Lạng Sơn

Lạng Sơn is a city of the north of the Việt Nam (old Tonkin), capital of the province of the same name. Its population is of approximately 600 000 inhabitants. One reaches it by road and railway, since Hanoï, the capital.

The colonial period

the " reprocess of Lạng Sơn" : At the time of the French colonial period, the old city is occupied by the general of Slave trader during the war with China in January 1885. Wounded, of Slave trader must give up the command of it. Under that of its successor, the lieutenant-colonel Herbinger, the brigade which remains in Lạng Sơn undergoes a disastrous retirement, famous “the retirement of Lạng Sơn”. This military failure will cause a strong reaction with the colonial policy of Jules Ferry (1832 - 1893). This last will gain the nickname of " there; Ferry-Tonkin" by its detractors and the incident of Lạng Sơn will involve the fall of its ministry in France the March 30th 1885.

The Second world war

the first Japanese offensive: 22 September 25th, 1940 : Because of its particularly strategic position of " bolt of Chine" , Lạng Sơn will be the theater of bloody confrontations at the time of two great Japanese offensives during the Second world war. Benefitting from the weakness of France after the defeat vis-a-vis in Germany, the government of Fumimaro Konoe, with the approval of the Emperor Showa, decides to occupy the Indo-China militarily. In order to be able to attack by surprise, the imperial General headquarter plays the game of the diplomacy: the September 22nd 1940, the representative of Japan with Saigon, Nishihara, sign of the agreements with the general governor of Indo-China, the admiral of squadron Jean Decoux. But the evening-even, in obvious violation of the treaty, the 5th Japanese division of Kwang If, that is to say 30.000 men ordered by the general Nakamura, stationed in China, tackles a border zone of 70 kilometers, with Lạng Sơn in its nerve center (the objective is to invest the city by a double operation by taking it in a vice by the west and the east). The Louvet lieutenant-colonel becomes it first victim, cut down whereas it was with the head of a motorized detachment of Lạng Sơn. During this first offensive, the Japanese troops massacre the officers and the French soldiers of the garrison, as well as many civilians. The hostilities last three days, until the September 25th, resulting in the death of approximately 800 French soldiers. Once the achieved objectives, Hirohito orders finally their suspension.

the second Japanese offensive: the takeover by force of the March 9th 1945 : The second Japanese attack on Lạng Sơn takes place at the time of the takeover by force of March 9th, 1945. Tracked on all shares by the Allied in the whole of the Pacific, Japan decides to invest all the Indochinese peninsula and, with this intention, to destroy the French forces. The Japanese staff invites the civil authorities and military of Lạng Sơn to a dinner with 18:00. At the end of the meal, the guests are made prisoners. Two of them are cut down: the Amiguet lieutenant-colonel and the major Leroy. Meanwhile, ten thousand Japanese soldiers go up to the attack of the citadel. Resistance continues all the night. Because they refuse to go, the general Emile Lemonnier and the Auphelle resident are decapitated. Colonel Robert undergoes the same fate later two days. At the conclusion of the engagements, the civilians and the survivors of two sections of the 19th RMIC will wildly be massacred (fencing with the bayonet on the alive ones).

With the citadel of Lang Its, resistance “until the last cartridge” lasted a score of hours and cost, on the French side, 120 killed and 140 seriously injureds hospitalized and of many others wounded. On March 11th, 12th and 13rd, 460 survivors and wounded - who can hold upright - are brought at the edge of a trench or the river Ky Cong and were decapitated with the saber or the axe, grapeshots, were spit with the bayonet and were completed with blows of pickaxe. On the whole, between the 9 and on March 13rd, 1945, 1.128 French and Indochinese soldiers died in the business of Lang Son. Many testimonys exist of which that of a rifleman tonkinois presented on television French of the Fifties in the emission " vivants" deaths;.

The War of Indo-China

After the end of the Second world war, Lạng Sơn was a place of garrison until its catch in 1950 during the offensive of Võ Nguyên Giáp, considered as the most important point of the Guerre of Indo-China.

After independence

In 1979, Lạng Sơn was the theater of important combat during the Guerre sino-Vietnamese.

Reference books

Association " Citadels and Maquis of Indo-China 1939-1945" , Indo-China in the Second World war: 1939-1945 , Publi-Offset, Mercuès, 1996.
National association of the Former Prisoner-Internees of Indo-China (A.N.A.P.I.), Indo-China March 9th, 1945: The takeover by Japanese force , C.D.G. Creations, Paris, 1993.
Kernevez, Andre (F.N.E.O. 1939-1945), Short speeches pronounced at the time of the three annual commemorative ceremonies March, summer, September 2nd of Old of Navy Indo-China 1939-1945 since September 2nd, 1991 .
Rome, Rear-admiral Paul (F.N.E.O. 1939-1945), forgotten end of the world: Newspaper of a sailor of Indo-China of 1939 to 1946 , Danclau Editions, Dinard, 1998.

One will be able to also consult the documents and testimonys of the Association of Old of Lạng Sơn and of Tonkin.

History of the French navy in Indo-China of 1939 to 1945

External bond

VII official site

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