Pescadores campaign (1885)

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Pescadores campaign
Part of the Sino-French War
French warships bombard Chinese positions around Makung, 29 March 1885
Date March 1885 Location Pescadores Islands Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Qing dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Amédée Courbet	Zhou Shanchu Zheng Yingjie
Strength
six warships 400 marine infantry one artillery section	2,400 men and shore batteries
Casualties and losses
5 killed 12 wounded	300 killed 500 wounded

The Pescadores campaign which took place in late March, 1885, was one of the last campaigns of the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885). It was fought to capture the Pescadores, a strategically important archipelago off the western coast of Formosa (Taiwan). Admiral Amédée Courbet, with part of the French Far East Squadron, bombarded the Chinese coastal defences around the principal town of Makung on Penghu Island and landed a battalion of marine infantry which routed the Chinese defenders and occupied Makung.^[1]

The Pescadores were occupied by the French until July 1885 and Admiral Courbet, by then a national hero in France, died aboard his flagship Bayard in Makung harbour during the occupation.