Battle of Bang Bo (Zhennan Pass)
| Battle of Bang Bo (Zhennan Pass) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Tonkin Campaign, Sino-French War | |||||||
Chinese fortifications at Zhennan Pass | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| France |
China Black Flag Army | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
François Oscar de Négrier (WIA) Paul-Gustave Herbinger Lieutenant Colonel Godart Lieutenant Colonel Donnier Lieutenant Colonel Schoeffer Captain Roperh Captain de Saxcé Captain Martin Captain Patrick Cotter † Captain Brunet † |
Pan Dingxin Feng Zicai Wang Debang Wang Xiaochi（王孝祺） Su Yuanchun Chen Jia (陈嘉) Jiang Zonghan（蔣宗汉） Fang Yousheng (方友升) Wei Gang（魏刚） | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,137 men |
30,000 men a couple thousand men (Lung Chang estimate) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
74 killed 213 wounded | Unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Bang Bo, known in China as the Battle of Zhennan Pass (Chinese: 鎮南關之役), was a major Chinese victory during the Sino-French War (August 1884 – April 1885). The battle, fought on 23 and 24 March 1885 on the Tonkin-Guangxi border, saw the defeat of 1,500 soldiers of General François de Négrier's 2nd Brigade of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps by a Chinese army under the command of the Guangxi military commissioner Pan Dingxin (潘鼎新).
The battle set the scene for the French retreat from Lạng Sơn on 28 March and the conclusion of the Sino-French War in early April in circumstances of considerable embarrassment for France.