An advance directly across the Ky Hoa Plain was scarcely a better solution. The plain itself was mostly open ground, offering little cover. The numerous Vietnamese trenches, obstacles and outposts would have meant exposing the advancing allies to murderous fire for a prolonged period. Casualties would have been heavy, probably unsustainable.

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Admiral Charner reasonably decided to advance along the southern edge of the Ky Hoa Plain. The plan that emerged was simple. Since 1859 the French had consolidated their control of Cholon by seizing and fortifying four Buddhist pagodas along a line extending west from Saigon and more or less parallel to the Arroyo Chinois. The pagodas were the key to keeping the Vietnamese at bay. Beyond the westernmost of them, Cay Mai Pagoda, a dirt road headed northwest toward the most southerly Vietnamese positions two kilometers away. The French dubbed the Vietnamese fort situated there ‘the Redoubt.’

Charner proposed to breach the Vietnamese lines by taking the Redoubt. He would then advance north-northwest along the road in order to take the main Ky Hoa defenses under attack from the rear. In this way, he would be in position to prevent reinforcements and supplies from reaching the Vietnamese. He would also avoid the worst of the formidable obstacles and trenches the Vietnamese had constructed between the fort and Saigon.

On February 23, 1861, Charner moved his assault force to the vicinity of Cay Mai Pagoda. Gunboats were dispatched to support the French attack. Ships’ cannons, dismounted from French vessels and installed at the Clocheton, Des Mares and Cay Mai pagodas, would provide additional artillery support.

It was the dry season in Vietnam, and the air was relatively cool as the French and Spanish troops set out from Cay Mai before dawn on February 24, under the operational command of Brig. Gen. Elie Jean marquis de Vassoigne. Admiral Charner and his staff were on horseback at the front of the column, accompanied by the commander of the Spanish forces. Ironically, their objective that morning, the Redoubt, had been built 70 years earlier under the direction of a French military engineer.

De Vassoigne’s artillery — 4- and 12-pounder cannons, mountain howitzers and rockets — opened fire on the Redoubt and its outposts from a range of about 1,100 meters. Supported by heavier guns in the pagoda-forts, the mountain guns advanced by battery until they were within 500 meters of the enemy. Vietnamese counterfire from both artillery and small arms was heavy and discomfortingly accurate. In its face, de Vassoigne unleashed three assault columns. On the left were two naval infantry companies preceded by a naval boarding party with scaling ladders. In the center, two companies of light infantry were accompanied in the attack by an engineer platoon to destroy the Redoubt’s main gate. Two hundred Spanish infantry units, along with French engineer, light infantry and marine infantry units, made up the right-hand assault column.

Like the main Ky Hoa fort, the Redoubt was protected by an extensive array of ditches and obstacles, including bamboo palisades, lines of interlocking stakes, trenches filled with sharpened bamboo stakes, and circular pits containing tangled branches and tree trunks (known as wolf holes) — all designed to slow an attacking enemy and break up his formations. Artillery covered the allied assault, but was unable to stop intense Vietnamese return fire. The allied troops advanced slowly at first. Then, with the French crying ‘Vive l’Empereur!’ they surged forward. Using scaling ladders, the French and Spanish troops quickly mounted the berm surrounding the Redoubt. Vietnamese resistance abruptly ceased. By the time the allied troops scaled the parapets of the Redoubt itself, the Vietnamese were retreating, in good order, toward the main Ky Hoa defenses.

The assault on the Redoubt had taken two hours. The allied force suffered six killed and about 20 wounded, including General de Vassoigne, whose arm was pierced by a musket ball, and the Spanish colonel, who was shot in the leg. Both men were evacuated to the rear, and Charner assumed direct command.

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