Bobillot, sergent de genie mort au Tonkin
From dduffy@email.unc.edu Sun Oct 31 03:38:54 2004
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 06:35:35 -0500
From: Dan Duffy <dduffy@email.unc.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Bobillot, sergent de genie mort au Tonkin
I am interested in the name of a street in Paris, rue Bobillot, whose signs bear a legend to this effect:
rue Bobillot
sergent de genie mort au Tonkin.
Who was Bobillot and why does he have a street? I have pieced together for myself some answers which may be old news and common knowledge to others. I would like to lay out what I know and see if others can set me straight.
People who know French military traditions know something about Bobillot. I hope that those who know about the French empire, including domestic politics and popular culture as well as military history of the conquest of Indochine, may know something as well.
Rue Bobillot runs from place de Rungis to place d'Italie, between the 14e and 13e arrondissements in Paris. One hundred years ago this was an area of humble quarters and light industry, and now is a way to get from one place to another.
But it is a street of moderate size and importance, more than you would expect a sergeant to get. Moreover, I have found that there is a Bobillot street in several towns around Paris, and in several cities around France. I have found references to a street and a quartier Bobillot in colonial Ha Noi.
The street in Paris was opened in 1893, eight years after Sergent Bobillot died in 1885 in the hospital at Ha Noi one month after being shot in the throat at the siege of Tuyen Quang. He was 25.
Bobillot was a "sergent", in the sense of a "sous-officier", commanding an engineer's unit and reporting to a captain. He was part of the "conseil de defence" of the siege. He may have been educated at one of the schools in Paris which trained sous-officiers.
Certainly, people considered him a Parisian. His ashes rest in Grenoble, but a commitee in Paris erected a statue to him in 1888. It is a bust on an eye-level pedestal, which stands now at the square Henri Rousselle, on Bobillot.
Rousselle was a poor boy who became a colonel of the Empire, and the square is at the Butte aux Caillies, one of the pre-Haussmann warrens of the poor. Bobillot seems to have been a man of the people who made a name for himself.
The siege he died at commanded a lot of attention. Bobillot's commandant at the siege, Colonel Domine', who survived to 1921, got a one-block street by the Seine named after him in 1929.
Domine' and Bobillot and others at the siege of Tuyen Quang live on in the legends of the Foreign Legion. Bobillot wasn't in the Legon, but worked in support. They keep his name alive, as they do not any of the Tonkiniese tiralleurs serving at Tuyen Quang.
One of the captains at the siege, Anjou, was the man whose wooden hand the Legion still carries around. Another captain, Borelli, wrote on the field of battle the great hopeless poem of the outfit, "A mes Legionnaires qui sont morts", about Streibler, a private there.
That the siege of Tuyen Quang is a site of memory for the Foreign Legion suggests that it may have been a battle of small military or geopolitical significance. The Legion admires courage and enterprise in futility.
The larger significance of Tuyen Quang seems only to be that it was something that happened on the way to the treaty with the Chinese that established the French protectorates over Annam and Cochinchine.
The Legion retreated scandalously before the Chinese at Lang Son. Tuyen Quang held out valiantly on their own until relief arrived from the Lang Son group. Meanwhile, the issue was settled at sea and by diplomacy.
The real political importance of the siege of Tuyen Quang was at home. The retreat at Lang Son nearly brought down the government of Jules Ferry. Then the resistance at Tuyen Quang, and the subsequent treaty, gave people something to be proud of.
That is why there are a dozen Bobillot streets around France and I've never met anyone who knew why. He was a hero of a moment which has passed.
Bobillot is also remembered as a writer in something of the same way. Dictionaries call him an "ecrivain", but the only printed volumes I have found reference to came out after his death.
A novel came out in 1885, the year he died, and a play came out much later, in 1911. I suspect he wrote fiction for the newspapers and plays for the stage, enjoying fame among the people. His collaborators on the print books, Albin Valabregue and Emile Max, made it into publishing history but Bobillot died too young.
The appearance of his bound novel would appear to be a souvenir printed on his death. The only other fiction I have found in his connection appeared in 1947, about Sergent Bobillot at the siege of Tuyen Quang.
OK, did I get all that right? Are the parts about French conquest and domestic politics respectable opinions?
In addition, does anyone know what Ha Noi street was called duong Bobillot? Was the "quartier Bobillot" an actual municipal district in Ha Noi? Was there a duong Bobillot in Saigon?
Was there a rue Bobillot at cities in other colonies, for example in Africa?
Why are Bobillot's ashes in Grenoble? How did he distinguish himself at the siege? Was he active as a popular writer before his death?
Any information or context at all about the man and his street, any criticism of my account, any citation, will be gratefully received.
My interest in Bobillot has to do with the Paris chapter of my dissertation, where I take the reader on a walking tour of the involvement of France and Viet Nam with each other.
Dan Duffy
5600 Buck Quarter Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278
tel 919-383-7274
dduffy@email.unc.edu
From bcampdvs@u.washington.edu Sun Oct 31 06:10:34 2004
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 22:11:31 +0800
From: Bradley Camp Davis <bcampdvs@u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: VSG: Tuyen Quang Question
Dan:
It may have something to do with Liu Yongfu, the Black Flag leader who fought in coordination with Nguyen Quang Bich at Tuyen Quang. According to whose account you believe, Liu is responsible, or was at least present, for the death of Garnier at Cau Giay in 1873. Liu himself never said he killed Garnier, not in his memoirs anyway. Liu claimed that G fell on a sword. some of the PRC scholarship says that one of Liu's subordinates actually killed Garnier. To the best of my knowledge, though, Jean Dupuis, who had charged out of Hanoi with Garnier in '73, held Liu or at least the BFs personally responsible. With the status that Garnier had acquired after his death, fighting in a battle against the person thought responsible for his demise may have been a very big deal.
Also, about Lang Son, the other battle you mentioned. Feng Zicai (Phu ng T Ta i), a very very aged Qing military commander who earned a reputation for hunting down bandits in the Guangxi-Cao Bang area, came out of retirement and recruited an army from the villages around Qinzhou (east of Langson on the south China coast) to go to Lang Son. His victory earned him hero status. He was able to use his elevated reputation to persuade the Guangdong governor to petition for an increase in the size of Qinzhou's administrative area, and even got people to give him donations to establish a grade school, incidentally still in use today.
A question: I have read, Rabinow's French Modern, that Briere, the commander at Lang Son, was drunk when the battle started. Is this true?
Best,
Bradley Davis
University of Washington
From michaudjean@yahoo.com Sun Oct 31 06:40:23 2004
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 06:36:59 -0800 (PST)
From: Jean Michaud <michaudjean@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Bobillot, sergent de genie mort au Tonkin
Dear Dan,
Brebion's "Dictionnaire bio-bibliographique..." also mentions that before he joined the army, Bobillot used to write in newspapers under the pseudonym Jules Ferlay. Could be worth checking. It is also mentioned that in Hanoi, it was a boulevard that bore his name, not a street. References about Bobillot are also given, including a book by Richard Abel: "Un martyr de la victoire: Le sergent Bobillot." Limoges, Bardon,(no year given).
Best,
Jean Michaud
From michaudjean@yahoo.com Sun Oct 31 08:32:04 2004
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 08:24:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Jean Michaud <michaudjean@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Bobillot, sergent de genie mort au Tonkin
Dear Dan,
This overcast Sunday morning is conducive to getting sidetracked, so I looked into one of your questions a bit further. The index of street names in Tran Viet Anh's "Hanoi Atlas" (1997) associates the name Bobillot to L Thanh T ng (Le Thanh Tong) street, stretching southeast from the Opera House. I then went on to check the 1890 'Plan de Hanoi' by Leclanger, and Boulevard Bobillot is exactly there. But no trace of a Bobillot ward. The French concession was nearby, Bobillot had been made a military hero, it would thus make sense that a 'Quartier Bobillot', if it ever existed officially, would have also been located around there.
Jean Michaud
U. of Montreal
From magic_rettig@hotmail.com Sun Oct 31 09:18:36 2004
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 17:14:21 +0000
From: Tobias Rettig <magic_rettig@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Bobillot, sergent de genie mort au Tonkin
Dear Dan,
I tried to find out more by checking the index of Henri Eckert's thesis on"Les militaires indochinois au service de la France, 1859-1939", University of Paris IV Ph.D. Thesis, 1998 (facsimile reprint: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2000).
Bobillot is briefly mentioned on page 36, including his "relations avec les cenacles litteraires parisiens", though adding nothing to what you already know. Eckert notes that the Vietnamese soldiers in French service unfortunately did not maintain similar metropolitan literary connections.
The way Eckert mentions Bobillot suggests that he knows far more about him. He would also be able to tell you why the Tuyen Quang siege was so important.
A brief synopsis of Eckert's account: The main units in action there were two Foreign Legion companies in the Tuyen Quang fortress, and the 8th company of the 1st Tirailleurs Tonkinois Regiment in a village outside the fortress. The strategic importance of Tuyen Quang was that it blocked the invasion route from Yunnan.
I suggest you contact Henri Eckert at henri.eckert@voila.fr - I am sure he knows more about why Bobillot became a hero.
The other person to contact, in writing and in French, would be Colonel (retd) Maurice Rives, 191 Rue de Strasbourg, 77350 Le Me sur Seine, France, who has published extensively on the tirailleurs, and who would also know Bobillot, in particular because he will publish a book on the Foreign Legion next year.
A brief websearch on google.fr proved the considerable number of rue Bobillots and also led to the following bibliographical information: http://abirato.free.fr/9autres/Derive.htm#1
(1) - Parcourant, plusieurs jours apr s la drive, le Dictionnaire historique des rues de paris de Jacques Hillairet (1963), j'apprends que la rue Bobillot doit son nom au sergent Jules Bobillot "tu au Tonkin en dfendant Thuyen-Khan", et qu'elle a t ouverte en 1893 pour la partie allant de la place de Rungis la rue de la Butte aux Cailles, mais en 1896 - anne du d cs de verlaine - pour la partie de la rue de la Butte aux Cailles la Place d'Italie, que j'ai emprunte.
I hope that helps a tiny bit.
Best wishes,
Tobias
From J.G.G.M.Kleinen@uva.nl Sun Oct 31 23:48:25 2004
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 08:40:33 +0100
From: John Kleinen <J.G.G.M.Kleinen@uva.nl>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: Bobillot, sergent de genie mort au Tonkin
Dear Dan,
A. Thomazi describes the battle of Tuyen Quang in his La Conquete de l'Indochine, 1934 (pages 237-241). Of course in the conventional mood of the time. It is a description of the defense of the citadel by the French against the Black Flags and Vietnamese troops. You will also find details of the units in action. On page 238, Sargent Bobillot was directing 8 soldiers of the military engineering corps. Both sides digged tunnels and Bibellot is portraited as a kind of a tunnelrat. He was heavily wounded on 18 February 1885 and died just after the citadel was reinforced by other French troops. Dr. Hocquard, who was part of an expedition to bring reinforcements to Tuyen Quang, doesn't mention Bobillot (chapterXVII), but he had other interests as you know.
Cheers,
John
From dduffy@email.unc.edu Wed Dec 8 15:42:51 2004
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 18:41:06 -0500
From: Dan Duffy <dduffy@email.unc.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Nguyen historiography question
Dear list,
My interest in Jules Bobillot has led me into the French and English-language accounts of the conquest of Indochina, including some very helpful ones who view it as the "Sino-French War" and draw on Chinese sources and the diplomatic archives of the great powers.
Are there any fine-grained accounts available in English, French or Vietnamese that draw principally on Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer or Thai sources?
Dan Duffy
5600 Buck Quarter Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278
tel 919-383-7274
dduffy@email.unc.edu
From hhtai@fas.harvard.edu Wed Dec 8 16:57:43 2004
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 19:56:10 -0500
From: Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Nguyen historiography question
Dan:
On the China side, there are a number of studies that deal with the career of Li Hongzhang (Li Hung-chang). He was briefly ousted by a conservative faction of officials who embarked on the Sino-French War. But he returned to power and immediately set to disentangle China from the war, his focus being on modernizing the Chinese military. One study is by Lloyd Eastman, Throne and Mandarins. Among Vietnamese sources, there are accounts of the siege of Hanoi such as Ha Thanh That Thu, and biographies of Hoang Dieu the governor of the Hanoi Citadel who committed suicide when the Citadel fell to the French. For more references, you could consult Philippe Papin's Histoire de Hanoi (Fayard, 2001) and Daniel Hemery & Pierre Brocheux, Indochine, la colonisation ambigue (La Decouverte, 1994).
Hue-Tam
From dduffy@email.unc.edu Sat Nov 6 13:28:55 2004
Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:27:18 -0500
From: Dan Duffy <dduffy@email.unc.edu>
Reply-To: vsg@u.washington.edu
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Bobillot, sergent de genie mort au Tonkin
Thanks for the replies taking my ignorance of Bobillot to a new level. This list is an astonishing resource.
A career sergeant mailed to me a photocopy of four pages from Tony Geraghty's March or Die: France and the Foriegn Legion (Harper Collins, p. 118-121), that specifies what Bobillot did at Tuyen Quang.
He commanded an insufficient force of eight engineers in the defence of a fort with a 1500 yard perimeter of brick walls on earth. He distinguished himself in two specific deeds.
At Domine's command, he built, fortified, entrenched and mined a block house on a high point three hundred and fifty yards from the fort. Then, inside the main walls, he engaged in mine and countermine with the Chinese engineers, notably setting and detonating a charge to blow back a massed rush of the enemy through a breach.
Not long after that he was shot in the throat, to survive through days of desperate defence only to die at Ha Noi.
When my interlibrary loan books get here and I put it all together I will let you know -
Dan Duffy