Strength, Organisation and Orders of Battle
Although the Tonkin expeditionary corps eventually reached a strength of 35,000 men, it was never able to put more than a fraction of its troops into the field against the Chinese armies. Most of its men were tied down in garrison duty and in sweeps against concentrations of Vietnamese resistance fighters ('bandits' or 'pirates', as the French called them). Courbet fielded 9,000 troops during the Son Tay Campaign, and Millot 12,000 troops in the Bac Ninh campaign. De Négrier commanded slightly fewer than 3,000 men during the Kep Campaign of October 1884, and Brière de l’Isle was only with difficulty able to put 7,200 men into the field in the February 1885 Lang Son Campaign. De Courcy, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, concentrated 6,000 infantry, seven artillery batteries and three squadrons of cavalry for the October 1885 Thanh May campaign.
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