Battle of Fougères

48°21′09″N 1°11′55″W / 48.3525°N 1.1986°W / 48.3525; -1.1986

The Battle of Fougères took place on 3 November 1793 during the Virée de Galerne, and the War in the Vendée. It pitted the troops of the Catholic and Royal Army against the Republican troops of Fougères, eight months after the start of the Vendée insurrection and in the middle of the war between France and the First Coalition, which notably included Great Britain.

After its defeat at the Battle of Cholet in October 1793, the Vendée army crossed the Loire and occupied Laval. The general staff then hesitated between several strategic options: return to the Vendée, march on Rennes to provoke an insurrection in Brittany or move closer to the coast and seize a port on the Channel in the hope of receiving help from the British and the émigrés present in Jersey.

The Vendée army finally took the road to Fougères, which had the advantage of bringing it closer to both the Channel and Rennes. The assault resulted in an easy victory for the Vendeans: outnumbered and poorly commanded, the Republicans were crushed and abandoned the city, leaving behind hundreds of dead and prisoners.

The Vendean army occupied the city for five days during which it worked to resupply and recruit supporters. It received two émigré emissaries carrying dispatches from the British government advising them to turn away from Rennes and follow the English plan. The army resumed its route on 8 November towards Dol-de-Bretagne, hesitating between an attack on Saint-Malo or Granville. But a junction with the British proved impossible and the Vendean army headed back south.

Reoccupied in mid-November, Fougères definitively returned to Republican control on 5 December. The region became one of the centers of Chouannerie after the defeat of the Vendée army at Savenay, in Loire-Inférieure, on December 23.