial general Zhu Nangui (朱南桂)'s force who entered the gate via ladders, and after two teams had joined forces, they would attack westward toward Lion Mountain (Shizishan 狮子山) to take Yifeng (仪凤) Gate.
• The central-left front led by imperial general Peng Yuju (彭毓橘) attacked toward Tongji (通济) Gate.
• The left front led by imperial general Xiao Fusi (萧孚泗) attacked toward Chaoyang (朝阳) and Hongwu (洪武) gates.

The street fight was fierce and bloody and the resistance was much tougher than expected and the attackers' artillery cover had to stop for fear of injuring their own. The defenders were very stubborn and expected to inflict heavy casualties on the attackers and hoped to drive the attackers back outside the city.

After the fall of Chaoyang (朝阳) Gate, the defenders' morale collapsed and imperial general Luo Fengyan (罗逢源) was able to lead his force to break into the city from Jubao (聚宝) Gate，while imperial general Li Jinzhou (李金洲) was able to break into the city from (通济) Gate, linking up with forces led by imperial general Peng Yuju (彭毓橘). At the same time, Imperial admiral Huang Yisheng (黄翼升) led the imperial navy to take Zhongguan (中关) and then took the remaining fortresses still in the defenders' hands at the river banks, and helped imperial general Chen Ti (陈湜) take two Shuixi (水西) and Hanxi (旱西) gates. By the evening, every gate of the city was firmly in the hands of attackers.

Li Xiucheng immediately returned to Hong Xiuquan's palace after the defeat at the Taiping (太平) Gate in the morning, and took Hong Xiuquan's son with him to escape via Hanxi (旱西) gate. However, Li's force of several thousand were beaten back with heavy loss by the imperial general Chen Ti (陈湜) force and was forced to go to Cool Mountain (Qingliang Shan 清凉山). At night, Li Xiucheng's remaining force of a thousand went to Taiping (太平) Gate and disguised themselves as Imperial Chinese Army forces, and successfully escaped toward Piety Tomb (Xiaoling 孝陵) via the section of collapsed city wall because the imperial Chinese army troops were busy looting, and did not bother to stop them. After massive looting, the city was set on fire which lasted till July 26, 1864.