Battle of Mạo Khê

Part of the First Indochina War

Date	March 23–28, 1951
Location	Mạo Khê, Vietnam
Result	French Union victory

Belligerents

French Union

Việt Minh

Commanders and leaders

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny

Võ Nguyên Giáp

Strength

400 troops
reinforced by 6e BPC
3 destroyers
2 landing craft

102nd/308th
141st/312th
209th/312th
36th/308th
in all about 11,000 troops

Casualties and losses

40 killed,
150 wounded

Vietminh figures: 134 killed,
426 wounded,
14 missing
French claim: 3,000 killed, wounded or captured

The Battle of Mạo Khê (Vietnamese: Mạo Khê, [mâːwˀ xē]), occurring from March 23 to March 28, 1951, was a significant engagement in the First Indochina War between the French Union and the Việt Minh. The French Union forces, led by World War II hero Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, inflicted a defeat on Việt Minh forces, which were commanded by General Võ Nguyên Giáp. The French Union victory, however, was not decisive and the Việt Minh would attack again shortly afterwards.

After suffering a heavy setback at the Battle of Vĩnh Yên, Giáp decided to attack the port of Hải Phòng, the centerpiece of French logistics. Giáp planned to breach the French defenses at Mạo Khê, which was about 20 miles north of the port. He hoped that the fresh 316th Division, supported by diversionary attacks from the 304th and 320th divisions, would be enough to break the French.

Mạo Khê was poorly defended. It was encircled by a series of outposts, with the town itself held by an armored car platoon of the Moroccan Colonial Infantry. The Mạo Khê coal mine was located 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) to the north of the town and was garrisoned by a company of partisans commanded by a Vietnamese lieutenant and three French NCOs. To the east of the town, a company from the 30th Senegalese Composite Battalion guarded a fortified Roman Catholic church. In total, the French had about 400 troops.

After diversionary thrusts on 23 March, the Việt Minh began to assail Mạo Khê’s outposts later in the night. They had carried all major positions by 26 March and prepared for the main attack on the city. At this point, the anticipated communist attack stalled under heavy pressure from French naval forces, which had managed to approach Mạo Khê via a deep channel in the nearby Đà Bắc River. The Việt Minh’s losses were about 30 KIAs and 80 WIAs.

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