An advance Russian force arrived at the Americans' assigned gate, the Dongbien, about 3:00 a.m. However, the Russians violated the plan, although it is uncertain whether it was intentional or not. The gate assigned to the Americans was nearest to the Legation Quarter and they seemed to have the best opportunity to reach the legations first. The French apparently were left out of the planning. The Russians were assigned the most northerly gate, the Tung Chih (Dongzhi) the Japanese had the next gate south, the Chi Hua (Chaoyang) the Americans, the Tung Pein (Dongbien) and the British the most southern, the Sha Wo (Guangqui). The commanders of the four national armies agreed that each of them would assault a different gate. The assault on Peking had taken on the character of a race to see which national army achieved the glory of relieving the Legations. Casualties among the Chinese Christians were not recorded. Sixty-six of the 900 foreigners in the Legation Quarter had been killed and 150 wounded during the siege. The people sheltering in the Peitang had suffered several hundred killed, mostly from starvation, disease and mines detonated beneath the perimeter walls. Defending the Cathedral were 28 foreign priests and nuns, 43 French and Italian soldiers and 3,400 Chinese Catholics. The Peitang (Beitang) cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church had been surrounded by Boxers and the Chinese army since 15 June. The relief force did not know that 2,800 destitute Chinese Christians had taken refuge in the Legation Quarter with the foreigners, nor did it know that three miles distant from the Legations a second siege was in progress. They feared they had arrived one day too late to rescue their countrymen.
Īs the armies moved into position about five miles from the walls, on the night of 13 August, they could hear the sounds of heavy artillery and machine-gun fire from within the city. The population living within the walls was about one million people, although many had fled to escape the Boxers and the fighting between the Chinese army and the foreigners in the Legation Quarter.
The wall around the adjoining Outer (Chinese) city was 30 feet high. The wall around the Inner (Tartar) city was 40 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the top. The city was surrounded by walls 21 miles in length and broken by 16 gates. The objective of the alliance forces was to fight their way into the city of Peking, make their way to the Legation Quarter and rescue the 900 foreigners besieged there by the Chinese army since 20 June. The British, American and Japanese commanders wanted to push on and attack Peking on 13 August, but the Russian commander said he needed another day to prepare and 13 August was devoted to reconnaissance and rest. The relief force was much reduced by heat exhaustion and sunstroke and the men available for the assault on Peking probably did not greatly exceed 10,000. The Alliance forces defeated the Chinese army at the Battle of Beicang (Peitsang) on 5 August and the Battle of Yangcun (Yangtsun) on 6 August and reached Tongzhou (Tongchou), 14 miles from Peking, on 12 August. The route of the Eight-Nation Alliance force to relieve the Siege of the Legations In Peking, August 1900.
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