The French post at Tuyên Quang was defended for four months against 12,000 troops of the
Yunnan Army and the
Black Flag Army by two companies of the
French Foreign Legion during the
Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). The
Siege of Tuyên Quang is still remembered as one of the Legion's most celebrated feats of arms, and is commemorated in the first verse of "
Le Boudin", its principal marching song. During the
French protectorate, Tuyên Quang served as a garrison. During the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the
Viet Minh made the Legionnaires surrender at the memorial to the Battle of Tuyên Quang in the
First Indochina War (1946–54). ==Administrative divisions==