Order of Battle, Phu Hoai, Palan and Son Tay Campaigns
During Bouët and Courbet's tenures of command, the bulk of the expeditionary corps was drawn from the troupes de marine, as befitted a traditional colonial campaign, and the campaign was overseen by the navy ministry. During June and July 1883 the handful of marine infantry companies in Tonkin that had fought under Rivière's command at Nam Dinh and Paper Bridge were reinforced by an influx of marine infantry from France and New Caledonia. At the Battle of Phu Hoai (15 August 1883), Bouët fielded three marine infantry battalions (chefs de bataillon Chevallier, Lafont and Roux), three marine artillery batteries (Captains Isoir, Dupont and Roussel), five companies of Cochinchinese tirailleurs (riflemen) and around 450 Yellow Flag auxiliaries. The battle of Palan (1 September 1883), a smaller affair, was fought by two marine infantry battalions (chefs de bataillon Berger and Roux), Roussel's battery and the Yellow Flags. The Yellow Flag auxiliaries plundered a peaceful Vietnamese village shortly after the battle, and Bouët was forced to disband them. Many of the discharged Yellow Flags promptly joined Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army at Son Tay. Three months later they would be fighting against their former paymasters.
The commitment of marine infantry and marine artillery units reached a peak in the Son Tay Campaign (December 1883). Courbet's column included four marine infantry battalions (chefs de bataillon Roux, Chevallier, Dulieu and Reygasse) and six marine artillery batteries (Captains Isoir, Dupont, Roussel, Roperh, Péricaud and Dudraille). As often in French colonial warfare, the marsouins and bigors were supported by native auxiliaries and naval detachments. The Son Tay column included a Fusiliers Marins battalion (capitaine de frégate Laguerre), 800 Tonkinese tirailleurs (chef de bataillon Bertaux-Levillain), four companies of Cochinchinese tirailleurs and a 65-millimetre naval battery (lieutenant de vaisseau Amelot).
But the column also included two recently-arrived Turco battalions (chefs de bataillon Jouneau and Letellier) and the 1st Foreign Legion Battalion (Lieutenant-Colonel Donnier), and the presence of Legion and Turco units at Son Tay was a portent of things to come. The army ministry insisted that the Tonkin campaign should be run by a general from the regular army, and Courbet was relieved of the command of the expeditionary corps on 16 December 1883 (ironically, the very day on which he captured Son Tay). Thereafter, the army in Algeria would supply most of the formations sent to Tonkin, and the war on land against the Black Flags and China would be run by the army ministry.
Read more about this topic: Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, Strength, Organisation and Orders of Battle
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