Notable Attacks
From the middle of 1861, Dinh's Go Cong guerrillas focused on three objectives: to disrupt the newly created French bureaucracy, to disrupt their military outposts and to disrupt the transport of rice to Cholon, the main commercial hub of southern Vietnam. The first major attack against the French administration in the area targeted the Go Cong district office on June 22, 1861. At 05:00, 600 rebels under the command of Do Dinh Thoai stormed the military post in the town, engaging the French troops in hand-to-hand combat with lances, bayonets, knives and bamboo sticks. The French were surprised by the attack, losing one soldier and having 100 wounded. By the time reinforcements and naval cover had arrived from My Tho, Dinh's men had fled. Thoai—who had been the district chief until the French invasion—was among the 14 killed.
On September 27, the guerrillas assassinated the French-installed chief of Go Cong, displaying his decapitated head in the town market. The chief's servant, who was an informant for Dinh, aided this operation. The killing had the effect of intimidating the chief's designated successor into submitting to the rebels and ceasing his service for the French. In November 1861, Dinh's men went into the town of My Tho to recruit militants and collect food supplies. During this time, they attacked and burned pro-French villages and their leaders.
Dinh's Go Cong insurgents attempted to stop rice from being shipped to Cholon by attacking the French lorchas and apprehending the trading vessels on the local waterways. A French report in November 1861 noted that shipping had been severely disrupted and restricted, despite high levels of French naval protection. The most notable of the seaborne attacks was the burning of the lorcha L'Esperance on Nhat Tao canal on December 10, 1861. Around 150 guerrillas commanded by Truc ambushed the vessel, killing some of the crew before burning and sinking the boat. The attack buoyed Vietnamese morale and instilled the belief that they could fight against French naval forces. The sinking earned the specific praise of Emperor Tu Duc, who described the incident as "most outstanding".
Read more about this topic: Truong Dinh
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