28 March 1885, despatched in the wake of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Gustave Herbinger's Retreat from Lạng Sơn, which toppled the government of Jules Ferry in the Tonkin Affair and brought the Sino-French War to a speedy end in circumstances of considerable embarrassment for France. The Thanh May district remained in the hands of Vietnamese bandit concentrations until October 1885, when General Roussel de Courcy, who succeeded Brière de l'Isle in command of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps in May 1885, mounted a large-scale attack on their positions with 5,000 French troops, driving the bandits back up the Red River to Thanh Quan. Notes References Bonifacy, Lieutenant-Colonel, A propos d'une collection de peintures chinoises représentant divers épisodes de la guerre franco-chinoise (Hanoi, 1931) Huard, L., La guerre du Tonkin (Paris, 1887) Lecomte, J., Lang-Son: combats, retraite et négociations (Paris, 1895) Lung Chang [龍章], Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng [越南與中法戰爭, Vietnam and the Sino-French War] (Taipei, 1993) Nimier, H., Histoire chirurgicale de la guerre au Tonkin et à Formose (Paris, 1889) Sainmont, P., Algérie, Tonkin, Cambodge: souvenirs et impressions d'un soldat du 2e Zouaves (Tours, 1896) Thomazi, A., Histoire militaire de l’Indochine française (Hanoi, 1931) Phu Lam Tao Phu Lam Tao Phu Lam Tao 1885 in France 1885 in China 1885 in Vietnam Military history of Yunnan History of Tuyên Quang Province History of Phú Thọ Province March 1885 events