Oscar De Négrier
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François Oscar de Négrier (; 2 October 1839 – 22 August 1913), known as Oscar de Négrier, was a French general of the Third Republic, winning fame in
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
in the Sud-Oranais campaign (1881) and in
Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...
during the
Sino-French War The Sino-French or Franco-Chinese War, also known as the Tonkin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885 between the French Third Republic and Qing China for influence in Vietnam. There was no declaration of war. The C ...
(August 1884 – April 1885).


Early career

Born in
Belfort Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort. Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...
, France on 2 October 1839, De Négrier served with Marshal
François Achille Bazaine François Achille Bazaine (13 February 181123 September 1888) was an officer of the French army. Rising from the ranks, during four decades of distinguished service (including 35 years on campaign) under Louis-Philippe I, Louis-Philippe and then ...
's
Army of the Rhine An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
during the
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
, and was among the thousands of French officers who laid down their arms when Bazaine surrendered his army at
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
. He subsequently escaped from Prussian captivity and joined the armies of national defence for the rest of the war.


Sino-French War

De Négrier arrived in Tonkin in February 1884, and was given command of the 2nd Brigade of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps. During the period of undeclared hostilities that preceded the Sino-French War he took part in the Bắc Ninh Campaign (March 1884) and the subsequent campaign to capture Hưng Hóa (April 1884). In June 1884 he was sent by General Charles-Théodore Millot, the general-in-chief of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, to the aid of Colonel Alphonse Dugenne with a relief column when the news of the Bắc Lệ ambush reached
Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
. During the Sino-French War he commanded the three French columns involved in the Kep Campaign (October 1884). The largest of these columns, under his personal command, defeated the right wing of the Cinese Guangxi Army at the Battle of Kep (8 October). De Négrier was wounded in the leg in this battle, and fell from his horse. His troops, believing that he had been killed, gave no quarter to the Chinese defenders when they stormed the village of Kep. In January 1885 de Négrier won the Battle of Núi Bop, often considered his professional masterpiece. In February 1885 he commanded the 2nd Brigade in the Lạng Sơn Campaign, in which the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps drove the Chinese from their entrenched camps at Dong Song and Bac Vie and captured Lạng Sơn. Immediately after the French capture of Lạng Sơn, General Louis Brière de l'Isle returned to Hanoi with Lieutenant-Colonel Giovanninelli's 1st Brigade to relieve the Siege of Tuyên Quang, leaving de Négrier at Lang Son with the 2nd Brigade. On 23 February 1885 de Négrier advanced from Lang Son and defeated the demoralised Guangxi Army at
Đồng Đăng Đồng Đăng ə̤wŋ˨˩:ɗaŋ˧˧is a Xã, commune of Lạng Sơn province in the Northeastern Vietnam, Northern Midlands and Mountains region of Vietnam. History Middle Ages The area of Đồng Đăng (同登) was inherently deserted. It ...
, close to the Chinese border, driving the Chinese out of Tonkin altogether. De Négrier briefly crossed into Guangxi province and blew up the Gate of China, an elaborate ceremonial gate erected by the Chinese at Zhennan Pass to mark the border between China and Annam. The Chinese reinforced the Guangxi Army in March 1885, and on 22 March a detachment of Chinese troops from the command of Feng Zicai crossed into Tonkin and raided the French forward positions at Đồng Đăng. To discourage further incursions by the Chinese, de Négrier decided to pursue the raiders across the frontier with the bulk of the 2nd Brigade and attack the Chinese in their entrenched camp at Bang Bo near Zhennan Pass, hoping that the element of surprise would make up for his lack of numbers. On 23 March the French took the
outwork An outwork is a minor fortification built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached. Outworks such as ravelins, lunettes (demilunes), flèches and caponier A caponier is a type of defensive structur ...
s of the Chinese camp at Bang Bo, but on 24 March 1885 further attacks on the Chinese miscarried, and de Négrier was forced to make a fighting retreat. The Battle of Bang Bo was the only defeat he suffered in his entire military career. The Guangxi Army cautiously pursued the French, and four days later launched a disastrous frontal attack on the defences of Lạng Sơn. The battle of Ky Lua, on 28 March 1885, was a walkover victory for the French, but de Négrier was shot in the chest and seriously wounded while scouting the Chinese positions in preparation for a French counterattack, and was forced to hand over command to Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Gustave Herbinger, one of his two regimental commanders. Herbinger, a theoretical soldier with little experience of command in the field, lost his head. More than a thousand Chinese corpses lay in front of the 2nd Brigade's positions, and the Chinese could be seen falling back in disorder towards the frontier, leaving only a small rearguard at Ky Lua to protect their retreat. Herbinger was unimpressed. Ignoring all the evidence that the Guangxi Army had been decisively defeated, and convinced that the 2nd Brigade would be encircled if it remained where it was, he took the controversial decision to abandon Lạng Sơn and fall back to stronger defensive positions at Kep and Chu. This misjudgement transformed de Négrier's tactical victory at Ky Lua into a strategic defeat.


Later career

De Négrier quickly recovered from his Ky Lua wound, and in May 1885, shortly after the end of the Sino-French War, was appointed to the command of the 2nd Division of the expanded Tonkin Expeditionary Corps. General Brière de l'Isle had been offered command of the 1st Division, and made it a condition of his acceptance that de Négrier got the 2nd Division. De Négrier was not at his best serving under General Roussel de Courcy. Instead of fighting set-piece battles against Chinese regular troops in which his tactical abilities had every opportunity to shine, he was required to conduct punitive sweeps against elusive Vietnamese guerilla concentrations. In December 1885 he swept the Bai Sai region near Hanoi with a column of 3,000 men. The sweep netted few guerillas, and French casualties from
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in de Négrier's column were heavy. The exasperated French bayoneted any prisoners they took and de Négrier, a traditional soldier who found it difficult to adapt to the tactics of guerilla warfare, did nothing to stop them. The net result of this brutal campaign was probably to win more recruits and increase sympathy for the insurgents. De Négrier was attached to the
Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
as an official French
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during the
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
, and published an account of the war, ''Lessons from the Russo-Japanese War'' (London, 1905), immediately after its close.


De Négrier's leadership

De Négrier was by far the most popular French commander in Tonkin during the Sino-French War. After the Bắc Ninh Campaign the soldiers of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps devised sardonic Vietnamese nicknames for General Charles-Théodore Millot and his two brigade commanders. De Négrier, admired for his driving energy, became ''Maolen'' (mau lên, 'Quick!'). Louis Brière de l'Isle, whose troops had been beaten to the punch at Bac Ninh by de Négrier's, was ''Mann Mann'' (màn màn, 'Slow!'). Millot, who had halted de Négrier's pursuit of the beaten Chinese army at Kep and, in the eyes of the soldiers, prevented him from going all the way to Lang Son, became ''Toi Toi'' (thôi thôi, 'Stop!'). De Négrier had a way with words that endeared him to most French soldiers. His most famous ''mot'' was made in December 1883 in Algeria, during a review of the 2nd Battalion of the
French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...
on the eve of its departure for Tonkin to take part in the Bắc Ninh Campaign: ''Vous, légionnaires, vous êtes soldats pour mourir, et je vous envoie où l’on meurt!'' ('Legionnaires, you became soldiers in order to die, and I'm taking you to a place where you ''can'' die!') De Négrier possessed to a high degree the quality known to the French as ''coup d'oeil'', the ability to make an instant assessment of the battlefield and make the appropriate response. Sergeant Maury of the 2nd Legion Battalion witnessed de Négrier in action at the Battle of Pho Vy (10 February 1885), one of the many confused engagements against the Chinese during the Lạng Sơn Campaign:
Suddenly we stopped being spectators, and took a part in the action ourselves. General de Négrier rode over to give some orders to de Saxcé's battery, which we were still guarding, and called out to our captain, 'Cotter, have you got your whole company up?' 'Sir.' He turned to the battery captain. 'Your battery’s not in any danger, is it, de Saxcé?' 'Sir.' 'Right! Cotter, take your company and capture that hill. Those damned Chinese don't seem to want to be pushed off it.' Then he turned to us. 'Let's go, lads! Chins up, forward march! Show them you don't use your knives just to eat your rations!'
De Négrier had a hasty temper, but it was redeemed by a ready sense of humour, and his troops relished his occasional volcanic eruptions. Second Lieutenant René Normand of the 111th Line Battalion (killed in action a month later in the Battle of Bang Bo) recalled a typical incident during the Lạng Sơn Campaign in February 1885:
General de Négrier began to concentrate his brigade. The column was moving forward slowly, in single file, and as he watched it he remarked to us, 'The thing about warfare is that you have to learn to be patient.' No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a cannon bogged down. He spurred towards the wretched gun section. 'Oh, for God's sake! Keep the damned thing moving!' Then he burst out laughing, and that set us all off.Normand, 108


Notes


References

* Armengaud, Jean Louis, ''Lang-Son: journal des opérations qui ont précédé et suivi la prise de cette citadelle'' (R. Chapelot, Paris, 1901) * Bonifacy, ''A propos d’une collection de peintures chinoises représentant divers épisodes de la guerre franco-chinoise de 1884–1885'' (Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, Hanoi, 1931, 41 pp.) * de Lonlay, Dick, ''Au Tonkin, 1883–1885, récits anecdotiques'' (Garnier frères, Paris, 1886, 599 pp.) * Dreyfus, Gaston, ''Lettres du Tonkin, 1884-6'' (Paris, 1888; reprint: L'Harmattan, Collection "Mémoires asiatiques", Paris, 2001, iii + 207 pp.) * Duboc, Emile, ''Trente cinq mois de campagne en Chine, au Tonkin – Courbet – Rivière (1882–1885)'' Preface by Pierre Loti (Charavay, Mantoux, Martin, Librairie d’éducation de la jeunesse, Paris, 1899, 324 pp.) * Garnot, Eugène-Germain, ''L'expédition française de Formose, 1884–1885'' (C. Delagrave, Paris, 1894, 239 pp.) * Grisot, Paul-Adolphe, et Coulombon, Ernest-Auguste-Ferdinand, ''La légion étrangère de 1831 à 1887'' (Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1888, 589 pp.) * Harmant, Jacques
''La vérité sur la retraite de Lang-Son. Mémoires d'un combattant''
(A. Savine, Paris, 1892, ix + 339 pp.) * Hocquard, Charles-Edouard
''Une campagne au Tonkin''
(Hachette, Paris, 1892, 539 pp.) * Huard, Lucian, ''La guerre du Tonkin'' (Paris, 1887, 1212 pp.) * Lecomte, Jean-François-Alphonse, ''Le guet-apens de Bac-Lé'' (Berger- Levrault & Cie, Paris, 1890, 212 pp.) * Lecomte, Jean-François-Alphonse, ''Lang-Son: combats, retraite et négociations'' (Charles-Lavauzelle, Paris, Limoges, 1895, 555 pp. Re-edition 2008: Vol.1, 236 pp.; Vol.2, 344 pp.) * Lung Chang ''Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng'' 南與中法戰爭, Vietnam and the Sino-French War(臺灣商務印書館, Taipei, 1993) * Maury, A.-P., ''Mes campagnes au Tong-King'' (Vitte et Perrussel, Lyons, 1888, 323 pp.) * Normand, René-Alexandre-Louis-Victor, ''Lettres du Tonkin de novembre 1884 à mars 1885'' (Paul Ollendorff, Paris, 1886, 267 pp.) * Thomazi, Auguste, ''Histoire militaire de l'Indochine français'' (Hanoi, 1931) * Thomazi, Auguste, ''La conquête de l'Indochine'' (Payot, Paris, 1934, 291 pp.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Negrier, Francois De 1839 births 1913 deaths French generals French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French military personnel of the Sino-French War People of the Tonkin campaign People of the Russo-Japanese War Military personnel from Belfort Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order People of French Algeria