Our Friends Beneath the Sands

by Martin Windrow

  9 Girardet, op cit

  10 The Colonial Ministry’s remit included the ‘Old Colonies’ (the fragments left over from the eighteenth century), sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, Indochina and the Pacific islands. Algeria – ‘France Overseas’ – remained under the Interior Ministry and, as ostensibly sovereign states under protection, Tunisia and later Morocco came under the Foreign Ministry.

  11 Eugène Étienne (1844 – 1921) represented the Oranais in the National Assembly from 1881 until his death. He was Under-secretary for the Colonies from 1887 to 1889, held a number of other portfolios – including the War Ministry in 1913 – in various governments, and from 1892 was the main parliamentary spokesman for the colonial group. The French Colonial Union, an association of c.400 firms with colonial interests, was formed in Aug 1893.

  12 Martin and Girardet, op cit

  13 Tombs and Tombs, pp.451 – 2

  14 JRUSI, Vol 28, No. 77, pp. 839 – 40

  15 Hocquard, p.243

  16 Marseille, op cit

  17 The remainder of this chapter owes most to McAleavy, Black Flags in Vietnam, Ch 1 – 3.

  18 The initial cession was of Bien Hoa, Gia Dinh and My Tho provinces; the annexation, of Chau Doc, Ha Tien and Vinh Long.

  19 French sources often use his Annamese name, Luu Vinh Phuoc.

  20 McAleavy, pp. 99 – 110

  21 ibid, pp.146, 165

  22 Meyer, in L’Age d’Or, pp.80 – 91; Serman and Bertaud, p.520

  23 McAleavy, pp.204 – 5

  24 Hocquard, p.514

  25 McAleavy, pp.215 – 22

  26 The 5th Bn, divided between Mécheria and Géryville on the high plains of the Oranais, and the 6th, at Tiaret guarding the southern Tell. (Morel, p.53; Livre d‘Or, p.94)

  27 Turnbull, p.86; Livre d‘Or, p.136; Serman and Bertaud, p.641. By Dec 1883 the Navy had in Vietnam 12 bns (four 3-bn marching rgts), and 7 btys of Naval Artillery. (Clayton, pp.212, 247, 313)

  4. The Year of the Five Kings

  1 Une Campagne au Tonkin, p.472, describing the march north to Lang Son by Gen Brière de l’Isle’s column.

  2 Hocquard, pp.48 – 50; Blond, p.115

  3 Boxed petrol lamps with reflectors and lenses were used for transmitting Morse code by day and night, and were visible through the accompanying tripod telescopes for tens of miles in clear weather. A telegraph link by the British China Submarine Cable Co line to France via Singapore had been established in Saigon in July 1871, but the line from Saigon to Hanoi was not completed until 1888. (Hocquard, p.279)

  4 Hocquard, pp.51 – 3, 104 – 8, 113

  5 ibid, p.46. The first 2 bns of Tirailleurs Annamites had been raised, mainly from Christians, by an order of Dec 1879.

  6 Rampart guns – Chinese-made giant shotguns, or more accurate imported rifled equivalents firing a single 2oz ball.

  7 Liu’s men were armed, like Chinese regulars, mainly with single-shot breech-loaders – Remingtons, Sniders and Mausers – with some American Peabodys, and even Winchester repeaters.

  8 Hocquard, pp.191 – 201; McAleavy, pp.224 – 7; Turnbull, pp.86 – 9; Blond, pp.117 – 18

  9 Serman and Bertaud, p.642; McAleavy, p.230; Hocquard, p.41; Morel, p.53; Turnbull, p.89

  10 Charles Édouard Hocquard (1853 – 1911) had published papers on ophthamology, which led him to an interest in photography. In 1883 he volunteered for the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, serving from Jan 1884 to Apr 1886. He published his account of the campaign first as articles in Le Tour du Monde (1889 – 91), and in 1892 in book form. The latter is illustrated with high-quality steel engravings of people, landscapes, urban and campaign scenes made from his own photographs; a number of these are the only known images of buildings destroyed shortly after his tour.

  11 McAleavy, pp.228 – 30

  12 As the only substantial brick buildings to be found outside the towns, pagodas were routinely used for shelter. Some of them were large complexes, but even a small village pagoda was large enough to house a platoon.

  13 French companies could not compete with the initiative, energy, local contacts, language skills and self-financing conglomerates of the Chinese. (Hocquard, p.243)

  14 At least two classes of coastal/river cannonières were employed, both with broad, shallow hulls; the earlier type drew just under 5ft and could not get into the upper rivers except in monsoon flood conditions, but a later design built by Claparède drew only 30 inches. Hocquard’s images show a number of different superstructure layouts, superficially resembling houseboats, and the larger craft could transport up to 500 troops (briefly, and in great discomfort). They carried from 2 to 4 mounted weapons, either light Hotchkiss single-barrel quick-firers or Gatling-type ‘revolvers’, often protected by armoured shields or tubs. The larger boats had 2 tall side-by-side smokestacks and twin stern paddlewheels, and a crew of up to 5 officers and 71 ratings; the smaller single-stack, screw-driven type were an ensign’s command, with a crew of 12.

  15 Hocquard, p.111. Commanded by Capt Aron, the unit had arrived in Tonkin in Feb 1884 with six rather hastily and badly made balloons.

  16 Hocquard, p.138; Lyautey, Intimate Letters, p.66

  17 Serman and Bertaud, p.547

  18 The traditional goals of the légionnaire (beyond, for the foreigner, French citizenship) were a sergeant’s gold cuff-stripe and the Médaille Militaire. Instituted in 1852, this was the only national gallantry decoration available to French rankers before the institution of the Croix de Guerre in 1915, and it was not easily won. (The Legion of Honour was open to rankers but not as an initial award, only to long-service NCOs already wearing the Médaille.) To be médaillé guaranteed a légionnaire the respect of his peers and his officers, and to some extent protected him from the consequences of later misbehaviour in barracks.

  19 Hocquard, pp.128 – 54; Livre d‘Or, p.136; Turnbull, pp.89 – 91; McAleavy, pp.230 – 31; Blond, pp.119 – 20

  20 Porch, Foreign Legion, p.209

  21 Hocquard, pp.218 – 24

  22 ibid, pp.541 – 3

  23 Cohen, JAH, Vol 24, pp.22 – 36; Hocquard, pp.289, 440. The only active step to improve the chance of recovery was to evacuate the victim far from the chance of reinfection; a légionnaire who lived long enough to be taken down to the coast had a fighting chance.

  24 McAleavy, pp.231 – 41

  25 ibid, p.253

  26 Readers familiar with the French Indochina War of 1946 – 54 will recognize in this description the classic pattern of low-level Viet Minh activity in nominally French-pacified areas.

  27 Hocquard, pp.185 – 9, 365, 51127 Impalement involved lowering the victim vertically on to the point of a sharpened stake, so that the spike entered between the legs and – impelled by the weight of the writhing body – drove up until it forced its way out through the upper torso. If the heart was destroyed, then merciful death limited the process to a few unimaginable minutes, but that did not always happen.

  28 Hocquard, pp. 329 – 30, 383; Charles Meyer, p.91, and Francoise Lafargue, p.133, in L’Age d’Or.

  29 In Sept 1884, c.2,900 reinforcements and replacements were at sea en route for Indochina. The order of battle in-country was as follows (officers + rankers): 1er Bde 1er Rgt de Marche (Tirailleurs Algériens, 75 + 2,450); 2e Rgt de M (Infanterie de Marine, 36 + 2,050); 2e Rgt Tirailleurs Tonkinois (39 + 3,500) 2e Bde 3e Rgt de M (Légion and 2e Bat d’Af, 47 + 2,400); 4e Rgt de M (bns of 23e, 111e and 143e de Ligne, 46 + 2,400); 1er Rgt Tirs Tonk (41 + 3,800) 1er Chasseurs d’Afrique Half-sqn Artillerie de terre 2 batteries 80mm Art de Marine 4 btys ‘4-pdrs’, 1 bty 65mm, 1 bty 95mm 4e Regt de Genie 1 coy 20e Esc du Train 1 coy Flotte 22 river gunboats & launches (60 + 1,080) (Source Histoire Militaire de l’Indochine, Tome II – hereafter referenced HMdI.) The first 2 rgts of Tirailleurs Tonkinois were raised in 1884.

  30 The Legion coys were those of Capts Beynet, Bolgert, Bérard and Yzombart. (HMdI, p.97)

  31 Hocquard, pp.373 – 81; HMdI, pp.98 – 100; McAleavy, p.260; Porch, Foreign Legion,
p.209

  32 HMdI, p.101; Blond, p.127

  33 Sources differ over the precise number of defenders. HMdI gives 13 officers + 597 men = 610. Blond lists them as: CO, Maj Dominé, 2e Bat d’Af. Légion detachment CO, Capt Cattelin (AdjMaj I/LE); 1er and 2e Cies – Capts Moulinay and Borelli, 2 lts, 2 s/lts, 390 other ranks. Tirs Tonk 8e Cie/1er RTT – Capt Dia, Lt Goulet, 2 French NCOs, 160 native ORs. Art de Marine Lt Derappe, 2 sgts, 29 ORs. Génie Sgt Bobillot, Cpl Cacheux, 6 ORs. Plus Dr Vincens and 3 orderlies, a civilian commissary and 3 bakers, a Protestant pastor and an interpreter, so total 612. To these must be added Ensign Sènés and 12 ratings on the gunboat, so grand total = 625.

  34 Traditional siege tactics involved the digging of a crosswise trench facing the walls at the limit of effective weapon range; from this ‘parallel’, saps – trenches pointing towards the walls – would zigzag forwards. Closer to the walls, another transverse parallel would then be dug to link the sap heads; the process was continued, perhaps to a third parallel, until large numbers of attacking troops could get close to the walls under cover to launch their assaults.

  35 The exact weapons mounted on the Mitrailleuse seem to be unrecorded, but that day they were very effective against packed infantry trying to get round the east corner and down to the south-east gate on the riverbank. Two of the commonest Hotchkiss guns were a hand-cranked 37mm Gatling-style five-barrel 1-pdr firing HE shells at 50 – 60 rounds per minute; and a 47mm fixed-barrel 3-pdr, loaded singly by a second crewman while the gunner aimed and fired by means of a shoulder-brace and a pistol-grip trigger. (J-J. Monsuez, ‘Artillerie de marine Hotchkiss’ in RHdA, 2003/3)

  36 The aim of counter-mining was to get as close as possible to the enemy tunnel – not to set off explosive charges to destroy it, but so that when the enemy charge was fired the blast would take the line of least resistance, being channelled forwards through the counter-mine rather than upwards to destroy the wall above.

  37 The exact dating of particular incidents differs in the sources, usually through confusion over whether a night-time event occurred before or after midnight. It is clear that two mines were blown on consecutive nights, under the north-west wall and west corner; but it is not clear whether those nights were the 11/12 and 12/13, or the 12/13 and 13/14 Feb.

  38 At this date about 45 per cent of the Legion were still Alsatians. The proportion would drop after 1889, when a law was passed allowing men from occupied Alsace – Lorraine to apply for naturalization ab initio, thus enabling them to enlist directly into Metropolitan regiments. (Porch, Foreign Legion, p.291)

  39 Boisset gives 59 casualties in all; Livre d‘Or, 14 killed and 40 wounded; HMdI, 16 killed and 22 wounded, including Lt Vincent. The definition of ‘wounded’ probably varies here; about half the higher total presumably returned to the ranks after being treated, the other half remaining unfit for duty in the hospital.

  40 HMdl, pp.102 – 3; Blond, pp.125 – 52; Livre d‘Or, pp.137 – 42; Turnbull, pp.91 – 7. Borelli would be inspired to write an ode in gratitude to Streibler’s sacrifice; this was more widely published than its literary merit justified.

  41 L. Huguet, En colonne: souvenirs d’extrême-Orient (Paris; Flammarion, n.d.); Théophile Boisset, Tuyen-Quan pendant la siège (Paris; Fischbacher, 1885); Porch, Foreign Legion, p.218

  42 In the Legion companies, 1 off + 31 ORs killed, 6 (i.e. all surviving) offs + 120 ORs wounded = 158 casualties, or 32 per cent of 23 Nov effectives (Bergot, in J. R. Young, p.20). For the garrison as a whole, Blond (p.152) gives 48 killed + 8 died of wounds = 56, + 208 wounded survived = total casualties 264, or 43 per cent. However, Serman and Bertaud (p.647) give as many as 297 total casualties.

  43 McAleavy, p.257 – 8; Porch, Foreign Legion, pp.205 – 7

  44 Morel, pp.53 – 4

  45 HMdI, p.104; Hocquard, p.452

  46 Hocquard, pp.447 – 51. Brière had asked for 400 mules; he got 100 (HMdi, p.104).

  47 The order of battle of the ‘teeth’ arms was as follows: GOC: Gen Brière de l’Ile; CoS Col Crétin, Art Cdr Col Borgnis-Desbordes Ire Bde (Col Giovanninelli): ler Rgt de Marche (Inf de Marine: LtCol Chaumont, bns Majs Mahias and Lambinet); 2e Rgt de M (Tirs Alg: LtCol Letellier, bns Majs de Mibielle and Comoy); I/2e Rgt Tirs Tonk (Maj Tonnot). Art (Maj Levrard: 3 btys – Capts Roperth and Pericaud, Art de Marine Capt Roussel) 2e Bde (Gen de Négrier): 3e Rgt de M (Lt-Col Herbinger, bns 23e, 111e and 143e de Ligne); 4e Rgt de M (Légion: LtCol Donnier, bns II/1er RE Maj Diguet, III/2e RE Maj Schoeffer; 2e Bat d’Af, Maj de Servières); I/1er Rgt Tirs Tonk (Maj Jorna de Lacale). Art (Maj de Douvres: 3 btys – Capts Jourdy and de Saxcé, Art de Marine Capt Martin) Bn strengths were between 500 and 800; total strength of column, 7,186 combatants, c4,500 porters.

  48 Hocquard, p.456

  49 HMdl, p.105; Hocquard, pp.458 – 60; Morel, p.137

  50 HMdl, p.106; Hocquard, pp.461, 469, 472, 475

  51 HMdl, p.107; Hocquard, pp.476 – 8

  52 In addition to 1er and 2e Rgts de Marche the relief column had 2 x 80mm mtn btys (Capts Jourdy and Pericaud), an engineer half-coy and a field ambulance; total starting strength was 86 offs + 2,348 men. (HMdI, p.107)

  53 ibid

  54 HMdI, pp.107 – 8; Livre d‘Or, p.142; Blond, pp.149 – 51. Both Livre d‘Or and Serman and Bertaud (p.647) give 76 killed + 408 wounded = total casualties 484. However, HMd1 gives 6 offs + 70 ORs killed, but 21 offs + 666 ORs wounded = total casualties 863. Again, this unexplained discrepancy may be between ‘seriously’ (evacuated) and ‘lightly’ wounded men.

  55 Hocquard, pp.479 – 84

  56 Hocquard, pp.488 – 90. The Chinese abandoned 3 Krupp 65mm guns + 2 Nordenfeldt MGs; French casualties were 9 killed + 45 wounded. (HMd1, p.109)

  57 Hocquard, pp.491 – 6; HMd1, p.109

  58 HMd1, pp.109 – 11. In order of march: part I/1er Rgt Tirs Tonk; 3 coys 143e de Ligne (Maj Farret); bn 111e de Ligne (Maj Faure); art bty (Capt Saxcé); and II/1er RE (Maj Diguet).

  59 HMdI, p.111; Hocquard, pp.499 – 500; Porch, Foreign Legion, p.231

  60 McAleavy, pp.271 – 2

  61 Porch, Foreign Legion, p.233

  62 ibid

  63 HMdI, p.112

  64 Porch, Foreign Legion, p.233

  65 See The Last Valley (London; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004) pp.109 – 11

  66 McAleavy, p.272

  67 HMdI, p.112

  68 ibid, p.113

  69 The court of enquiry duly found Herbinger responsible for the whole debacle, and he died in disgrace the following year.

  70 Meyer, in L’Age d’Or, pp.80 – 91; McAleavy, p.275 – 6

  71 McAleavy, p.277; HMdI, p.113

  72 Hocquard, pp.499 – 502

  73 ibid, p.500; Lyautey, Intimate Letters, p.84

  74 Meyer, in L’Age d’Or, p.91; Hocquard, pp.514 – 23, 602; McAleavy, p.283

  75 Meyer, in L’Age d’Or, p.85

  5. General Vengeance and King Zinc-Nose

  1 Martyn, p.36

  2 Serman and Bertaud, p.533; Ralston, p.87

  3 Ralston, p.84; Serman and Bertaud, pp.513, 561 – 2

  4 Dutailly, RHdA, 1981/1. The proportion of French officers also increased as a result of casualties in Tonkin; the gaps were filled in part by giving temporary commissions for overseas service to volunteer Reserve officers, and after their tours some of these sought to extend their careers with the colours. Since the Metropolitan officer corps had only a limited number of slots for each rank, the ministry postponed the problem by channelling some of these men into the Legion under the transparent fiction of foreign status – at least for a few years, until they could apply for ‘rectification’ and transfer to Line units (one of these was Captain Borelli, the good soldier – but bad poet – of Tuyen Quang). Of 87 ‘foreign’ officers admitted to the Legion between 1883 and 1895, 77 were actually Frenchmen.

  5 Vuillemin, pp.59 – 66. On his appointment in Jan 1886, Boulanger imposed a deadline of 1 May for completion of work to marry the new nitrocellulose propellant, an 8mm bull
et, and the imperfect existing Kropatschek tubular magazine system. This forced the compromise adoption of a tapered cartridge measuring fully 15mm across the base, which would cause problems for 40 years. The M1886 Lebel was issued from 1887, but required modifications in 1893.

  6 Marshal de Saint-Arnaud had been both a ferocious field commander in Algeria and a leader in Napoleon III’s military coup of 1851.

  7 Ralston, pp.169 – 71; Serman and Bertaud, pp.574 – 80. Boulanger fled France in April 1889, and finally committed suicide in Brussels, beside the grave of his mistress, on 30 Sept 1891.

  8 Ralston, pp.182 – 4, 188

  9 Martyn’s retrospective memoir, published only in 1911, was prompted by, and sharply critical of, that of the unattractively self-righteous German deserter ‘Erwin Rosen’, published the previous year to a scandalized reception at a time of relentless German anti-Legion propaganda. While critical of some ‘barbarous’ practices, Martyn pointed out that readers shocked by Rosen’s book must be very innocent about life in a contemporary British barracks. He even claimed that in some ways the tougher Legion regime was superior in turning out disciplined and self-reliant soldiers to what he called the ‘milk-and-water treatment’ of Tommy Atkins. George Manington had no previous military experience, but (like Martyn) he already spoke good French when he enlisted in 1st RE in Feb 1890.

  10 Martyn, p.39. Under a law of 29 Oct 1881 Frenchmen who had already completed their obligatory military service were permitted to enlist à titre étranger. This attracted men seeking the active service that the stultifying barracks life of provincial France had denied them, and particularly those who had either just failed entry to St Cyr, or who had reached NCO rank in Line units by their mid-twenties. With their superior skills such men could hope for quick promotion, ‘rectification’ of their national status, a commission via St Maixent, or at least the addition of their years in the Legion to those spent in the Line to count towards eventual pension rights. At that time foreigners had to serve 25 years to qualify for a pension, but Frenchmen only 15. (Carles, RHdA, 1981/1)