A good many persons, after seeing as much as they could of the interesting little mimic battle on Wednesday between the naval force from H.M.S. Severn and the Shanghai Volunteers, liked to indulge iti speculation as tu what the result might have been had it been an encounter in reality. The general opinion seemed to be that the Volunteers would have had a particularly bad time of it, and would either conside: at the hands of the fne, have have been captured, or if they disdained such
been mercilessly slaughtered. Of course, in such matters as Sham Fights, a good deal lias to be left to the imagination, and inthe absence of any authoritative statement from the Umpires, we are not justified in that things would have been quite so they seemed for the Voluntecre at the end of the encounter. As might be expected, the hypercritical spectator now and then had opportunities of indulging his whim, One such was when the Ligat Horse were ordered to charge the enemy. They passed over the narrow aridge, and without waiting to reform rushed in single file upon the foe, ina manner which would certainly have brought them all to grief in x real combat. There is no daube that the Naval force had selected very strong position as their base of apers tions, and it is equally certain that in their eager attack upon it, x considerable number of the red coats allowed themselves to he drawn into " deadly trap, and completely outmanceuvred, Proceeding ow from generalities to particulars it has to be told that the "general idea" presumed that Shanghai being held by " garrison, a force ut the enemy had come down the Soochow Creek in boats, and fixed a camp somewhere between the Creek and the Buck Rod. north and south, and the Jessfield Road and Carter Road, east and west. Such a atave of affaires could not of course be re-Gelunteer Corps, representing a portion of rarded with equanimity, and therefore the
the Shanghai garrison, received orders to find the exmp and drive out the enemy. The country south of the Jessfield Road itself and Cow Fudge was regarde: l us out ofbuunds, In obedience to their instructions the Volunteers assembled at the Carter and Sinza cross-roads, under the command of Major Holliday, the Artillery having previously taken possession of their guns on the Race Course by Loongfei, and proceeded tu the rendeseous. Some little time was consumed in the marshalling of the force, during which the Gernun Compavy went through afew preliminary drill movements ina manner most pierising to see. The force was made up as. follows:—Staff 7; Light Horse 22; Artillery 40; "A" Oiy., 803 © B" Coy. 24; "C" Coy. 115 26; German Qoy., 31; total 191.
in readiness, the force marched along the Back Roxd, and suen tok to the country. The first object was to secure Alpha village. The Light Horse performed the function of scouts, their right fink on a patrol on the main road, and their left extended into the country as far as possible, their movements being regulated by the right. Meeting with no enemy, halted' on the line of the Wooden Bridge they wd through Alpha village and Rond, until the other arms had occupied the village. 'D" Company moved along the main road, covered by an advanced guard, and communicated with the other companies at Trefancha, halting in Alpha village. A, D, and C Companies, and Yerman Company, in the order named, advanced through the country, each being covered by. section extended as skirmishers. The German Company had a Nordenfelt, and the Artillery, who followed the Tufantry as fay as practicable, algo had a Nordenfelt. The infantry halted at Alpha village, with the Artillery in the rear. Pressing cautiously forward, the every were discovered in an excellent position, well sheltered, and backed up by a gunboat on the creek. 'Their signallers occupying va~ rious graves could be seen busily at work notifying the approach of the Volunteers. 'The latter were' now entering into the spirit of the affair with eagerness, and several of the men seemed to feel keenly the restraint which prevented them haying a "pot shot" at the daring sig-wallets, even if the latter might be unconscious that they had metaphorically been killed by a practised marksman, Sven on the left the sound of firing could be heard, and the action thet became general, The gunboat joined in merrily, and if it was neither war nor magnificent, it was inspiriting, The red companies advanced, and had to cross fa piece of open ground, where they would have suffered terribly. "However, on they pressed, after a momentary retreat, and reached a small creek, across which the Shanghai defenders and the enemy blazed away with charming nonchalance. Getting tired of this, a considerably body of the red coats essayed to cross the creek by a small plank bridge, which in actual destroyed. Just by this bridge was a small warfare would have been long previously hamlet, ignorance that this was strongly yy the enemy, they crossed the bridge, They then met with a galling fire. and the arrival of a strong re-infurcemeet of the enemy round the other coraer, and overwhelmed them, and so fur as more ghting was concerned they were finished. During this spirited engagement, two of the Volunteers received alight facial injuries, the enemy's rifles -being jacharged at very short distance and peppering" their tuees with powder, Soon after the ' cease firing" was sounded, and all was over.
Having thus dealt with events from the Volunteers' point of view, we will proceed to the doings of the Naval force. The enemy were towed up the Soochow Creek by their gun-launch and proceeded xbout a mile above the Upper Bout House, where they effected a landing. Having selected a spot well protected by the creeks and by " final line of defence—a long en bankment. in the rear—they spread themselves over the country and exlmly await ed the arrival of the defenders of the Settlements. They had a long time to wait, and in the rain and cold, too, but they kept very busy with the scouts who were extended a long way in front of their position, while signallers were seen here and there on the tops of the grave-nds semaphoring to ench other, 'The enemy had 150 men, consisting of two cum-panies of blue jackets, one of marines, a half battery of artillery, and thei gunboat. Lieut. Thursby was in' command, and he had under him Lieutenants Lambert, De Cesia, and Chown, At about 2.30 p.m. the Light Horse were seen to the left, upon which the gauboxt in the creek opened fire and caused them to retreat, Soon afterwards, the red-coated Volunteer fantry showed themselves, and remained in an exposed position for w considerable time, being apparently halted. This was an opportunity which the enemy failed to take advantage of, and for which they suffered, for the Volunteers sven afterwards eceeded in capturing the gunboat which had swung round and could not use her gun, In about quarter of an hour, the German Company were seen creeping along, and it was the more diteult to mike them out, owing to the velour of their uniforms. They advanced to the right of the enemy, and after receiving the fire returned it, and continued to advance. By this time their opponents thought it best to retreat, and retired on the main body, a movement which was to some extent taken advent of by the Germans who fired at them whi
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.