page_title: Battle of Gia Cuc
section_title: The battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Gia Cuc / The battle
caption_attribution_description: English: French artillery in action at the Battle of Gia Cuc, 27 and 28 March 1883
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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 and a small force of sailors from the gunboat Léopard, leaving behind a single company of marine infantry 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.
  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.
caption: A French naval gun, deployed on a dyke, supports a marine infantry attack on the Vietnamese positions at Gia Cuc
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