Armée de la Loire The Armée de la Loire was a French army of the Franco - Prussian War . It was formed in October 1870 by Léon Gambetta , interior minister and minister for war in the Government of National Defence , then taking refuge in Tours after the French defeat at Sedan on 2 September 1870 had destroyed the Imperial field army . The newly raised force was formed out of francs - tireurs ( volunteer irregulars ) , provincial " Gardes Mobiles " ( territorials ) , naval forces , zouaves and tirailleurs from Algeria , plus regular soldiers in depots and reservists . Together these diverse units formed the 15th army corps under Joseph Édouard de la Motte Rouge . Apart from the North African units , the Army had few officers with fighting experience , insufficient artillery , and its troops were under - trained . It fought at the Battle of Orléans ( 1870 ) and Battle of Le Mans ( 1871 ) and was dissolved on 14 March 1871 . October and November 1870 . On 10 October , at Artenay ( Loiret ) , the armée de la Loire unsuccessfully met the first Bavarian Korps under general von der Thann , protecting the south flank of the German forces besieging Paris . The Armée had to abandon Orléans on 11 October and Léon Gambetta sacked La Motte - Rouge and replaced him with general Louis d ' Aurelle de Paladines , who set up base in Salbris , in Sologne . The Armée ' s 70 , 000 men and 150 guns reinforced the 16th corps of general Antoine Chanzy and of 17th corps under Louis - Gaston de Sonis . It beat the Bavarians at Coulmiers ( Loiret ) on 9 November and retook Orléans , but the Bavarians were reinforced by Frederick Francis of Mecklenburg - Schwerin who had besieged Toul and later by the contingents of prince Frederick Charles of Prussia , made available by the surrender of marshal Bazaine at Metz ( 27 October ) . Gambetta reinforced the armée de la Loire with the 18th army corps of general Billot and 20th corps of General Crouzat . These were beaten on 28 November at Beaune - la - Rolande ( Loiret ) by the Prussians and fell back on Orléans . On 1 and 2 December , 16th and 17th corps were the victors at Villepion and Terminiers ( 1 December , against forces led by Prince Leopold of Bavaria ) but beaten at Loigny ( 2 December ) . Orléans was re - taken by the Germans on 4 December in the Second Battle of Orléans . Reorganisation 5 December 1870 . After the defeat at Loigny and the reoccupation of Orléans by the Germans on 4 December , the armée de la Loire found itself separated into two groups . Gambetta thus decided to reorganise its troops into two armées and to dismiss general d ' Aurelle de Paladines . One part - regrouping 15th , 18th and 20th corps to form the armée de l ' Est , under general Bourbaki - was based at Gien and Salbris in order to send help to Belfort then resisting the Germans . The other part , 16th and 17th corps , commanded by Chanzy , set up base in Beaugency and thus became the second armée de la Loire . To it were also added the 19 , 000 poorly - equipped troops left over from the closure of Camp Conlie in December 1870 . It met the Prussians at Josnes and Villarceaux on 7 and 8 December , at Beaugency on 8 – 10 December , then at Fréteval and Château - du - Loir ( Sarthe ) on 14 and 15 December . Although reinforced by 21st corps under general Jaurès , it lost the battle of Le Mans to the southwest of Le Mans on 11 and 12 January 1871 , with 7 , 000 of its troops dead or wounded , 22 , 000 captured and 50 , 000 deserters . The battles continued at Sillé - le - Guillaume ( Sarthe ) on 15 January and at Saint - Mélaine on 18 January . The armée thus retrenched behind the River Mayenne until the armistice signed by the provisional government on 28 January 1871 . On 14 March 1871 the Armée was dissolved .