Battle of Cholet The Battle of Cholet was fought on 17 October 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars , between French Republican forces under General Léchelle and French Royalist Forces under Louis d ' Elbée . The battle was fought in the town of Cholet in the Maine - et - Loire department of France , and resulted in a Republican victory . D ’ Elbée was wounded and captured ; he was later executed by Republican troops in Noirmoutier . The Royalist insurgent , Charles Melchior Artus de Bonchamps , was fatally wounded in the battle . Prelude . On the morning of 16 October 1793 , the Vendéen army , beaten at the battle of La Tremblaye , with neither ammunition nor artillery , had evacuated Cholet to take up positions in Beaupréau . The republican avant - garde , commanded by Beaupuy , entered in the town square by the south and moved through the town to settle on the high grounds north of the town . Kléber then deployed the remainder of his troops by positioning the divisions of Beaupuy and Haxo on the left flank of the château de La Treille , and those of Louis Vimeux on the right flank of the château de Bois - Grolleau . As for François Séverin Marceau - Desgraviers , who had just been promoted brigadier general after the Battle of La Tremblaye , he occupied the center with general Marc Scherb , in front of the Papinière moorland where the terrain was open . Kléber informed Jean Léchelle of the situation , who was the chief general of the Army of the West , and he approved . The military competence of Léchelle were known to be null , most of the representatives had agreed to unofficially entrust the commandment to Kléber . That evening , the commissioners Pierre Bourbotte , René - Pierre Choudieu , Fayaud and Bellegarde arrived which brought the number of representatives in Cholet to seven considering Antoine Merlin de Thionville , Jean - Baptiste Carrier and Louis Turreau were already there . The republican forces waited again for a reinforcement of 10 , 000 men of the general Chalbos before pushing further to the north and towards Beaupréau , but they arrived during the night . Republican strategy . The republican generals met in a war counsel early on 17 October . Kléber offered to divide the army in three columns and to march to Saint - Florent - le - Vieil , Gesté and Beaupréau in order to surround the Vendéen army and cut it from the Loire and the road to Nantes . The strategy was approved by the generals from Mayenne , by Marceau and by Merlin de Thionville , however a few other representatives and officers , particularly Chalbos , were against it . Chalbos thought the troops were too tired and the other officers were against dividing the army . Kléber ' s plan was rejected and the counsel opted for an undivided march to Beaupréau . Vendéen strategy . At Beaupréau , the Vendéen officers were as divided as the former during the war counsel held at noon on 16 October . Bonchamps offered to have his Breton soldiers pass the Loire to start an uprising in Brittany and get reinforcements . Talmont , d ' Autichamp and Donissan wanted the whole army to go . On the other hand , d ' Elbée , La Rochejaquelein and Stofflet refused to leave Vendée . As for Royrand , he wished to try to breach enemy lines by the west in order to meet with Charette ' s army . Finally , an attack on Cholet was decided and the army started its march . Nonetheless , Talmont was allowed to leave for Saint - Florent - le - Vieil with 4 , 000 men to take Varades . The battle . In early afternoon of 17 October , the Vendéen army regrouped and strong of 40 , 000 men started the offensive on republican lines north of Cholet . Rapidly it managed to push back Beaupuy ' s first lines to the Papinière moorlands . The Vendéens then burnt down the brooms , creating a huge amount of smoke which prevented the republican artillery from aiming correctly . The Vendéens advanced in formation like regular troops , in three tight lines , which contrasted with their regular tactic . La Rochejaquelein and Royrand commanded the right flank , d ' Elbée and Bonchamps the middle , Stofflet and Marigny the left . Marceau ' s troops which were bombarded by the 22 Vendéen cannons and were clearly inferior in numbers were ready to fall . Kléber thus had the reserve troops intervene . Chalbos ' troops and the 4 , 000 men of François Muller were sent to aid Marceau . Seeing the quantity of Vendéens who were advancing with determination , the arriving republican army fell back to Cholet creating great confusion . Carrier himself fled . At the same time in Bois - Grolleau , Vimeux and Scherb managed to hold against Stofflet and Marigny . In La Treille , Haxo and Beaupuy ' s troops were beaten against La Rochejaquelein and Royrand and pulled back to the faubourgs of Cholet . Kléber then joined this flank and regrouped a few battalions from his reserves , and the 109th infantry regiment , and ordered them to flank the Vendéen lines . The order was correctly executed and seeing this troop flank them the Vendéens thought a new republican army had arrived as reinforcements so a moment of hesitation spread in their ranks . Being subjected to the republican counter - attack , they managed to resist a little while , but facing the multiple charges of the troops of Kléber , Bard and Beaupuy , they panicked and fled . In the middle , Marceau placed his artillery behind his infantry . When the Vendéens attacked , Marceau had his infantry step back to reveal the cannons , which opened fire at the last moment , causing a huge number of losses among Vendéen soldiers . Surprised , the Vendéen middle line fled as well while the republican infantry counter - attacked . D ' Elbée and Bonchamps knew victory was close so with a few hundred cavaliers and soldiers they tried to rally their troops . They didn ' t manage , and ended being encircled by the Republicans . D ' Elbée and Bonchamps fell severely wounded practically at the same time . The last Vendéens fled taking their wounded officers with them . The escape became general and " to the Loire " cries could be heard . At Pontreau , the troops of Lyrot and Piron de La Varenne managed to intervene in time to secure the retreat of the Vendéen army to Beaupréau . Crossing the Loire . Once at Beaupréau , the Vendéen generals decided it was best to leave , the entire army moved to Saint - Florent - le - Vieil in order to cross the Loire . The expedition of Talmont on Varades having easily succeeded , the entry to Brittany was free . Only d ' Elbée , severely wounded , didn ' t follow the army . A small number of Vendéen soldiers took him west where to Charette ' s army where he could seek refuge at Noirmoutier . In the mean time , the republican army had returned to Cholet . Westermann who had stayed at Châtillon - sur - Sèvre during the battle wanted to pursue the Vendéens . Followed by the troops of Beaupuy and Haxo , he briefly fought the 8 , 000 strong Vendéen rear guard , but managed to reach Beaupréau . The town was deserted except for 400 wounded Vendéens who were killed as revenge of the massacre of republican wounded soldiers in the battle of Clisson . On 17 October and 18 , small Vendéen boats went back and forth over the Loire to bring the Vendéen army to the other side , accompanied by tens of thousands of wounded , elderly , women and children . The Vendéens also had 4 , 000 to 5 , 000 republican prisoners . They couldn ' t bring them to the other side , and the officers didn ' t know what to do of them . In her memoirs , Victoire de Donnissan de La Rochejaquelein said the officers all agreed to have them executed but none would dare give the order . The presence of republican prisoners caught the eye of the Vendéen soldiers who wanted to kill them to avenge their wounded generals and the ravages of the republican army . The general Charles de Bonchamps had been transported to a house in Saint - Florent - le - Vieil . Severely wounded , and was dying when he heard that the republican troops were to be executed . He ordered his second Charles de Beaumont d ' Autichamp to prevent this from happening as his dying wish . D ' Autichamp thus showed up and told the soldiers that the dying general wished that the prisoners be spared . Bonchamps was very popular amongst his soldiers , so they obeyed and the prisoners were set free . Virée de Galerne . The republicans were celebrating after the victory at Cholet , certain that the war was definitively won and that the last Vendéens pushed off to the Loire would be easily destroyed . On 19 October at 3 in the morning , the first detachment of hussards of captain Hauteville ( second to Westermann ) entered an astonishingly deserted Saint - Florent - le - Vieil . All the Vendéens had managed to pass to the northern side of the Loire , which the republicans thought to be an impossible feat in such little time . Charles de Bonchamps died 4 hours earlier and his body was buried at the Varades cemetery . Rapidly , the republican prisoners were found and Merlin de Thionville wrote to the Committee of Public Safety that he had told the republican soldiers that they needn ' t feel any recognition to the Vendéens , " enemies of the Nation " , and hoped this episode would be forgotten in history . Contrary to republican hopes , the war in the Vendée was not over . A new campaign called the Virée de Galerne started , risking to spread the uprising to Brittany and Maine , and spreading the war north of the Loire .