Although the Pescadores were garrisoned by 15 Chinese regular battalions (5,000 men) and defended by the recently completed Hsi-tai coastal defence battery (built in the late 1880s in response to the capture of Pescadores by the French during the Sino-French War), the Japanese met very little resistance during the landing operation as the defenders were demoralised. It took the Japanese only three days to secure the islands. After a naval bombardment of the Chinese forts, Japanese troops went ashore on Fisher Island (modern-day Siyu) and P'eng-hu Island on 24 March, fought several brief actions with defending Chinese troops, captured the key Hsi-tai battery and occupied Makung. In the next two days they occupied the other main islands of the Pescadores group. Japanese combat casualties were negligible, but a cholera outbreak shortly after the fall of the islands killed more than 1,500 men of the Japanese occupation force. The soldiers of the defeated Chinese garrison of the Pescadores, most of whom surrendered without a fight, were repatriated by the Japanese to mainland China.