Army of the Western Pyrenees The Army of the western Pyrenees ( " Armée des Pyrénées occidentales " ) was one of the French armies of the French Revolutionary Wars . From April 1793 until 12 October 1795 , the army fought in the Basque Country and in Navarre during the War of the Pyrenees . After indecisive fighting during the first year of its existence , the army seized the Spanish port of San Sebastián in August 1794 . By the time the Peace of Basel was signed on 22 July 1795 , the Army of the western Pyrenees captured significant portions of northeastern Spain . The army commanders with the longest tenure were Jacques Léonard Muller , who served from October 1793 to August 1794 , and Bon - Adrien Jeannot de Moncey , who served from August 1794 until the army was disbanded . Emperor Napoleon I appointed Moncey a Marshal of France in 1804 during the First French Empire . Organization . The army came into existence by a decree of 30 April 1793 , when the Army of the Pyrenees was divided into the Army of the eastern Pyrenees and the Army of the western Pyrenees . This occurred after the outbreak of fighting in the War of the Pyrenees . When first deployed in spring 1793 , the army had 8 , 000 soldiers organized into two divisions , with a total of 15 battalions ( bns ) and 18 independent companies . The regular units were the 20th , 80th , and 148th Infantry Demi - brigade s ( 2 bns each ) and the 5th Light Demi - brigade . In addition there were the National Guard units , " Aldudes " bn , 3rd bn / " Dordogne " , 3rd bn / " Landes " , 4th bn / " Lot - et - Garonne " , and " Paris Louvre " bn . The cavalry regiments were the 18th Dragoons , " Volunteers of the Western Pyrenees " ( 12th Hussars ) , and " Bayonne Volunteer Chasseurs " ( 24th Chasseurs à cheval ) . By mid - 1794 , effective strength reached 66 , 000 men . In June 1795 the army comprised 66 battalions and four regiments of cavalry . The army headquarters was first established at Bayonne , then later at Saint - Jean - de - Luz . The left division , based at Saint - Jean - Pied - de - Port was commanded by General of Division Pierre François Lambert Lamoureux de Genettière . Wounded , he was replaced on 8 June 1793 by General of Division Louis Dubouquet . In 1794 , the army was divided into three divisions , led by Generals of Division Moncey , Henri Delaborde , and Jean Henri Guy Nicolas de Frégeville . The front - line divisions had 31 battalions . In addition , General of Division Jean Mauco commanded a reserve division based at Saint - Jean - Pied - de - Port . In October 1794 , a new division was formed , under the orders of General of Division Jean Antoine Marbot . Moncey was promoted to army command after his brilliant success in capturing San Sebastián on 3 August 1794 . He enjoyed relatively good relations with the Representatives - on - mission . In any case , the Reign of Terror ended on 27 July 1794 , and with it the French government ' s practice of sending unsuccessful generals to the guillotine . At the time of the army ' s dissolution on 12 October 1795 , 18 battalions were retained to garrison the western Pyrenees , while 36 battalions and two cavalry regiments joined the Army of the West to fight in the War in the Vendée . Operations . According to historian Digby Smith , no battles of importance occurred in the western Pyrenees in the year 1793 . However , the French republican forces fought a number of skirmishes against Spanish troops and their French royalist allies . Examples include actions fought by the 5th Light Infantry Demi - Brigade on 6 June 1793 at Chateau - Pignon and at Aldudes in June 1793 . On 5 February 1794 , Dubouquet successfully defended the fortified Sans Culottes Camp on a hilltop near Hendaye against 13 , 700 Spanish troops led by José Urrutia . On 3 June , a 2 , 300 - man French brigade led by General of Brigade Lavictoire , part of Mauco ' s division , stormed the Izpegi Pass ( Col d ' Ispeguy ) , 13 . 5 km west of Saint - Jean - Pied - de - Port . The 1 , 000 defenders included Spanish and French royalist soldiers . The same day , Colonel Jacques Lefranc seized the Izpegi Ridge and other French troops captured positions near the Maya Pass . On 23 June near Bera , Navarre ( Vera ) , Don Ventura Caro ' s 8 , 500 Spanish soldiers were repulsed by a French force defending the fortified Mont Calvari . On 10 July , General of Brigade Antoine Digonet ' s 4 , 000 - strong brigade drove Spanish and French royalists from their defenses atop Monte Argintzo , 10 km south of Elizondo . The Spanish commander , Marquis de Saint - Simon was badly wounded and 49 captured French royalist prisoners were massacred by the victorious French republican forces . On 23 July , the Army of the Western Pyrenees attacked the Spanish with the three front - line divisions of Moncey , Delaborde , and Frégeville in the Battle of the Baztan Valley . Army commander General of Division Muller placed Moncey in control of the operation , which overran the Spanish positions near Elizondo and Doneztebe ( Santesteban ) . The French then turned north , following the Bidasoa River northward at the end of July . On 1 August , Moncey seized the heights of San Marcial and the town of Hondarribia ( Fuenterrabia ) , reaching the coast . Cut off by the French , Don Vicente de los Reyes surrendered with 2 , 000 Spanish soldiers and 300 cannon . On 3 August , Moncey captured San Sebastián and 1 , 700 more Spanish soldiers plus 90 cannons fell into French hands . Moncey took the town of Tolosa in August and was promoted to command the army on 1 September . From 15 to 17 October , Moncey launched a broad front offensive from the Baztan valley and the Roncevaux Pass toward Pamplona known as the Battle of Orbaitzeta . After clashes at Orbaitzeta in the east , Mezquiriz ( Mezkiritz ) in the center , and Lekunberri in the west , the French army defeated the army of Pedro Téllez - Girón , 9th Duke of Osuna . An arms foundry north of Orbaitzeta and the Spanish navy ' s mast store at Irati were captured by the French . A final clash occurred at Bergara before the onset of cold weather and a disease outbreak ended operations for the year . In the winter of 1794 - 1795 Moncey reorganized his army , which had seen 3 , 000 men die from disease . He finally received a siege train and 12 , 000 reinforcements arrived from the Army of the West in June . Moncey began to advance on 28 June and rapidly pressed back Crespo ' s Spanish forces . The French captured Vitoria on 17 July and Bilbao on 19 July . When news of the Peace of Basel arrived in early August , the Army of the Western Pyrenees was across the Ebro and preparing to invest Pamplona . Commanders . Army commanders and their tenure are listed as follows . MG Thomas - Alexandre Dumas , born in Haiti of European and African parents , was appointed commander in chief of the Army in the western Pyrenees by order of the Executive Council on 8 September 1793 and joined the army on 28 October . But the representatives - on - mission opposed his taking command and kept Muller in provisional command , by an order dated 29 October . At the beginning of December , under a new order of the Executive Council , Dumas left the Army of the western Pyrenees without having taken command . Instead , he led a column of reinforcements to the Army of the West .