| Unit Name: | Tirailleurs indochinois Lính tập (習) |
| Dates: | 1880–1960 |
| Country: | 1880–1887: 1884–1887: 1887–1954
|
| Allegiance: | France |
| Type: | Tirailleurs |
| Role: | Military force |
| Size: | 1945: 22.000[1] |
| Motto: | Per Arma Pro Pace |
| Battles: |
The Tirailleurs indochinois (Vietnamese: '''Lính tập'''; Chữ Nôm: 習) were soldiers of several regiments of local ethnic Indochinese infantry organized as Tirailleurs by the French colonial authorities, initially in Vietnam from 15 March 1880.[2] [3] The most notable, and first established, of these units were the Tonkinese Rifles (French: Tirailleurs tonkinois, Vietnamese: Quân đoàn bộ binh Bắc Kỳ).
In the early days of these regiments the charge was often made that the tirailleurs were prone to desertion.[4]
However under the leadership of officers seconded from the regular French Marine (subsequently Colonial) Infantry the tirailleurs became an effective corps, without which the French would have had difficulty in occupying and garrisoning their Indochinese possessions.
The tirailleurs saw active service in Indochina, the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Allied intervention in Siberia between 1918–19, Syria (1920–21) and Morocco (1925–26). During World War I the French Army was initially reluctant to deploy its Indochinese units of the Troupes coloniales on the Western Front but eventually 40,000 Annamite and Cambodian tirailleurs were sent to France.[5] The majority were employed behind the lines in guard, depot and factory-worker duties. However several battalions fought at Verdun, the Chemin des Dames, and in Champagne.[6] Indochinese troops were also deployed to the Macedonian front.[7] On 10 February 1930 fifty tirailleurs rose in support of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng during the Yen Bai mutiny, which was quickly suppressed by loyal tirailleurs of the same regiment. This event resulted in the increased recruitment of non-Vietnamese soldiers.
In 1945 some tirailleur units fought against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam. In particular the "3e RTT" (3e régiment de tirailleurs tonkinois) offered fierce resistance but was annihilated. The six Tonkinese and Annamite tirailleur regiments then in existence were destroyed or dispersed in the course of the Japanese coup, and were not reestablished. Some tirailleur units were absorbed into the Viet Minh forces after 1945. Large numbers of Vietnamese troops did however serve in the French Union Forces during the French Indochina War (1946–1954) and the last Indochinese unit in the French Army was not disbanded until 1960. Many of them became officers of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces after the French withdrawal.
The regiments were founded in each of the territories of Tonkin, Annam and Cambodia.
See main article: Tonkinese Rifles.
Ethnic Taï from Sip Song Chau Tai and Northern Laos.[8]