Yen Bai Mutiny - Background and Planning

Background and Planning

See also: Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang and French Indochina

Vietnam had gradually become a French colony between 1859 and 1883. The first phase started in 1859, when French and Spanish forces began an invasion of southern Vietnam, leading to the ceding of three southern provinces to form the colony of Cochinchina under the Treaty of Saigon in 1864. In 1867, the French seized three further provinces and by 1883, the process was complete, when northern and central Vietnam were conquered and made into the French protectorates of Tonkin and Annam and incorporated into French Indochina. Initially, military resistance to French rule came through the Can Vuong movement led by Ton That Thuyet and Phan Dinh Phung, which sought to install the boy Emperor Ham Nghi at the head of an independent nation. However, with the death of Phung in 1895, military opposition effectively ended. The only other notable incidents after this came in 1917 with the Thai Nguyen rebellion. The lack of militant activity changed in the late 1920s with the formation of the VNQDD, or Vietnamese Nationalist Party. The party began to generate attention among French colonial authorities and were blamed for the assassination of Bazin on 9 February 1929, a French labour recruiter despised among the populace, leading to a heavy French crackdown. The French purges caused considerable detriment to the independence movement in general and the VNQDD in particular. Nearly 1000 VNQDD members were arrested, ensuing the demolition of many of the Party's facilities. The VNQDD decided to abandon its clandestine philosophy and engage in open attacks against the French, hoping to foment a general uprising among the people. Since the VNQDD was only strong in the northern areas of Vietnam, the attacks were to be staged in the Red River Delta, and the garrison at Yen Bai was identified as a key point. The French authorities used Vietnamese soldiers and VNQDD members were among the garrison at Yen Bai; they engaged in cajoling their colleagues with revolutionary rhetoric.

On January 28, 1930, a final planning meeting was held in the village of Vong La in Phu Tho province. The VNQDD leader Nguyen Thai Hoc declared that the situation was reaching desperation, and asserted that if the party did not act soon, they would be scattered by French police. Hoc built up enthusiasm for the revolt, and those who were reluctant to carry through were coerced into complying. The uprising was set for the night of February 9 and the small hours of the following day. Hoc was to command forces in the lower Red River Delta near the city of Haiphong, Nguyen Khac Nhu was assigned the upper delta around Yen Bai and Pho Duc Chinh was to lead an attack on the military post at Son Tay. Nguyen The Nghiep, who had split with the main body of the VNQDD, led a group who was now across the Chinese border in Yunnan province. He said that he had the support of local soldiers at the Lao Cay garrison and would launch attacks on French border posts, so exiled VNQDD members could re-enter Vietnam and join the uprising.

The uprisings were supposed to be simultaneous, but Hoc sent a last minute order to Nhu to postpone action until February 15. The messenger was arrested by the French and Nhu was unaware of the change in schedule. Yen Bai was a military post comprising more than 600 troops in four companies of infantry. These were commanded by twenty French officers and non-commissioned officers. VNQDD members had been espousing revolutionary sentiment in the area for several months and there was considerable tension in the town leading up to the planned mutiny. The nearby village of Son Duong in Phu Tho was a hotbed of preparations, as many of the bombs used by the VNQDD were manufactured there. More than 100 bombs were made at the home of Nguyen Bac Dang, who also led the recruitment of villagers in his area. It was there that Nhu prepared a command post to coordinate what would be the centrepiece of the attack, the assaults against Yen Bai and Phu Tho.

Some VNQDD members, villagers from Son Duong and other settlements in the district of Lam Thao, both male and female, had begun to arrive in Yen Bai with weapons in their baggage. They travelled to the garrison town by train on the pretence of going on a pilgrimage to a noted temple. They carried bombs, scimitars, and insignia, which they hid under religious material, such as incense and fruit and flowers that were to be offered at the altar. The group split into three and disembarked at three different stations in order to avoid raising the suspicion of the police. They were then led to hideouts by those Vietnamese soldiers in the colonial army who were in league with them.

On 9 February, the evening before the attacks, back in Son Duong, a large contingent of rebels made their final preparations before heading into battle. They met at three points; the homes of Bang and the local Confucian scholar, and in the fields. They then joined together for a final meeting before Nhu divided the combined forces in two groups. Nhu led one towards a barracks in Hung Hoa, while the other would attack the town facilities in the district capital of Lam Thao. Some members of the rebels wore khaki uniforms and they departed for their objective after midnight. Nhu was armed with the pistol, while the others were each given a scimitar and two bombs. The groups traversed rivers on boats and arrived outside their attack points, where they were to synchronised their assaults by sending a light signal.

The local French commander at Yen Bai had been warned of suspicious circumstances, and although he gave them no credence, he did implement minor precautions. At nightfall, the VNQDD conspirators in Yen Bai held a final meeting on a nearby hill. They wore red and gold silk headbands. The red stood for revolution and the gold represented the Vietnamese people. They donned red armbands with the words "Vietnamese Revolutionary Forces". Around forty attended and some wanted to back down, but the remainder threatened to have them shot.