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On
October 26 Gentil encamped himself near the hills of Togbao, at only 20 km from Rabih's forces, where he inspected the battlefield of the previous fight and united his forces with those of Robillot. On October 28 Gentil boarded most of his forces, and proceeded to Kouno that was first seen,
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Gentil immediately ordered the steamboat and the barge to open fire with their cannons; and at the same time, to the great surprise of Rabih's forces, the column proceeding by land did the same with its artillery. All the same they answered using their artillery, the three cannons won at Togbao,
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The assault brought the French to the outskirts of Kouno, to which they set fire. They continued advancing, till they found themselves just before the fortifications of Kouno; here Rabih had assembled all his forces, that started a massive rifle-fire, supported by an artillery piece.
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The rifle-fire continued, but at 16:30 Gentil was forced to admit that he would never take the enemy fort that day. Gentil had suffered heavy casualties: 46 soldiers were dead, while 106 were wounded, almost half of his 344 men. Among the dead stood the
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The battle had proved inconclusive; Kouno had not been taken, and Rabih still remained the key obstacle to the French conquest of Chad. Both sides had suffered heavy losses, and for Gentil there was now little other choice than await the arrival of the
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de Possel, while seriously wounded were the captain
Robillot and the lieutenant Kieffer. Also Rabih had suffered important losses, and some of his bannermen had been killed, like Boubakar, Rabih's chief lieutenant.
268:, was killed. Gentil ordered now to attack the palissade with a bayonet assault, that was repelled after hard fighting by Rabih in person with only a few hundred men still resisting around him.
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After three hours of battle had passed and it was 12:00, some of Rabih's men started yielding and escaping; and this ampliated when one of Rabih's chief lieutenants, Othman Cheiko, governor of
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at 9:00, and where Rabih was waiting Gentil; Rabih knew only of the arrival of the steamboat, while he had no knowledge of the three companies passing near the river.
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had other two. A column formed by
Cointet and Lamothe's men, under the command of the Captain Robillot, took instead the ground route marching close to the riverside.
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which they used with considerable ability. Rabih had also placed on the left a group of riflemen, whose rifle-fire also started to put
Robillot's
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After having passed the night near the fort, the following morning Gentil, after having verified that, apart from the human losses, the
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and the provisions were nearly ended, ordered the retreat to Fort-Archambault, where the French returned without problems.
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in difficulty, moving
Robillot to order a bayonet assault on Rabih's lines. Being the latter provided only of
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was an inconclusive battle that took place between French troops and the Muslim army led by
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Gentil knew that the
Forreau-Lamy and Voulet missions were marching on southern
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209:. His primary goal was to unite his forces with those of the
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227:upriver, counting on three cannons, while the
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223:Bauguies. Gentil started navigating the
170:On August 16, 1899 the leader of the
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257:, they escaped disorderly to Kouno.
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24:Part of the Rabih War (1899–1901)
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306:La chute de l'empire de Rabah
292:and Fourreau-Lamy missions.
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79:
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28:
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333:Battles involving France
328:Military history of Chad
211:Voulet–Chanoine Mission
102:Commanders and leaders
139:Casualties and losses
348:19th century in Chad
201:, respectively from
338:French West Africa
312:. pp. 574–84.
129:10,000 auxiliaries
353:Conflicts in 1899
274:maréchal de logis
220:maréchal de logis
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215:Fort-Archambault
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290:Voulet-Chanoine
180:Rabih az-Zubayr
161:Rabih az-Zubayr
157:battle of Kouno
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108:Rabih az-Zubayr
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50:28 October 1899
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19:Battle of Kouno
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11:
5:
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343:1899 in France
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174:, the Captain
172:Gentil Mission
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85:Rabih's empire
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71:French victory
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302:Gentil, Émile
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194:on July 17.
176:Émile Gentil
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132:344 soldiers
113:Émile Gentil
80:Belligerents
59:Kouno, near
36:Émile Gentil
251:tirailleurs
190:Mission at
149:106 wounded
124:2,700 with
322:Categories
296:References
282:ammunition
248:Senegalese
234:and their
232:LĂ©on-Blot
229:steamboat
184:Bretonnet
134:5 cannons
38:in Africa
310:Hachette
304:(1971).
266:Kousséri
255:firearms
126:firearms
119:Strength
55:Location
203:Algeria
182:of the
147:46 dead
192:Togbao
96:France
68:Result
236:barge
225:Chari
207:Niger
188:Braun
205:and
199:Chad
165:Chad
155:The
144:High
61:Sarh
47:Date
324::
308:.
167:.
186:-
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