Unit Name: | Catholic and Royal Army of Anjou and Haut-Poitou |
Native Name: | Armée catholique et royale d'Anjou et du Haut-Poitou |
Dates: | 1793–1800 |
Size: | 40,000 |
Motto: | Pour Dieu et le Roi |
Battles: |
The Catholic and Royal Army of Anjou or Catholic and Royal Army of Anjou and Haut-Poitou, also nicknamed the Grande Armée, was the largest royalist army during the War in the Vendée against the French First Republic. It was formed and operated in the northern and eastern parts of the coastal region.
The army's mobilization capacity was 40,000 men. Although the unit had permanent organization, it was very loose. The army was organized into divisions that grouped parish companies, with no intermediate units.
The army successfully stormed Saumur on 9 June 1793. On June 12, Jacques Cathelineau was elected the army commander. Then, the highest-level Royalist commanders decided to attack Nantes, but the attack in the end of June failed due to the lack of coordination between the army of Anjou and Haut-Poitou and the army of Pays de Retz and Bas-Poitou. Cathelineau died in the fighting in Nantes.
Saint-Florent-le-Vieil | Charles de Bonchamps, later Jacques Cathelineau | 12,000 | |
Cholet and Beaupréau | Maurice d'Elbée | 9,000 | |
Maulévrier | Jean-Nicolas Stofflet | 3,000 | |
Châtillon-sur-Sèvre | Henri de la Rochejaquelein | 7,000 | |
Bressuire | Louis Marie de Lescure | 6,000 | |
Argenton-les-Vallées | de Laugrenière | 2,000 | |
Loroux | 3,000 |
In June 1794, the army's general staff was reorganized:
General in Chief | Jean-Nicolas Stofflet | |
Lieutenant General | La Bouëre | |
Major General | Trottouin | |
Chief of Cavalry | Rostaing | |
Chief of Infantry | Berrard | |
Chief of Artillery | ||
Secretary-general | Henri Michel Gibert | |
Commissioner-General, responsible for civil affairs | Abbot Étienne-Alexandre Bernier |