Virée de Galerne

The wounded General Lescure crosses the Loire at Saint-Florent

Date	From 18 October to 23 December 1793
Location	Maine, Britanny, Normandy
Result	Decisive Republican victory

Belligerents

Republicans

Vendéens

Chouans

Strength

Armée de l'Ouest
~ 50,000–100,000 (?)

60,000 to 100,000 people of which:
20,000–30,000 Vendéens
6,000–10,000 Chouans
30,000–60,000 non-combatants
(old people, wounded, women and children)

Casualties and losses

~ 10,000 dead (?)

50,000–70,000 dead

French Revolutionary Wars – War in the Vendée

First Machecoul
Jallais
First Cholet
First Pornic
First Sables-d'Olonne
Second Pornic
Second Sables-d'Olonne
Aubiers
Challans
Saint-Gervais
Vezins
Port-Saint-Pierre
Second Machecoul
Thouars
Fontenay-le-Comte
Saumur
Nantes
1st Châtillon
Luçon
Tiffauges
Montaigu
1st Noirmoutier
La Tremblaye
Cholet

The Virée de Galerne was a military operation of the War in the Vendée during the French Revolutionary Wars across Britanny and Normandy. It takes its name from "gwalarn", a Breton word for the "vent de noroît" (northwest wind).

It concerns the Vendean army's crossing of the River Loire after their defeat in the battle of Cholet on 17 October 1793 and its march to Granville in the hope of finding reinforcements there from England. Unable to take Granville on 14 November 1793, it fell back towards Savenay (23 December 1793) where it was completely destroyed by Republican troops under Kléber. The battle of Savenay marked the end of what would come to be called the first war in the Vendée.

Course

Rout at Cholet

The rout of Cholet, by Jules Giradet.

Main article: battle of Cholet

At the end of October 1793, after a campaign planned by general Kléber, the Republican forces of the Army of the West and the Army of Mainz managed to correctly coordinate their attacks and squeeze the Vendéen forces into a pocket. Encircled, the Catholic and Royal Army of Anjou and Haut-Poitou desperately attempted to resist and risked a decisive pitched battle at Cholet on 17 October 1793, at which they were beaten. They thus had no choice but to fall back on Beaupréau to the north, the only escape route still open, then to Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, where they were cornered in a bend of the river Loire.

Repression and reprisals

Timeline

The course of the virée de Galerne.

18 October: The Vendéens cross the Loire at Saint-Florent-le-Vieil.
19 October: La Rochejaquelein elected generalisimo.
23 October: The Vendéens and Chouans take Laval, its 15,000 defenders beaten into retreat almost without a battle.
27 October: Battle of Entrames, Republicans crushed, Léchelle removed.
2 November: Capture of Mayenne.
3–4 November: Battle of Fougères.
4 November: Death of general Lescure.
9 November: The Vendéens are at Dol-de-Bretagne.
11 November: They are at Pontorson.
12 November: They reach Avranches.
14–15 November: Siege of Granville, Vendéens checked and about-turn.
16 November: Retreat to Avranches
18 November: Battle of Pontorson.
20–22 November: Battle of Dol.
23–24 November: The Vendéens take Fougères without a fight.
25 November: They retake Laval without a fight.
30 November: Battle of La Flèche.
3 December: Siege of Angers, Vendéens checked.
5 December: The Vendéens are at Baugé.
7 December: Retreat to La Flèche.
10–13 December: Battle of Le Mans
14 December: The Vendéens again return to Laval
16 December: They are at Ancenis; La Rochejaquelein, Jean-Nicolas Stofflet and 4,000 soldiers manage to cross the Loire.
17 December: Republican ships cut off the passage.
20 December: The Vendéens are at Blain.
23 December: Battle of Savenay, annihilation of the Vendéen army.

Sources

(French) Jean-Clément Martin, Blancs et Bleus dans la Vendée déchirée, Découvertes/Gallimard, 1986
(French) Reynald Secher and René Le Honzec, Vendée, 1789–1801, cartoon, éditions Reynald Secher.
(French) Emile Gabory, Les guerres de Vendée, Robert Laffont, Paris 1989

External links

(French) History of the Vendée