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Octidi 8 Messidor

Octidi 8 Messidor, jour de l'échalotte
shallot day

Calendrier Militaire

Year II.

Army of the North, Ardennes, and Moselle.
Jourdan, general-in-chief.
Memorable victory at Fleurus, after a 18-hour fight, by 70,000 Republican troops against 100,000 coalised troops; the enemy flees, losing 10,000 men.

Army of Eastern Pyrenees.
Charlet, commanding officer.
Capture of Belver, and the Spanish are completely routed; 100 enemy casualties, 300 prisoners.

Army of Sambre and Meuse.
Kléber, Bernadotte, Poncet, Daurier, commanding officers.
The French prevail against

the enemy, at the gates of Lernes, Marchiennes, Monceau and Souvret; the enemy flees and loses many troops.

Year III.

Army of Alps and Italy.
Serrurier, division general.
Petit-Guillaume, brigadier-general.
Defeat of a numerous Piemontese corps, which came to take Ormea; many enemy casualties.

Year IV.

Army of the Rhine and Moselle.
Desaix, division general, commanding officer.
Capture of Offembourg; 200 enemies killed, 200 prisoners; capture of 2 cannon.

Comments

Oddly enough, the text does not mention that, for the first time in a set-piece battle, a tethered balloon provided aerial reco. This was l'Entreprenant, crewed by Captain Coutelle. Balloon reco has already been used during the Maubeuge siege, but the posterity mainly remembers Fleurus, not Maubeuge.


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