Alphonse Dugenne

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Alphonse Jules Alexandre Dugenne (1841–1887) was a French colonel who led the

He entered the Saint Cyr military academy (École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr) in 1859 and subsequently began his military career.

Dugenne was appointed corporal in October 1860, second lieutenant of the 2nd Foreign Regiment in October 1861, and lieutenant in October 1866. On April 10, 1867, he was moved to the 81st Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to captain in March 1870, and served from November 20, 1870, in the 52nd Infantry Regiment. On December 18, he became senior battalion commander of the Garde mobile de la Haute-Loire, moved to the 21st Provisional Regiment on April 13, 1871, and was laid off by redundancy on May 29, 1871. Appointed Captain on November 31, 1871, he served from April 22, 1872, at 64th Infantry Regiment and then from February 17, 1873, as part of the 1st Foreign Regiment. He was promoted to Battalion commander on November 28, 1878, in the 19th Infantry Regiment, then moved to the 2nd Zouaves Regiment on June 14, 1879, and was appointed Battalion Commander of the 1st Battalion of Chasseurs of Pied [fr] on August 22, 1882.

He was later appointed to the

On June 23 1884, after the signing of the

Dugenne revealed that he had orders to go to Langson and that, in three hours, he would continue on his way.^[4] At the appointed time, he crossed the Thương River,^[5] but was turned back by the Chinese. Forced to make a retreat, he called Captain Maillard to go with his men to stand in the rear. After 2 hours, at 4 o'clock Maillard re-joined the main body, which had recrossed the river and was encamped on the right bank, bringing back a third of his men. When night came, in his rudimentary headquarters and under fire, Dugenne wrote a dispatch to the general-in-chief.

Lieutenant of the Marine Infantry Bailly, in charge of optical telegraphy, was instructed to try, from a hill on the left bank, to warn the French headquarters in Hanoi of the situation of the column. The light caught the attention of the Chinese, who rained a hail of bullets down the hill, but salvo fires made them believe that it was occupied by important forces. As such, the Chinese did not engage, which enabled the volunteers to regain the bulk of the column safe and sound, and continue their retreat in relative safety. The forces then arrived at Cau-son on June 30.

Final Years

Dugenne was later recalled to France in September. He was sent to

He then returned again to Tonkin after a brief visit to France, and died 20 December 1887 during a column of operations between the Thương River and the Cầu River against the Caï Kinh-le, a few kilometres north of Tin-Dao in the territory of Monkayo, from the rupture of an aneurysm. He was buried in Phu Lang Thuong.

References