Phủ Lý is the capital city of
Hà Nam Province
Hà is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as He in Chinese and Ha in Korean.
Ha is the anglicized variation of the surname Hà. It is also the anglicized variation of Hạ.
Notable people with the surname Hà
* Hà Kiều Anh, ...
of
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
60 km south of
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...
on the
river Đáy.
History
Phủ Lý was taken by the French
canonnière ''l'Espingole'' and 28 men captained by Adrien-Paul Balny d'Avricourt on October 26 1873, shortly before Balny's death together with
Francis Garnier
Marie Joseph François Garnier ( vi, Ngạc Nhi; 25 July 1839 – 21 December 1873) was a French officer, inspector of Indigenous Affairs of Cochinchina and explorer. He eventually became mission leader of the Mekong Exploration Commission in 19th ...
at Hanoi's West Gate.
In the aftermath of World War II, Phủ Lý was where a significant number of
VNQDĐ leaders were captured by the Việt Minh in 1946. The city was attacked by retreating French forces on June 30 1954, shortly before the country was liberated.
It was almost completely destroyed by the Americans in five days of bombing between July 14 and November 5, 1966.
Michael Maclear writes of the area afterwards as 'a wasteland without life':
:"The inhabitants would have had no warning of the rain of bombs. Squadrons of B-52s flying six miles high, unseen and unheard, would systematically obliterate sections of their target, day after day. Unlike Hanoi, which was ringed with Soviet SAM missiles, here in the rural areas there was no adequate defense."
[Michael Maclear, ''Guerrilla Nation: My Wars In and Out of Vietnam'' (Dundurn, 2013) pages 59-60.]
Gallery
file:Ga Phủ Lý, Hà Nam.JPG, Phủ Lý railway station, Hà Nam
file:Quốc lộ 21B, đoạn Phủ Lý đi Nam Định.JPG, 21B National Highway, the road from Phủ Lý to Nam Định
file:Trung tâm TP.Phủ Lý, Hà Nam.JPG, Phủ Lý City Center, Hà Nam
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phu Ly
Cities in Vietnam
Districts of Hà Nam province
Provincial capitals in Vietnam
Populated places in Hà Nam province