Battle of Gia Cuc

The Battle of Gia Cuc, fought on 27 and 28 March 1883, was a battle in the Tonkin campaign between the French and Vietnamese, during the period of undeclared hostilities that preceded the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885).

Background

The battle was precipitated by an attempt by the Vietnamese commander Prince Hoang Ke Viem, with limited assistance from the Black Flag Army, to capture Hanoi from the French during the absence of the French "commandant supérieur" Henri Rivière at Nam Dinh.

The battle

On 27 and 28 March the commander of the Hanoi garrison, "chef de bataillon" Berthe de Villers, sallied out against Prince Hoang's Vietnamese army, around 6,000 strong, with two companies of marine infantry (Captains Caboureau and Martellière) and a small force of sailors from the gunboat "Léopard" ("enseignes de vaisseau" Bladon and Le Bris), leaving behind a single company of marine infantry (Captain Retrouvey) to garrison the Royal Palace. Using intelligent fire and movement tactics and supported by "Léopard"'s artillery, the French attacked the Vietnamese defences, captured the villages of Gia Thuy and Gia Cuc, and finally drove the Vietnamese from the battlefield. French casualties were 4 men wounded. The Vietnamese may have lost as many as 1,000 dead and wounded. [Bastard, "Bazeilles", 156–60; de Marolles, "La dernière campagne du Commandant Rivière", 187–8; Duboc, "Trente cinq mois de campagne", 111–12; Huard, "La guerre du Tonkin", 26–30; Nicolas, "Livre d’or de l’infanterie de la marine", 252–4; Thomazi, "Histoire militaire de l’Indochine française", 54–5]

One of the factors in the Vietnamese defeat was the absence of serious pressure on the French from Liu Yongfu (Liu Yung-fu, 劉永福) and the Black Flag Army. Liu was supposed to attack Hanoi from the west while Prince Hoang descended from the north. However, the two men were on the coolest of terms, and Liu made only a feint attack on the French-held Royal Palace. This attack was easily beaten off by the French garrison.

Significance

Berthe de Villers' remarkable victory at Gia Cuc, coupled with the simultaneous capture of Nam Dinh by Rivière, demoralised the Vietnamese, appreciably raised French prestige in Tonkin, and emboldened French policymakers to shrug off the growing prospects of direct Chinese intervention in Tonkin. Meanwhile, the failure of cooperation between Prince Hoang and Liu Yongfu alarmed the Chinese. The senior Chinese civil mandarin Tang Jingsong (Tang Ching-sung) reconciled the two men in April 1883, and persuaded Liu Yongfu to take the field against the French with the Black Flag Army. The result, in May 1883, was the disastrous French defeat at the Battle of Paper Bridge, in which both Rivière and Berthe de Villers were killed.

Notes

References

* Barbou, A., "Les héros de la France et les pavillons-noirs au Tonkin" (Paris, 1884)
* Bastard, G., "Défense de Bazeilles, suivi de dix ans après au Tonkin" (Paris, 1884)
* Duboc, E., "Trente cinq mois de campagne en Chine, au Tonkin" (Paris, 1899)
* Huard, "La guerre du Tonkin" (Paris, 1887)
* Marolles, Vice-Amiral de, "La dernière campagne du Commandant Rivière" (Paris, 1932)
* Nicolas, V., "Livre d’or de l’infanterie de la marine" (Paris, 1891)
* Thomazi, "Histoire militaire de l’Indochine française" (Hanoi, 1931)
* Thomazi, A., "La conquête de l'Indochine" (Paris, 1934)

External links