The commander of the French "Army of the North", Jean Nicolas Houchard determined to raise the siege by attacking the 16,000-man covering army led by Hanoverian Field Marshal Wilhelm von Freytag. Not counting the 8,000-strong garrison of Dunkirk, Houchard had 45,800 troops available for the operation. The Battle of Hondschoote was fought on 6–8 September 1793. On the 6th the French advanced in six columns. The 9,000 men of the far right column sat still for two days and only moved against Ypres on the 8th, accomplishing nothing. The left two columns were repulsed, while the two right columns made progress. In the center, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's 13,000 troops captured Houtkerque, Herzeele and Bambecque, and then, at the urging of the political commissioner Nicolas Hentz, they seized Rexpoëde. By this time it was evening and it began to rain.