Bắc Ninh campaign

The campaign, fought during the period of undeclared hostilities that preceded the Sino-French War (August 1884 – April 1885), resulted in the French capture of Bắc Ninh and the complete defeat of China's Guangxi Army.

In March 1884, following their victory at Sơn Tây in December 1883, the French renewed their offensive in Tonkin under the command of General Charles-Théodore Millot, who took over responsibility for the land campaign from Admiral Amédée Courbet in February 1884.

Reinforcements from France and the African colonies had now raised the strength of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps to over 10,000 men, and Millot organised this force into two brigades.

Elderly and in poor health, Xu remained at Lạng Sơn and delegated the operational command of the Chinese army to his subordinates, Huang Guilan (黃桂蘭) and Zhaowo (趙沃).

On the same day it was joined by the gunboats Éclair and Trombe, which had sailed up from Hải Dương with the materials needed to construct a bridge of boats across the canal.

Seeing their line of retreat threatened, the Chinese abandoned the Ne Ou and Do Son forts and fell back to Bắc Ninh.

On the left, Godon's Turcos and Coronnat's marine infantry of Brière de l'Isle's 1st Brigade drove the Chinese from the Trung Sơn heights.

On the right, the legionnaires and line infantry of de Négrier's 2nd Brigade captured the Chinese positions around the Christian village of Keroi, also known as Xuan Hoa.

The Chinese at Trung Sơn made little attempt to stand up to the French, abandoning their positions before Brière de l'Isle's troops could reach them.

The generals commanding the right wing saw the Chinese front break on their left and realised that they would be surrounded if they stayed any longer in their present positions.

De Négrier's troops took Bắc Ninh in the early evening, capturing large quantities of ammunition and a number of brand new Krupp cannon that hadn't fired a shot during the battle.

As a result, the French were unable to cut the routes to Thái Nguyên and Lạng Sơn and prevent the escape of the Chinese army.

Brière de l'Isle advanced as far as Thái Nguyên, where he defeated a mixed force of Chinese, Vietnamese and Black Flags on 19 March.

On 15 March de Négrier defeated Huang Guilan's rearguard at Phủ Lạng Thương and chased his wing of the Guangxi Army up to Kép.

The defeat of the Guangxi Army at Bắc Ninh was a considerable embarrassment to the Empress Dowager Cixi and a severe shock to the war party in China.

Three months earlier, at Sơn Tây, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army had fought bitterly and inflicted heavy casualties on the French.

Two more junior commanders, Chen Degui (陳得貴) and Dang Minxuan (黨敏宣), were beheaded in front of their troops at Lạng Sơn on 26 May.

[8] The defeat at Bắc Ninh, coming close on the heels of the fall of Sơn Tây, strengthened the hand of the moderate element in the Chinese government and temporarily discredited the extremist 'Purist' party led by Zhang Zhidong, which was agitating for a full-scale war against France.

Chinese defences on the Mandarin Road to the southwest of Bắc Ninh. Millot bypassed the main Chinese positions and attacked Bắc Ninh from the southeast
Turcos and fusiliers-marins at Bắc Ninh, 12 March 1884
Chinese cannon captured at Bắc Ninh