Tonkin Expeditionary Corps The Tonkin Expeditionary Corps ( ) was an important French military command based in northern Vietnam ( Tonkin ) from June 1883 to April 1886 . The expeditionary corps fought the Tonkin campaign ( 1883 – 6 ) taking part in campaigns against the Black Flag Army and the Chinese Yunnan and Guangxi Armies during the Sino - French War ( August 1884 – April 1885 ) and the period of undeclared hostilities that preceded it ( August 1883 – June 1884 ) , and in important operations against Vietnamese guerilla bands during the subsequent ' Pacification of Tonkin ' ( May 1885 – February 1886 ) . Commanders and campaigns . General Alexandre - Eugène Bouët ( 1833 – 87 ) . The expeditionary corps was established in June 1883 in the wake of Henri Rivière ' s defeat and death at the Battle of Paper Bridge , to entrench the French protectorate in Tonkin . Its first commander was " général de brigade " Alexandre - Eugène Bouët ( 1833 – 87 ) , the most senior marine infantry officer available in the French colony of Cochinchina . Bouët introduced a lightweight black pyjama summer uniform for French troops in Tonkin , and also ordered them to cover their white pith helmets with black cloth to make themselves less conspicuous . These were sensible innovations , which were appreciated by the common soldiers . Bouët ' s first task was to secure the French posts in Hanoi , Nam Dinh and Haiphong against Black Flag and Vietnamese attacks . In July 1883 he prepared to go over to the offensive , recruiting a force of 800 Yellow Flag soldiers to augment the French forces at his disposal . Pressured by the civil commissioner - general Jules Harmand to attack the Black Flags as soon as possible in their positions on the Day River , he took the field in August 1883 , despite the heat and humidity of the Tonkin summer . Bouët twice attacked the entrenchments held by Liu Yongfu ' s Black Flag army , at the Battle of Phu Hoai ( 15 August 1883 ) and the Battle of Palan ( 1 September 1883 ) . Both battles were disappointing for the French , and Bouët ' s command was also dogged by disagreements with Jules Harmand over French strategy in Tonkin . In early September 1883 Bouët resigned . Shortly before his resignation he recommended to the French government that the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps should be constituted as a regular two - brigade army division with the normal complement of artillery and ancillary support . This recommendation was accepted by the army ministry and implemented in February 1884 . Lieutenant - Colonel Anicet - Edmond - Justin Bichot ( 1835 – 1908 ) . In the wake of Bouët ' s unexpected resignation , command of the expeditionary corps fell briefly to Lieutenant - Colonel Anicet - Edmond - Justin Bichot ( 1835 – 1908 ) , the ranking marine infantry officer in Tonkin . Bichot ' s interregnum lasted only a few weeks , and saw no large - scale battles between the French and the Black Flags . His short tenure of command was chiefly notable for a reconnaissance in force towards Son Tay on 18 September 1883 , in the course of which the French discovered the remains of Commandant Henri Rivière , who had been killed in action at the Battle of Paper Bridge ( 19 May 1883 ) and whose mutilated body had been buried close to the battlefield , in the village of Kien Mai . Admiral Anatole - Amédée - Prosper Courbet ( 1827 – 85 ) . Upon the arrival of substantial French reinforcements in Tonkin in November and December 1883 , the French government placed Admiral Amédée Courbet , the commander of the Tonkin Coasts naval division , in command of the expeditionary corps . Courbet commanded the expeditionary corps during the Son Tay Campaign ( December 1883 ) . Among his many other talents , Courbet was a first - class administrator , and was deeply respected by the men of the expeditionary corps for the pains he took to ensure that military life ran as smoothly as possible for them . Long after his departure , this aspect of his command was remembered . If the mail went astray , or if a unit lost its way during a route march , the soldiers would say ' This wouldn ' t have happened if Courbet were still in command ! ' The 1883 campaigns in Tonkin were conducted , like most French colonial enterprises , by the " troupes de marine " , and had been overseen by the navy ministry . In December 1883 , however , in view of the increasing commitment of troops from Algeria to Tonkin , the army ministry insisted on appointing a general from the regular army to command of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps , which would be henceforth be constituted as a two - brigade infantry division with the normal complement of artillery and other supporting arms . Jules Ferry ' s cabinet approved this recommendation , and Courbet was replaced in command of the expeditionary corps on 16 December 1883 by General Charles - Théodore Millot — ironically , on the very day on which he captured Son Tay . He resumed command of the Tonkin Coasts naval division , and for the next six months played a most unwelcome subordinate role , hunting down bands of Vietnamese pirates in the Gulf of Tonkin while Millot was winning glory in the Bac Ninh campaign . General Charles - Théodore Millot ( 1829 – 89 ) . In early 1884 the arrival of substantial reinforcements from France and the African colonies raised the strength of the expeditionary corps to over 10 , 000 men . Its new commander , " général de division " Charles - Théodore Millot ( 1829 – 1889 ) , organised this force into two brigades . The 1st Brigade was commanded by " général de brigade " Louis Brière de l ' Isle ( 1827 – 1896 ) , who had earlier made his reputation as governor of Senegal . The 2nd Brigade was commanded by " général de brigade " François de Négrier ( 1842 – 1913 ) , a charismatic young Foreign Legion commander who had recently quelled a serious Arab rebellion in Algeria . Millot commanded the expeditionary corps for eight months , from February to September 1884 . During his tenure of command he organised two major campaigns to capture Bac Ninh and Hung Hoa ( March and April 1884 ) and two more modest expeditions to capture Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang ( May and June 1884 ) . In the Bac Ninh campaign he won a spectacular walkover victory against Xu Yanxu ' s Guangxi Army . In the Hung Hoa campaign he flanked Liu Yongfu out of a formidable defensive system without losing a man . Having argued strenuously against sending a column to occupy Lang Son in the heat of the Tonkin summer , he emerged unscathed from the official enquiry into the circumstances of the Bac Le Ambush ( June 1884 ) . Millot was arguably the most successful of the many commanders of the expeditionary corps , but he was unpopular with both his officers and his men , who considered him overcautious . Significantly , his decision to halt General de Négrier ' s pursuit of the defeated Chinese forces in the Bac Ninh campaign was held against him , even though he had sound military reasons for this decision . The troops immediately gave sardonic Vietnamese nicknames to their three generals . The much - admired de Négrier became " Maolen " ( ' Quick ! ' ) , Brière de l ' Isle " Mann Mann " ( ' Slow ! ' ) , and Millot " Toi Toi " ( ' Stop ! ) . Millot ' s career in Tonkin ended on a sour note . In poor health , and dismayed at the way the French government used the Bac Le Ambush as a pretext for war with China , he submitted his resignation in September 1884 . In his last order of the day , he described himself as ' a sick and disappointed man ' . General Louis - Alexandre - Esprit - Gaston Brière de l ' Isle ( 1827 – 96 ) . Millot was replaced as general - in - chief by his senior brigade commander , Louis Brière de l ' Isle . Brière de l ' Isle appointed Colonel Dujardin to the interim command of the 1st Brigade during the autumn and winter of 1884 . In January 1885 , on the eve of the Lang Son Campaign , Colonel Ange - Laurent Giovanninelli ( 1839 – 1903 ) arrived in Tonkin and assumed command of the 1st Brigade . General de Négrier remained in command of the 2nd Brigade . Brière de l ' Isle was a natural leader of men , and under his command the expeditionary corps achieved a high standard of professional excellence . In October 1884 , in the Kep Campaign , Brière de l ' Isle defeated a major Chinese invasion of the Tonkin Delta , skilfully exploiting the mobility of the French gunboats to concentrate his forces successively against both wings of the Guangxi Army . In the first fortnight of February 1885 , in the Lang Son Campaign , he took the expeditionary corps in triumph to Lang Son . The success of the campaign owed as much to Brière de l ' Isle ' s meticulous planning and organisation as it did to the courage and professionalism of the troops he led . In mid - February , pausing only a few days at Lang Son to resupply his troops , Brière de l ' Isle marched personally with Giovanninelli ' s 1st Brigade from Lang Son back to Hanoi , and then up the Red and Clear Rivers to relieve the Siege of Tuyen Quang . Although the French suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Hoa Moc ( 2 March 1885 ) , they captured Liu Yongfu ' s blocking position and broke through to Tuyen Quang . The relief of Tuyen Quang , on 3 March 1885 , was the high point of Brière de l ' Isle ' s career . Brière de l ' Isle ' s record of solid professional achievement was marred in the second fortnight of March 1885 , with simultaneous French defeats on 24 March at the Battle of Phu Lam Tao and ( far more serious ) the Battle of Bang Bo . Although de Négrier retrieved his defeat at Bang Bo by inflicting crippling casualties on the Guangxi Army at the Battle of Ky Lua on 28 March , the disastrous decision by Lieutenant - Colonel Paul - Gustave Herbinger to retreat from Lang Son transformed a French tactical victory into a strategic defeat . Although Brière de l ' Isle soon stabilised the situation , the French had lost the hard - won gains of the February campaign . Meanwhile , Brière de l ' Isle knew that he would now go down in history not as the victor of Lang Son and Tuyen Quang but as the general who had sent the notorious ' Lang Son telegram ' that brought down the government of Jules Ferry . In later years , whenever asked about his experiences during the Sino - French War , he would reply ' Let ' s talk about something else . That campaign left a bitter taste in everybody ' s mouth ! ' Strong reinforcements were sent to Tonkin in the wake of the Retreat from Lang Son ( March 1885 ) , bringing the total number of French soldiers in Tonkin to 35 , 000 in the summer of 1885 . In May and June 1885 thousands of fresh French troops poured into Tonkin , swamping the veterans of the two brigades that had fought the Sino - French War , and the expeditionary corps was reorganised into two two - brigade divisions . Brière de l ’ Isle was replaced in command of the expeditionary corps on 1 June 1885 by General Philippe - Marie - Henri Roussel de Courcy ( 1827 – 1887 ) , but remained in Tonkin for several months as commander of the 1st Division of the expanded expeditionary corps . De Négrier , who had recovered from the wound he sustained at the Battle of Ky Lua ( 28 March 1885 ) , was given command of the 2nd Division . General Philippe - Marie - Henri Roussel de Courcy ( 1827 – 1887 ) . De Courcy ' s command was marked by growing resistance to French rule in Tonkin and by outright insurrection in Annam . It was also memorable for a cholera epidemic which swept through the expeditionary corps in the summer and autumn of 1885 , exacerabated by de Courcy ' s neglect of quarantine precautions , in which more French soldiers died than in the entire nine months of the Sino - French War . Elements of the Tonkin expeditionary corps were attacked at Hue on 2 July 1885 in the so - called ' Hue Ambush ' , which initiated the Annamese insurrection . Forbidden by the French government to launch a full - scale invasion of Annam , de Courcy landed troops along the vulnerable coastline of central Vietnam to seize a number of strategic points and to protect Vietnamese Catholic communities in the wake of massacres of Christians by the Annamese insurgents at Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh . Key moments in de Courcy ' s intervention were the occupation of Vinh by Lieutenant - Colonel Chaumont in August , and the relief of Qui Nhon and capture of Binh Dinh by General Prud ' homme in September . In November 1885 a so - called ' Annam column ' under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel Mignot set off from Ninh Binh in southern Tonkin and marched down the narrow spine of Vietnam as far as Hue , scattering any insurgent bands that attempted to dispute its progress . In Tonkin , the expeditionary corps undertook a large - scale campaign in October 1885 to capture the Yunnan Army ' s old base at Thanh May on the Red River , occupied by Vietnamese insurgents under the command of Nguyen Quang Bich since the end of the Sino - French War . De Négrier also conducted a major sweep of the Bai Sai region near Hanoi . De Courcy was warned by his senior medical officers not to mix units in which cholera had already broken out with uninfected units . He ignored this advice , with the result that there were appalling fatalities from cholera in both the Thanh May and Bai Sai columns . General Charles - Auguste - Louis Warnet ( 1828 – 1913 ) . In December 1885 , disgusted with de Courcy ' s obtuseness , General Briere de l ' Isle submitted his resignation and returned to France . Shortly afterwards de Courcy ' s chief of staff General Charles - Auguste - Louis Warnet ( 1828 – 1913 ) also asked to return to France . The army ministry belatedly realised that things were very wrong in Tonkin . It refused Warnet ' s resignation and instead recalled de Courcy to France on 16 January 1886 . De Courcy was briefly replaced in command of the expeditionary corps by General Warnet . Warnet , despite a wealth of evidence that Tonkin was far from pacified , was a political general . Knowing that the French public wanted to hear no more depressing news of bandits and pirates in Tonkin , he declared that Tonkin was pacified and recommended to the army ministry the formal downgrading of the expeditionary corps into a division of occupation . Some colour was given to this claim by Warnet ' s decision to secure the line of the Red River all the way up to the Yunnan border . In March 1886 Lieutenant - Colonel de Maussion advanced up the Red River , meeting almost no resistance , and occupied the town of Lao Cai on the Chinese border . In April 1886 the expeditionary corps was reduced to a three - brigade division of occupation under the command of General Édouard - Ferdinand Jamont ( 1831 – 1918 ) . Strength , organisation and orders of battle . Although the Tonkin expeditionary corps eventually reached a strength of 35 , 000 men , it was never able to put more than a fraction of its troops into the field against the Chinese armies . Most of its men were tied down in garrison duty and in sweeps against concentrations of Vietnamese resistance fighters ( ' bandits ' or ' pirates ' , as the French called them ) . Courbet fielded 9 , 000 troops during the Son Tay Campaign , and Millot 12 , 000 troops in the Bac Ninh campaign . De Négrier commanded slightly fewer than 3 , 000 men during the Kep Campaign of October 1884 , and Brière de l ’ Isle was only with difficulty able to put 7 , 200 men into the field in the February 1885 Lang Son Campaign . De Courcy , using a sledgehammer to crack a nut , concentrated 6 , 000 infantry , seven artillery batteries and three squadrons of cavalry for the October 1885 Thanh May campaign . Order of battle , Phu Hoai , Palan and Son Tay campaigns . During Bouët and Courbet ' s tenures of command , the bulk of the expeditionary corps was drawn from the " troupes de marine " , as befitted a traditional colonial campaign , and the campaign was overseen by the navy ministry . During June and July 1883 the handful of marine infantry companies in Tonkin that had fought under Rivière ' s command at Nam Dinh and Paper Bridge were reinforced by an influx of marine infantry from France and New Caledonia . At the Battle of Phu Hoai ( 15 August 1883 ) , Bouët fielded three marine infantry battalions ( " chefs de bataillon " Chevallier , Lafont and Roux ) , three marine artillery batteries ( Captains Isoir , Dupont and Roussel ) , five companies of Cochinchinese tirailleurs ( riflemen ) and around 450 Yellow Flag auxiliaries . The battle of Palan ( 1 September 1883 ) , a smaller affair , was fought by two marine infantry battalions ( " chefs de bataillon " Berger and Roux ) , Roussel ' s battery and the Yellow Flags . The Yellow Flag auxiliaries plundered a peaceful Vietnamese village shortly after the battle , and Bouët was forced to disband them . Many of the discharged Yellow Flags promptly joined Liu Yongfu ' s Black Flag Army at Son Tay . Three months later they would be fighting against their former paymasters . The commitment of marine infantry and marine artillery units reached a peak in the Son Tay Campaign ( December 1883 ) . Courbet ' s column included four marine infantry battalions ( " chefs de bataillon " Roux , Chevallier , Dulieu and Reygasse ) and six marine artillery batteries ( Captains Isoir , Dupont , Roussel , Roperh , Péricaud and Dudraille ) . As often in French colonial warfare , the " marsouins " and " bigors " were supported by native auxiliaries and naval detachments . The Son Tay column included a " Fusiliers Marins " battalion ( " capitaine de frégate " Laguerre ) , 800 Tonkinese tirailleurs ( " chef de bataillon " Bertaux - Levillain ) , four companies of Cochinchinese tirailleurs and a 65 - millimetre naval battery ( " lieutenant de vaisseau " Amelot ) . But the column also included two recently arrived Turco battalions ( " chefs de bataillon " Jouneau and Letellier ) and the 1st Foreign Legion Battalion ( Lieutenant - Colonel Donnier ) , and the presence of Legion and Turco units at Son Tay was a portent of things to come . The army ministry insisted that the Tonkin campaign should be run by a general from the regular army , and Courbet was relieved of the command of the expeditionary corps on 16 December 1883 ( ironically , the very day on which he captured Son Tay ) . Thereafter , the army in Algeria would supply most of the formations sent to Tonkin , and the war on land against the Black Flags and China would be run by the army ministry . February 1884 reinforcements . In November 1883 the Chamber of Deputies approved the despatch of a further 6 , 500 troops to Tonkin . This was the largest single troop movement of its kind during the conflict with China . The newcomers included six fresh infantry battalions , which were grouped into two marching regiments . The first regiment , which included three line infantry battalions from France , was under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel Defoy . Its three battalions — the 23rd , 111th and 143rd — were commanded respectively by " chef de bataillon " Godart , Lieutenant - Colonel Chapuis and " chef de bataillon " Farret . The second regiment , led by Lieutenant - Colonel Jacques Duchesne of the Foreign Legion , was supplied by the 19th Army Corps in Algeria and included a Legion battalion , a Turco battalion and one of the penal African light infantry battalions . These three battalions — the 2nd Legion Battalion , the 1st Battalion , 3rd Algerian tirailleurs Regiment , and the 2nd African Battalion — were commanded respectively by " chefs de bataillon " Hutin , de Mibielle and Servière . The artillery reinforcements consisted of two 80 - millimetre army artillery batteries , under the command of Captains Jourdy and de Saxcé , and a battery of " canons - revolvers " served by sailors . A cavalry detachment of 50 " chasseurs d ’ Afrique " under the command of Captain Laperrine was also sent to give the expeditionary corps a capability for scouting and pursuit , plus a number of specialist units , including a balloon detachment ( Lieutenant Jullien ) . A draft of nearly 200 men was also despatched to bring Donnier ’ s Legion battalion , which had suffered heavy casualties at Son Tay , back up to its paper strength of 800 men . The reinforcements sailed from France and North Africa in December 1883 and January 1884 in two convoys . On 23 December the transports " Vinh Long " , " Européen " , " Comorin " and " Cholon " left Toulon to embark the Legion , Turco and " Bat ' d ' Af ' " reinforcements at Mers - el - Kebir and Oran . On 10 January the three line battalions , the artillery and specialist troops set sail from Toulon aboard the transports " Saint - Germain " , " Poitou " , " Annamite " and " Mytho " . Two smaller vessels , " Sarthe " and " Shamrock " , accommodated the overflow . Order of battle , Bac Ninh campaign . The expeditionary column that General Millot led to Bac Ninh in March 1884 was organised into two brigades , under the respective command of Generals Louis Brière de l ' Isle and François de Négrier . After making troop deductions for garrison duty , Millot was able to give each of his brigade commanders two marching regiments ( " régiments de marche " ) , each containing the equivalent of three infantry battalions . Professional protocol prevented him from mixing the battalions of the marine infantry , the " armée d ’ Afrique " and the metropolitan army ( " armée de terre " ) , and he was obliged to create one regiment of marine infantry , two ' Algerian ' regiments of troops from the " armée d ’ Afrique " , and one French regiment . One of the ' Algerian ' regiments contained the three Turco battalions then in Tonkin , the other the white formations of the Foreign Legion and African Light Infantry . These four marching regiments were commanded respectively by Lieutenant - Colonels Bertaux - Levillain , Belin , Duchesne and Defoy . Order of battle , Lang Son and Tuyen Quang campaigns . During the Lang Son Campaign ( February 1885 ) and the campaigns of March 1885 around Tuyen Quang and Lang Son , both brigades of the expeditionary corps contained two marching regiments ( " régiments de marche " ) , each of two or three battalions , with supporting artillery , Tonkinese skirmishers and field hospital and engineering detachments . Giovanninelli ' s 1st Brigade consisted of a two - battalion marine infantry regiment , a two - battalion regiment of Algerian tirailleurs ( Turcos ) , a battalion of Tonkinese tirailleurs and three artillery batteries . De Négrier ' s 2nd Brigade consisted of a ' French ' regiment of three line infantry battalions from the metropolitan army , an ' Algerian ' regiment of two Foreign Legion battalions and one battalion of African Light Infantry , a battalion of Tonkinese tirailleurs and three artillery batteries : The artillery complements of the two brigades were reorganised before the 1st Brigade left Lang Son to relieve the Siege of Tuyen Quang . Roussel and Roperh ' s batteries were left at Lang Son , and Jourdy ' s battery was transferred to the 1st Brigade . March 1885 reinforcements . In March 1885 the expeditionary corps was reinforced by two battalions of zouaves ( " chefs de bataillon " Mignot and Simon ) , under the overall command of Lieutenant - Colonel Callet , a third Algerian Tirailleur battalion , an army artillery battery ( Captain Gradoz ) , and two squadrons of spahis ( Captains Pfeiffer and Marochetti ) . Mignot ' s zouave battalion was defeated at the Battle of Phu Lam Tao on 23 March . Pfeiffer ' s spahi squadron joined the 2nd Brigade during the retreat from Lang Son , and was forbidden by the acting brigade commander , Lieutenant - Colonel Herbinger , to charge a small party of Chinese skirmishers at Pho Cam . June 1885 reinforcements . In April 1885 the French government responded to the news of the Retreat from Lang Son by arranging for reinforcements of just under 8 , 000 men to be dispatched to Tonkin . It decided to bring the three depleted French line battalions up to their proper strength of just over 3 , 000 men by calling for volunteers from the classes of 1881 and 1882 from all the line regiments in the metropolitan army . This appeal produced just under 1 , 700 officers and soldiers , more than doubling the existing strength of the French marching regiment . Meanwhile the " armée d ’ Afrique " was asked to furnish just under 4 , 000 men in fresh drafts from its zouave , Turco , Legion and African light infantry battalions . It was also asked to send a third zouave battalion under the command of " chef de bataillon " Hubert Metzinger to Tonkin , and to provide a squadron of spahis and a half - squadron of " chasseurs d ’ Afrique " to swell the meagre cavalry contingent of the expeditionary corps . Five army artillery batteries and one marine artillery battery ( around 30 guns and 1 , 400 men ) were also earmarked for Tonkin . Deployment of 1st and 2nd Divisions , June 1885 . With the arrival of these reinforcements from France in June 1885 , the expanded expeditionary corps was a formidable force on paper . Four Turco battalions , three zouave battalions , two marine infantry battalions , four Foreign Legion battalions , three line infantry battalions , two " zéphyr " battalions and seven Tonkinese Tirailleur battalions , plus supporting artillery , cavalry and engineer units , were grouped into four brigades deployed around the strategic locations in the Delta : 1st Division ( General Brière de l ’ Isle ) , at Hanoi 2nd Division ( General de Négrier ) , at Haiphong 3rd Division . A reserve 3rd Division of 9 , 000 men was assembled at Pas de Lanciers near Marseilles in April 1885 , in case the Chinese showed any reluctance to implement the provisions of the recently signed peace protocol . The 3rd Division , under the command of General Coiffé , consisted of two brigades , each of two line infantry regiments and a battalion of " chasseurs à pied " . The division ’ s 1st Brigade ( General de Pereira ) consisted of the 47th Infantry Regiment ( from Saint - Malo ) , the 62nd Infantry Regiment ( from Lorient ) and the 22nd Battalion , " chasseurs à pied " ( from Morlaix ) . The 2nd Brigade ( General de Sermensan ) consisted of the 63rd Infantry Regiment ( from Limoges ) , the 123rd Infantry Regiment ( from La Rochelle ) and the 28th Battalion , " chasseurs à pied " ( from Bayonne ) . The division was struck by an epidemic of typhoid fever and had to evacuate its camps . Had its men ever been sent to Tonkin , they would probably have suffered a high mortality rate . In the event , China punctiliously implemented the terms of the peace settlement , and the division was broken up in late June 1885 . Marine infantry companies in Tonkin , 1883 - 1886 . The following table lists all marine infantry companies known to have served in Tonkin between April 1882 and April 1886 . Six companies of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment were detached from the Tonkin expeditionary corps in September 1884 to take part in the Keelung Campaign in northern Formosa . Officers killed in action are marked ( † ) .