s.|French Chasseurs à Cheval On 28 January 1794 Bonnaud was promoted to
general of brigade. In the foggy early morning hours of 19 April, he led three mounted regiments against the village of
Abscon, wiping out a 70-man Coalition cavalry outpost. As Bonnaud withdrew his 2,400 troopers from their successful raid, they were counterattacked by 630 cavalry under
Ludwig von Wurmb. In the inconclusive melee that followed, both sides suffered numerous casualties. On 23 April, 15,000 infantry and 4,500 cavalry from
Cambrai and
Bouchain moved in four columns to attack Wurmb's force which covered the
Siege of Landrecies. The force included 5,000 foot soldiers under Jean Proteau and 1,500 cavalry under Bonnaud. The
Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies on 24 April was a Coalition victory by two squadrons each of the Austrian
Archduke Leopold Hussars Nr. 17 and the British
15th Light Dragoons. The Austrians lost 20 casualties including 10 missing while the British lost 58 men killed and 17 wounded. After some cavalry maneuvers, the four Coalition squadrons under
Rudolf Ritter von Otto and
Daniel Mécsery charged Bonneau's horsemen, routing them. They then attacked Proteau's infantry which was drawn up in a large square. After the horsemen broke into the formation, the infantry scattered, leaving behind four pieces of artillery. The Allies claimed to have killed 900 Frenchmen and wounded 400 more. After seeing the fate of Proteau's infantry, the supporting columns retreated to Caesar's Camp. Following the instructions of
Army of the North commander
Jean-Charles Pichegru, 30,000 French troops and 80 guns under
René-Bernard Chapuy set out from Cambrai late in the night of 25 April to break the Siege of Landrecies. Covered by fog, Chapuy's 18,000-strong center column marched directly on
Le Cateau-Cambrésis, the 7,000–8,000-man right column led by Bonnaud advanced through
Wambaix and
Ligny-en-Cambrésis and the 4,000-strong left column moved toward
Solesmes to harass its garrison. After driving the Coalition outposts back to a line of manned redoubts, Chapuy deployed his troops facing southeast toward
Troisvilles with his left flank at
Audencourt. Chapuy blundered in not posting a flank guard north of
Beaumont-en-Cambrésis to guard the Erclin valley. Meanwhile, Bonnaud's right column veered to its left and joined the center column near
Bertry. When the fog lifted, Otto and
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany noticed that the French left flank was in air and planned to attack it. The Duke of York sent Otto with six squadrons of Austrian
cuirassiers and two small brigades of British heavy cavalry around the unprotected French flank. Spotting the move too late, Chapuy frantically tried to shift cavalry to the left. The right column was able to retreat in haste after Bonnaud intervened with a regiment of
carabiniers, keeping two regiments of British light cavalry at bay. The center column, however, was crushed as Otto's horsemen fell on it from the flank and rear. In the
Battle of Troisvilles on 26 April the French lost 5,000 killed and wounded, 350 captured including Chapuy, 32 artillery pieces and 44 caissons. The Allies lost 396 cavalrymen while their infantry hardly fired a shot. Bonnaud received promotion to
general of division on 30 April 1794, the same day that Landrecies surrendered to the Coalition. He accepted command of Chapuy's former division after some reluctance. If many officers received rapid promotion at this time, it was also true that many were soon denounced as traitors and executed. Soon after, Pichegru sent the unit from Cambrai to
Sainghin-en-Mélantois near
Lille where it absorbed Pierre-Jacques Osten's brigade, making the division 23,000-strong. On 10 May Bonnaud's division attacked the Duke of York at Marquain, now a western suburb of
Tournai. York turned the French right flank at
Camphin-en-Pévèle with three heavy cavalry brigades under
David Dundas, Sir Robert Laurie and
Richard Vyse. Some of the French cavalry fled but the infantry withdrew without panicking. It was the first time the French infantry formed square with success, driving off British cavalry charges. Finally, artillery firing grapeshot disordered the French squares and the
Scots Greys charged, breaking into a square. After this event the cavalry overran two more squares. In the actions at
Baisieux and
Willems French losses were estimated at 3,000 killed and wounded plus 500 men and 13 guns captured. British losses numbered 245. These combats were part of the larger
Battle of Courtrai in which the French emerged victorious. In the
Battle of Tourcoing on 18 May 1794, 82,000 French troops temporarily led by
Joseph Souham defeated 74,000 Coalition soldiers under
Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. With the divisions of Souham and
Jean Victor Marie Moreau forming a salient at
Menen (Menin) and
Kortrijk (Courtrai),
Karl Mack von Leiberich drew up a plan by which six Coalition columns would encircle them.
François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt commanded 19,600 troops of the northern pincer. The southern pincer was formed by columns led by Georg Wilhelm von dem Bussche (4,000), Otto (10,000), the Duke of York (10,750),
Franz Joseph, Count Kinsky (11,000) and
Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen (18,000), going from north to south. If the French defenders were passive all would have gone well, but execution of Mack's plan demanded rapid movement according to a strict timetable. In the event, only York's and Otto's columns reached their prescribed jumping off points on the evening of 17 May. Clerfayt only crossed the
Scheldt River early the next morning while Bussche was beaten and driven off. Kinsky pushed back Bonnaud's troops in his front but fell far behind schedule while Charles suffered an
epileptic seizure, halting his progress. Pichegru was absent from his army so the French generals agreed to mount a counterattack under Souham's orders. While Moreau held off Clerfayt, Souham and Bonneau threw their 40,000 troops on the columns of York and Otto. As Souham's division pressed York and Otto from the north, Bonnaud's soldiers struck from the west, capturing ground behind York's column. By the afternoon of the 18th, Otto's men were forced back while York's troops barely cut their way out of the trap with a loss of 32 artillery pieces. After the defeat of the Coalition center, the columns of Clerfayt, Kinsky and Charles were ordered to retreat. On 22 May 1794 the Coalition defeated the French in the
Battle of Tournay. After arriving a day too late for Tourcoing, Pichegru ordered an attack on the Allied position at Tournai. While Souham's division attacked the enemy right flank, Bonnaud pushed against its center, while feinting against the left. After a struggle costly to both sides, the French were compelled to withdraw. On 17 June the French successfully concluded the
Siege of Ypres which allowed that part of
Flanders to be overrun. By 1 July, the
Army of the North seized
Bruges and on 10 July,
Brussels. There was a lull during which the French reduced the Coalition-held fortresses in northern France. On 1 September Bonnaud's 5th Division counted 9,103 infantry, 1,558 cavalry and 658 gunners manning 34 cannons and five
howitzers. On 27 December his division forced the lines of
Breda and on 23 January 1795 was the first to enter
The Hague. Bonnaud and
Jacques MacDonald were credited with the
capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder on the 23rd, but in fact the feat was accomplished by a relatively junior officer,
Louis Joseph Lahure. == Vendée: 1795 ==