page_title: Capture of Hưng Hóa
section_title: March to Hưng Hóa, 4–10 April 1884
hierarchical_section_title: Capture of Hưng Hóa / March to Hưng Hóa, 4–10 April 1884
caption_attribution_description: English: French soldiers at a halt on the Clear River during the march to Hung Hoa, April 1884 Tiếng Việt: Quân Pháp bên một dòng sông gần Lạng Sơn, Việt Nam.
context_page_description: The Capture of Hưng Hóa was an important French victory in the Tonkin Campaign.
context_section_description: The base for the Hưng Hóa campaign was Sơn Tây. General Louis Brière de l'Isle's 1st Brigade set out from Hanoi on 5 April, after parading through the town in an imposing display of strength. General François de Négrier's 2nd Brigade, which was deployed around Bắc Ninh and Phu Liang Giang, set off for Hanoi on 4 April. On 5 April the 2nd Brigade spent the entire day crossing the Red River, and on the next day, it paraded through Hanoi on its way west to Sơn Tây. Marching overland from Hanoi past the battlefields of 1883, the two brigades reached Sơn Tây on 6–7 April, respectively. On 8 April both brigades left Sơn Tây, marching toward the Black River, so as to approach Hưng Hóa from the south and the southeast, respectively. Millot sent Colonel Belin's marine infantry marching regiment on ahead to seize the village of Tai Bắc on the Black River and fortify it as a base for the river crossing and subsequent march on Hưng Hóa. On 10 April, after a day spent scouting ahead, Brière de l'Isle's 1st Brigade reached the Black River. On 11 April, the brigade set off southwards at dawn on a wide outflanking march to threaten Liu Yongfu's line of retreat. The brigade crossed the Black River and marched northwest along the mountain path, approaching Hưng Hóa from the south.
  Meanwhile, de Négrier's 2nd Brigade painfully crossed the Black River at Vu Chu on 10 April. Millot's staff had assembled fifteen junks and two tugs for this operation, but de Négrier had nearly 4,000 men to get across and a large artillery train. Five French soldiers and a dozen coolies, too impatient to wait their turn to cross the river by junk, tried to swim across and were carried away by the strong current and drowned. These were the only French casualties of the Hưng Hóa operation. At 6 a.m. on 11 April the 2nd Brigade left the Black River and marched due west towards Hưng Hóa. At 9 a.m. the brigade's advance guard occupied a position on a wooded height overlooking the Red River above the village of Trung Hà, whose plateau, thickly covered in tall umbrella pines, offered an ideal observation post and firing platform for the French artillery. Hưng Hóa on the southern bank of the Red River, was clearly visible five kilometres to the west. By 10:00, Millot's heavy artillery and the bulk of the 2nd Brigade's infantry were assembled on the Trung Hà plateau. The Black Flags remained inside Hưng Hóa, and made no attempt to dispute the French advance. Millot had hoped that the gunboats of the Tonkin Flotilla could support the attack, but Hache and Yatagan drew too much water to sail beyond the confluence of the Red River and the Clear River. Only Trombe and Éclair reached the junction of the Red and Black Rivers to take part in the upcoming battle.
caption: Marine artillerymen and Turcos of Brière de l'Isle's 1st Brigade at a halt on the Clear River during the march to Hưng Hóa, April 1884
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