When
hostilities broke out between the British and French colonies in North America, d'Estaing considered joining the forces of
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm that sailed in 1755, but his family dissuaded him from doing so. In early January 1757, shortly before embarking, d'Estaing was awarded the
Order of Saint Louis.
Lally's campaigns After a lengthy journey, the fleet of the
comte d'Aché, carrying the expeditionary forces whose land commander was the
count de Lally, arrived off British-occupied
Cuddalore in southern India on 28 April 1758. Lally disembarked his troops, established a blockade around the town, and then traveled to
Pondicherry to organize the delivery of siege equipment. On 4 May French forces occupied the town and partially blockaded Fort St. David. The siege equipment was delayed in its arrival, but the garrison was eventually compelled to surrender after 17 days of siege operations. D'Estaing commanded Lally's left, overseeing the approaches and placing of
batteries. He continued to serve under Lally in his campaigns against the British in southern India. He opposed Lally's decision to lift the siege of
Tanjore (the only one in Lally's war council to do so) following the British seizure of
Karikal. When Lally began to
besiege Madras in December 1758, d'Estaing's division was positioned in the center of the French line. When the British made a sortie against that sector, d'Estaing advanced alone to reconnoiter their movements. He was surrounded by British troops, unhorsed, and twice wounded by
bayonet before surrendering. D'Estaing was taken into Madras, where he was confined by the order of Governor
George Pigot. Pigot offered to release him on
parole, but d'Estaing refused, preferring instead to be exchanged so that he could resume fighting. The arrival of a British fleet off
Madras in February 1759 convinced d'Estaing to accept the offer of parole, which was conditioned on his not fighting against the British in the East Indies. In May 1759 he sailed for Île-de-France (present-day
Mauritius).
French East India Company service While d'Estaing was at Île-de-France, word arrived of a prisoner exchange agreement between France and Britain. D'Estaing, however, was excluded from this agreement because he had been paroled before its date. While requests were forwarded to India to negotiate his inclusion in the cartel, d'Estaing decided to enter the service of the
French East India Company, leading a naval expedition to gather resources for Île-de-France. D'Estaing thought he would finesse his parole status by declaring himself to be a "spectator" in case the force came into conflict with the British or their allies, and permitted his second in command to lead such operations. In command of a two-vessel company fleet (the 50-gun
Condé and the
frigate ''l'Expédition''), d'Estaing sailed for the
Persian Gulf in September 1759. From an Arab convoy captured at the end of the month, he learnt of a British ship at
Muscat. In a commando operation, 50 of
Condé men entered the well-fortified harbour and boarded the ship, taking it without resistance. In their haste to depart, the men cut lines necessary for towing the ship, and alarm was eventually raised in the port. A swarm of small boats was driven off by precision fire from
Condé, allowing a new line to be attached to the prize so that she could be towed out of the harbour. D'Estaing then destroyed the British
factory at
Bandar Abbas, before sailing for
Sumatra. While en route he detached his accumulated prize ships, sending them to Île-de-France. D'Estaing's success was notable: in three months he had acquired significant prizes at the expense of only five casualties (28 men died of
smallpox). After a slow crossing (retarded by calms and contrary winds), d'Estaing's fleet reached the coast of Sumatra in early February 1760. There he captured the British factory at
Natal, which he eventually turned over to the Dutch. He sailed for the British outpost at Tappanooly (present-day
Tapanuli in the Indonesian province of
North Sumatra). Its commander put up stiff resistance, fleeing into the hills when it was clear the French would be victorious. D'Estaing consequently decided to destroy the fortifications rather than hunt down the British. He next sailed for
Padang, a major Dutch settlement, where he supplemented his forces with local recruits and resupplied. He sailed for
Bencoolen (now Bengkulu, the capital of the Indonesian province of
Bengkulu), the main British settlement on Sumatra. The town was defended by
Fort Marlborough and a garrison of 500 Europeans and local
sepoys, with the potential to raise over 1,000 additional Malay militia. Although these forces were alerted to the French arrival by a ship that d'Estaing chased into the harbour, the first broadside directed at the fort panicked its defenders, who fled into the surrounding jungle. D'Estaing spent a day in pursuit of some of these troops. He used Fort Marlborough as a base to subdue the remaining lesser British settlements on the west side of Sumatra. He returned to Île-de-France ten months after his departure. Ordered back to France, d'Estaing boarded a westbound company ship. Just off the French coast the ship was captured by British patrols. He was imprisoned at
Plymouth, charged with violating his parole, before being granted limited freedom from a house in London. He was able to successfully defend himself against the charges, and was allowed to return to France. Upon his arrival, d'Estaing was commissioned as
field marshal, the reward for his service in the East Indies. == Interwar years ==