Louis Brière de l'Isle
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Louis Alexandre Esprit Gaston Brière de l'Isle was a French Army general who achieved distinction firstly as Governor of Senegal, and then as general-in-chief of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps during
General Briere de l'Isle, with the plaque of a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur on his chest
Senegambia in 1881, at the end of Briere de l'Isle's tenure. Areas in pink are annexed to the French Empire, while much of the surrounding territory are French "protectorates".
General Brière de l'Isle and his staff on the eve of the Lạng Sơn Campaign. General François de Négrier (with hand on chest) and Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Gustave Herbinger (clasping cane in both hands) are in the front row.
Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes
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Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes was a French general. He was a major figure in the French Imperial conquest of the French Sudan, modern Mali. He was Commandant-Superior of the French Military Territory of H
Louis Brière de l'Isle
…ordered the governor to cease military operations pushing east of Kita. Within weeks Brière de l'Isle ordered his military protege Lieutenant Colonel Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes to launch a punitive expedition to the Niger and seize the small town at Bamako. Brière de l'Isle was recalled on 11 March 1881 in response. By the end…
Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes, photographed in 1886
The French fort at Kita (1904). This was the base of Lt. Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes's forces during his time as Commandant-Superieur du Haut-Fleuve.