Siege of Angers
| date | 3rd / 4th December 1793 |
|---|---|
| place | Angers |
| output | Victory of the revolutionary troops |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 4000 to 6000 (57 cannons) | 20,000 (multiple cannons) |
| losses | |
|
400 killed or wounded |
300 to 800 killed (3 cannons lost) |
The siege of Angers took place on December 3rd and 4th, 1793. She was part of the Vendée uprising .
Pushed back towards Granville , the insurgent Vendéens only thought of returning to the south of the Loire , thanks to their victory in the Battle of Dol the road was clear. On November 23, the General Staff of the Vendée met in Antrain . The commander in chief Henri de La Rochejaquelein suggested marching on Rennes , where the defeated Republican army had sought refuge. It should be destroyed so that Brittany could rise too. The army could then attack Nantes to return to the Vendée by establishing a link with the army of Charette . Stofflet , on the other hand, wanted to take the shortest route, i.e. attack Angers . As for Talmont , he wanted to attack Granville again, as the town's garrison had been reduced and the English seemed more ready to intervene. It was the latter plan, which was then adopted by the General Staff, but the soldiers of the Vendée, when they heard of this plan, refused to obey and wanted to carry out Stofflet's plan. The generals could not do anything about it and were forced to follow them.
The army then set out for Angers . Although the Vendéens were no longer worried by the republican troops, they were too busy reorganizing their armed forces, as they were ravaged by diseases ( dysentery , typhus and cholera ). This was due to hunger and poor equipment, as it was now difficult to protect oneself from the cold in the approaching winter and to get enough food.
The fight
Angers was defended by between 4,000 and 6,000 Republican soldiers, led by Generals Louis Thévenet, known as Danican and Jean-Pierre Boucret . General Michel de Beaupuy , recovering from his injuries in the Battle of Entrammes , was also there. Although he was not completely healed, he wanted to take part in the fight. 57 guns were ready for action on the ramparts and in the towers, the three main gates were barricaded and trenches were dug.
On December 3, the Vendéens attacked, but the attack was no better planned than in Granville, the attackers occupied the suburbs deserted by the Republicans, but without siege equipment they had no way of getting through the city walls.
During the day the besiegers' artillery under Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny shot repeatedly at the city gates, but without great success.
On February 4, the Vendéens attempted a new attack, they were just about to take the Cupif Gate, when Republican troops under the command of Général Jean Fortuné Boüin de Marigny came to reinforce. The army of the Vendée ran out of ammunition, in particular no cannonballs, and the morale of the insurgents suffered greatly from the unsuccessful attacks. Jean Fortuné Boüin de Marigny's troops were the vanguard of the Western Army, their arrival causing panic among the Vendéens. They broke off the siege and withdrew to the northeast, in the direction of Le Mans .
Général Jean Fortuné Boüin de Marigny survived the victory only briefly, while pursuing the Vendéens he was killed by a cannonball in Durtal .
After the battle, on the orders of Marie Pierre Adrien Francastel ( Representative en mission dans les départements de l'Ouest de la France - Political Commissioner for the Départements of Western France), the heads of the Vendeans and Chouans killed during the battle were to be cut off in order to protect them to flaunt on the walls. However, this arrangement does not appear to have been carried out.
Pitre-Chevalier also wrote that the sans-culottes on behalf of René Levasseur :
"... followed a brilliant procession and burned the incense of their homeland to cleanse their walls of royal contact."
literature
- Émile Gabory "Les Guerres de Vendée" Editeur Robert Laffont 2009 pp. 307 to 309.
- Yves Gras "La Guerre de Vendée" Éditions Economica, 1994, pp. 111/112.
- Jean Tabeur, Paris contre la Province, les guerres de l'Ouest , Éditions Economica, 2008, p. 171.
- Auguste Billaud "La Guerre de Vendée" Fontenay-Le-Comte, 1972, impr. Lussaud, pp. 152-153.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ J. Cretineau Jolly “Histoire de la Vendee Militaire”, Volume 1, p. 393
- ^ Marie-Pierre-Adrien Francastel (1761-1831) Francastel, représentant du peuple près l'armée de l'Ouest, à ses frères de la garnison et de la commune d'Angers. Lettre des représentants du peuple Prieur (de la Marne), Turreau et Bourbotte à leur collègue Francastel. Le Mans, 23 frimaire, l'an II Éditeur Mame (Angers) 1793
Coordinates: 47 ° 28 ′ 25 ″ N , 0 ° 33 ′ 4 ″ W.