Capture of Hưng Hóa

Capture of Hưng Hóa
Part of Tonkin Campaign
Black Flag entrenchments at Hưng Hóa
Date 12 April 1884 Location Hưng Hóa (present-day Phú Thọ Province, northern Vietnam) Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Black Flag Army Nguyễn dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Charles-Théodore Millot Louis Brière de l'Isle François de Négrier	Liu Yongfu Hoàng Kế Viêm
Strength
10,000 infantry several gunboats	around 3,000 Black Flag soldiers 6,000 Vietnamese soldiers
Casualties and losses
17 men drowned, no battle casualties	not known; higher than French casualties

The Capture of Hưng Hóa (12 April 1884) was an important French victory in the Tonkin Campaign (1883–86).

Hưng Hóa was captured by the French a month to the day after the capture of Bắc Ninh. General Charles-Théodore Millot, the commander-in-chief of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, followed up his victory in the Bắc Ninh Campaign by mopping up scattered Chinese garrisons left behind by the Guangxi Army after the rout at Bắc Ninh by mounting a major campaign against Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and Prince Hoàng Kế Viêm's Annamese forces, which had retreated to Hưng Hóa after their defeat in the Sơn Tây Campaign (December 1883). In April 1884 Millot advanced on Hưng Hóa with both brigades of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps.

General Charles-Théodore Millot (1829–89)

General Louis Brière de l'Isle (1827–96)

General François de Négrier (1842–1913)

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.

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