Battle of Hanoi

On December 19, 1946 Vietnamese Viet Minh soldiers detonated explosives in Hanoi, and the ensuing battle, known as the Battle of Hanoi marked the opening salvo of the First Indochina War. The explosives, set off at 20:03 in the evening, had been smuggled past French Army guards into the city's power plant. The result explosion plunged Hanoi into darkness, and throughout the city the Viet-Minh began attacking French military positions and French homes. Surviving French troops, alerted by friendly spies, gradually gained a numerical superiority. French artillery shelled the city, and house to house searches were conducted searching for the Viet-Minh leadership.