Battle of Bang Bo

Battle of Bang Bo (Zhennan Pass)
Part of the Tonkin Campaign, Sino-French War
Chinese fortifications at Zhennan Pass
Date 24 March 1885 Location north of Lang Son, Vietnam Result Chinese victory
Belligerents
France	China Black Flag Army
Commanders and leaders
François Oscar de Négrier	Pan Dingxin Feng Zicai Wang Debang （） Wang Xiaochi（） Su Yuanchun（） Chen Jia() Jiang Zonghan（） Fang Yousheng (方友升) Wei Gang（）
Strength
1,500 men 10 guns	At Zhennan Pass: Maximum of 4,000 men of the Black Flags, under 4,000 for government troops French claim: 40,000 men
Casualties and losses
74 killed 213 wounded on Mar.23rd and 24th	1,650 killed and wounded

At Zhennan Pass: Maximum of 4,000 men of the Black Flags, under 4,000 for government troops

The Battle of Bang Bo, known in China as the battle of Zhennan Pass (Chinese:鎮南關之役), was an important Chinese victory during the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885). The battle, fought on 23 and 24 March 1885 on the Tonkin-Guangxi border, saw the defeat of 1,500 soldiers of General François de Négrier's 2nd Brigade of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps by a Chinese army under the command of the Guangxi military commissioner Pan Dingxin ().

The battle set the scene for the French retreat from Lang Son on 28 March and the conclusion of the Sino-French War in early April in circumstances of considerable embarrassment for France.

On 17 February 1885 General Louis Brière de l'Isle, the general-in-chief of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, left Lang Son with Lieutenant-Colonel Laurent Giovanninelli's 1st Brigade to relieve the Siege of Tuyen Quang. On 3 March, at the Battle of Hoa Moc, Giovanninelli's men broke through a formidable Chinese blocking position and relieved the siege. Before his departure Brière de l'Isle ordered General François de Négrier, who remained at Lang Son with the 2nd Brigade, to press on towards the Chinese border and expel the battered remnants of the Guangxi Army from Tonkinese soil. After resupplying the 2nd Brigade with food and ammunition, de Négrier defeated the Guangxi Army at the Battle of Đồng Đăng on 23 February and cleared it from Tonkinese territory. For good measure, the French crossed briefly into Guangxi province and blew up the 'Gate of China', an elaborate Chinese customs building on the Tonkin-Guangxi border. They were not strong enough to exploit this victory, however, and the 2nd Brigade returned to Lang Son at the end of February.

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