After the Nanyang Army annihilated the French indigenous colonial army, it began to send Annan and Chinese intelligence agents to sneak into the strongholds occupied by the French to investigate the French army's defense intelligence.
On March 24, using the intelligence obtained from more than 300 intelligence agents, the Nanyang Army drew a French defense map that included roads, obstacles, fortifications, etc.
"The city wall of Hanoi is divided into two layers, the inner and outer layers. The inner city is a square city-state surrounded by 5-meter-high brick walls and 300 meters in length and width. The city walls are filled with intersecting tiles.
Bamboo piles, these bamboo piles protrude outward about 2 meters wide, which can block the enemy from climbing the city. The upper part of the city wall is about 10 meters wide, and four forts and defenders' bunkers are erected on it.
There is a brick bridge in the middle of each of the four sides of the city, spanning the moat and leading to the center of the semicircular archery tower. There is a bamboo gate at the entrance of the bridge and a large wooden gate.
The gate passes through the semicircular archery tower and the city wall. The east gate of the city wall has been sealed with bricks. There is a moat about 20 meters wide and 3 meters deep around the city wall (1 meter of which is filled with muddy water). There is another moat between the moat and the city wall.
The 8-meter-wide dirt road has an extremely steep slope and is made of bricks and stones.
Inside the city, there is a tower with a height of 18 meters.
Standing among them, you can overlook the distant scenery from the top of the tower. It is the commanding height of Hanoi City."
Everything was ready, the units of the Nanyang Army were assembled, and Liang Xing, the head of the Intelligence Department of the Nanyang Army, introduced the defense situation of Hanoi City to everyone.
Liang Xing held the pointer in his hand and pointed at the spread out terrain map and continued, "
Surrounding the city is the city wing, which is composed of four rows of brick houses or wood and mud houses. These houses are located on both sides of the road leading to the four gates of the outer city.
The four gates of the outer city are all made of large bricks and stones. The east and west gates have been sealed with earth, while the north and south gates can be opened. There is a defensive fortification between the city gates, which is a wall of earth 4 to 5 meters high.
It consists of a wall, with holes or battlements dug into the wall, and covered with wooden blocks or rows of firewood so that the defenders on the city can take cover when firing cannons.
There is a trench 5 meters wide around the female wall, with notes in the trench.
It is filled with water from a nearby small river. There is a deer village made of untrimmed dry bamboo on the trench. There is also a 3~4 meter wide slope path between the trench and the parapet.
It is densely covered with a layer of green bamboos up to 8 to 10 meters high, completely covering the entire city so that outsiders cannot see it. This layer of bamboo fence constitutes an insurmountable obstacle under the intensive firepower.
…………
Hanoi City is a military stronghold built by the Annan people in the Beiban area. Since the French captured Hanoi City easily, in addition to using the existing fortifications left by the Annan people for defense, they also sealed off the west gate, north gate, and east gate.
There were only exits in each direction, leaving only the south gate exit more than 400 meters away from the river in the south of the city, and a small ironclad ship and four gunboats were deployed to assist in the defense.
The south direction of the city is a key defense area for the French army in Hanoi. In addition to deploying warships in the river to snipe our attacks, the French also constructed forts near the river embankments to threaten the channels for our naval gunboat formations to attack from the water."
"How many troops have the French deployed along the river in the south of the city?"
"According to the news from our intelligence personnel in the city, the garrison commander in the south of the city is Major Wei of the French Army. Under him are more than 240 Marines and more than 500 black soldiers dispatched by Li Weiye. If we include the French
The young men from Annan who were forcibly recruited to build fortifications along the river, the French can use up to 1,300 soldiers to defend the south of the city."
"What is the French defense strength in other directions?"
Tang Jingsong asked.
"Through the analysis of the results of multiple fire reconnaissances, we can roughly infer the situation of the Hanoi defenders. From the front direction from Hanoi to Bac Ninh, the French army has tight defense and strong troops, but the side defense is relatively weak.
Therefore, I suggest attacking Hanoi City from the front and gathering the main forces to attack the defenses from Hanoi to Bac Ninh. Although this attack method may bring a certain degree of casualties to our army, it has the most obvious effect and can be used in the shortest time.
Destroy the main French army in the Beishan area."
"Minister Liang's suggestion is good. If you don't have any other ideas, feel free to put them forward."
Mei Dongxing stood up and asked.
"My lords, I have an immature idea and I don't know whether to talk about it or not?"
"Brother Tang's position as a staff officer has been recognized by the local people. Naturally, he should make more suggestions for the combat operations of the Nanyang Army. Feel free to say anything you want, but there are shortcomings. We will discuss it and add more."
"Then Tang will tell you directly."
Tang Jingsong cupped his hands in front of everyone and said, "When I took a boat and entered Annan from the Red River, I found that the water flow at the confluence of Tiande River and Liutou River was very fast and the water volume was huge. The confluence of the two rivers was less than twenty miles away from Hanoi City.
, if we intercept and store water at the confluence of the two rivers in advance, and then break the embankments and release the water during the war, the turbulence will hit the French warships deployed in the river and the fortifications along the river. Later, our army will send gunboats to take advantage of the rising water volume.
, go down the river, attack the French warships and forts, and cover the main force to launch an attack from the south gate direction, which will have a greater chance of success."
"The flow of Tiande River is gentle. After it merges into part of Liutou River, although it cannot flood the city, it is not difficult to temporarily disrupt the French defense line along the river."
Mei Dongxing found the intersection of the two rivers marked on the topographic map. After looking at it for a while, he quickly made a decision to adopt the attack plan proposed by Tang Jingsong. Then, based on the plan proposed by Tang Jingsong, he made some improvements and formulated the final attack.
deploy
Li Wencai led 2,500 regular troops of the Nanyang Army, starting from Shangqingfang, crossing the left bank of Liutou River, and marching along the
Advance the Tiande River and cross the river to Shicuntang to meet up with the second offensive force led by Chen Xinggui.
Chen Xinggui led more than 1,000 soldiers to bypass the blocked west gate of Hanoi, land along the waterway at the confluence of Liutou River and Tiande River, seize the high ground of Zhenqiao and Tushan, and attack the French defense on Tiande River from the side.
The fortifications were built so that Li Wencai’s troops could pass there.
Once the two forces joined together on the left bank of the Tiande River, the two combined forces continued to advance and attacked the French second line of defense, mainly using warship artillery to bombard the dam extending from Zhongshan to Labe and from Bac Ninh.
Go to the dam where the bridge is built. After defeating the defenders, take advantage of the situation to attack the south gate and capture Hanoi City.
At 10 a.m. on March 27, the water in the Liude River surged. Four gunboats with a displacement of 500 tons and three gunboats with a displacement of more than 300 tons followed the swollen river water and attacked the French army.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, the gunboat formation of the Nanyang Army destroyed four small riverside fortresses and successfully broke through to six miles away from the south gate of Hanoi City.
At 12 noon, the French warships on the river were defeated by the gunboat raid of the Nanyang Army. One small ironclad ship was damaged and captured, two gunboats were sunk, one gunboat took advantage of the chaos to escape, and two gunboats were captured.
The French fleet was completely wiped out and all the coastal fortifications were destroyed. Then, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Li Wencai's troops and Chen Xingui's troops defeated the stubborn French defenders, successfully broke through the defenses of the South Gate defenders, and entered Hanoi City.
At 5:07 in the evening, most of Hanoi City was occupied. Seeing that the reinforcements were cut off and there was no hope of breaking out, the French garrison commander Li Weiye ordered the entire French army to surrender under the promise of the representatives of the Nanyang Army to persuade them not to mistreat the prisoners and to ensure the personal safety of the captured French soldiers.
With the subordinate black indigenous people, Annan's army stopped resisting.
As a result, the Nanyang Army achieved a great victory with a low price of more than 300 casualties, killing 189 French soldiers, wounding 110 people, and captured more than 400 white soldiers. (Black indigenous people and Annan servants are generally not included in military merit records.)
