Second Battle Of Cholet

The Second Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French Republican forces under General Jean Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Maurice d'Elbée. The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine-et-Loire department of France, and resulted in a Republican victory. D’Elbée was wounded and captured; he was later executed by Republican troops in Noirmoutier. The Royalist insurgent, Charles Melchior Artus de Bonchamps, was fatally wounded in the battle.

Prelude

On the morning of 16 October 1793, the Vendéen army, beaten at the Battle of La Tremblaye, with neither ammunition nor artillery, had evacuated Cholet to take up positions in Beaupréau. The republican avant-garde, commanded by Beaupuy, entered in the town square by the south and moved through the town to settle on the high grounds north of the town. Kléber then deployed the remainder of his troops by positioning the divisions of Beaupuy and Haxo on the left flank of the château de La Treille, and those of Louis Vimeux on the right flank of the château de Bois-Grolleau.

As for François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, who had just been promoted general of brigade after the Battle of La Tremblaye, he occupied the center with general Marc Amand Élisée Scherb, in front of the Papinière moorland where the terrain was open. Kléber informed Jean Léchelle of the situation, who was the chief general of the Army of the West, and he approved. The military competencies of Léchelle were known to be null, most of the representatives had agreed to unofficially entrust the commandment to Kléber.

That evening, the commissioners Pierre Bourbotte, René-Pierre Choudieu, Fayaud and Bellegarde arrived which brought the number of representatives in Cholet to seven considering Antoine Merlin de Thionville, Jean-Baptiste Carrier and Louis Marie Turreau were already there. The republican forces waited again for a reinforcement of 10,000 men of the general Alexis Chalbos before pushing further to the north and towards Beaupréau, but they arrived during the night.

Republican strategy

The republican generals met in a war counsel early on 17 October. Kléber offered to divide the army in three columns and to march to Saint-Florent-le-Vieil and Beaupréau in order to surround the Vendéen army and cut it off from the Loire and the road to Nantes. The strategy was approved by the generals from Mayenne, by Marceau and by Merlin de Thionville, however a few other representatives and officers, particularly Chalbos, were against it. Chalbos thought the troops were too tired and the other officers were against dividing the army. Kléber's plan was rejected and the counsel opted for an undivided march to Beaupréau.

Vendéen strategy

At Beaupréau, the Vendéen officers were as divided as the former during the war counsel held at noon on 16 October. Bonchamps offered to have his Breton soldiers pass the Loire to start an uprising in Brittany and get reinforcements. Talmont, d'Autichamp and Donissan wanted the whole army to go. On the other hand, d'Elbée, La Rochejaquelein and Stofflet refused to leave Vendée. As for Royrand, he wished to try to breach enemy lines by the west in order to meet with Charette's army.

Finally, an attack on Cholet was decided and the army started its march. Nonetheless, Talmont was allowed to leave for Saint-Florent-le-Vieil