Battle of Nui Bop - Significance

Significance

De Nègrier's victory at Nui Bop, won at odds of just under one to ten, was regarded by his fellow-officers as the most spectacular professional triumph of his career. By clearing the Guangxi Army away from Nui Bop, de Nègrier removed a threat to the French right flank and gave the French base at Chu the air it needed for the major campaign against Lang Son. With the Western Fort at Nui Bop in French hands, the expeditionary corps was able to use the Nui Bop plain to establish the large magazines of food and ammunition that would be needed for the Lang Son expedition.

French strategy in Tonkin had been the subject of a bitter debate in the Chamber of Deputies in late December 1884. The army minister General Jean-Baptiste-Marie Campenon argued that the French should consolidate their hold on the Delta. His opponents urged an all-out offensive to throw the Chinese out of northern Tonkin. The debate culminated in Campenon's resignation and his replacement as army minister by the hawkish General Jules Lewal. On 5 January 1885, the day after de Nègrier's victory at Nui Bop, Lewal ordered Brière de l’Isle to 'capture Lang Son as soon as possible'. A month later, after concentrating his forces in the plain of Chu, Briere de l'Isle launched the Lang Son Campaign, a successful ten-day campaign to capture Lang Son.