In May 1793, while Royrand's army watched the southern edge of the Vendée, the rebels seized Bressuire and Thouars in the east. On 13 May they captured La Châtaigneraie but were repulsed from Fontenay on the 16th. The main army of 35,000 men assembled under Charles de Bonchamps, Maurice d'Elbée, Henri de La Rochejaquelein and Louis Marie de Lescure. On 25 May, the Vendean army defeated 14,000 Republicans under Alexis Chalbos in the Battle of Fontenay-le-Comte, taking 40 guns. This was followed by a rebel victory over Jacques-François Menou's division at the Battle of Saumur on 9 June in which the Vendeans captured 46 cannons. On 28 June, Royrand attacked Luçon but Claude Sandoz and its Republican garrison drove him off. On the 29th Canclaux repulsed a Vendean attack in the Battle of Nantes. Meanwhile, Biron sent François Joseph Westermann on a destructive raid into the heart of the Vendée. The main rebel army massed against Westermann and routed his division in the First Battle of Châtillon on 5 July.