Capture of Tourane and The Tien Sa Peninsula
The allied expedition arrived off the entrance to Tourane Bay at nightfall on 31 August. At dawn on 1 September the warships took up positions facing the five Vietnamese forts on the Tien Sa peninsula.
During the morning of 1 September Admiral Rigault de Genouilly summoned the Vietnamese to hand over the forts within two hours. The summons was taken ashore by a French staff officer and laid at the entrance to the Fort de l'Aiguade. No response was received within the stipulated period, and the French admiral ordered the allied flotilla to open fire, hoisting a French flag at the main mast of Némésis and a Spanish flag at the mizzen mast.
The warships of the allied flotilla soon dismounted the guns in the northern group of Vietnamese forts. The Vietnamese response was feeble, and none of the allied ships suffered any damage. Rigault de Genouilly then put ashore the landing companies of Némésis, Primauguet and Phlégéton, under the orders of capitaine de vaisseau Reynaud. The sailors captured their first objective, the Fort de l'Aiguade, with little trouble, charging into the Vietnamese positions with cries of 'Vive l'Empereur!' Rigault de Genouilly's summons was found on a table inside the fort, unopened. The attackers also overran a Vietnamese shore battery a little to the west of the fort. While this attack was being made, French soldiers went ashore in their turn.
The southern objectives, Eastern Fort and Western Fort, were also taken without difficulty. Two French gunboats and the Spanish despatch vessel El Cano anchored off the entrance to the Da Nang river and bombarded Western Fort and Eastern Fort. A shell burst inside Eastern Fort as the attackers approached and the survivors of the Vietnamese garrison abandoned their positions forthwith, as did the defenders of Western Fort.
Most of the Vietnamese made their escape from the Tien Sa peninsula, but the defenders of Observatory Fort were unable to evacuate their positions in time. The French stormed the fort, and its defenders were either killed where they stood or taken prisoner.
The allies followed up their victory by occupying Tourane and the Tien Sa peninsula.
Read more about this topic: Siege Of Tourane
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