Louis XVIII had appointed Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois as governor, with General Eugène Édouard Boyer de Peyreleau as his deputy.

De Vaugiraud provided the corvettes Acteon and Diligent, and the schooner Le Messager, with a contingent of French troops from Martinique.

[4] Rumours of Bonaparte's defeat had begun to reach Guadeloupe in July, but were dismissed as British propaganda by Linois and Boyer-Peyreleau.

[1] At dawn the next day, 8 August, the British 1st and 2nd brigades landed at Anse Saint-Sauveur,[4] on the south-eastern coast of Basse-Terre Island, driving the opposing French troops up into the hills.

The following day the 3rd Brigade landed at Baillif, on the south-western coast, preventing the scattered French forces from regrouping.