After two days of combat Jourdan's troops compelled the Habsburg covering force led by François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt to withdraw.

At a time when failed generals were often executed or imprisoned, Jourdan had to endure interference from Lazare Carnot from the Committee of Public Safety.

Coburg's main army encircled 25,000 French soldiers in Maubeuge while about 22,000 Austrians under Clerfayt were formed in a semi-circle, covering the southern approaches to the fortress.

On the second day, Jourdan concentrated half his army at Wattignies and after a tough fight, forced Coburg to concede defeat.

Two days later, an Austrian corps led by Johann Peter Beaulieu routed the French and recaptured Menen (Menin).

Though Coburg might have easily seized Cambrai and Bouchain, which had been stripped of their garrisons to form the relief columns, the Coalition commander chose to move against Maubeuge instead.

When Jourdan protested that he lacked the experience to command the 104,000-man army, the representatives on mission notified him that refusal would result in his arrest.

[12] On 1 October 1793, Jourdan's large army was distributed across a broad front in four great masses, starting at the North Sea and running southeast.

At the Camp of Madelaine near Lille, Antoine Anne Lecourt de Berú directed 13,564 infantry in 28 battalions and 817 Chasseurs à Cheval, in three regiments.

[17] At dawn on 29 September, a column under François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt crossed the Sambre at Berlaimont, southwest of Maubeuge.

In a series of skirmishes, the three Austrian columns pressed east, finally driving Desjardin's troops into the Maubeuge entrenched camp, with losses of 150 men and two cannons.

[18] To the east of Maubeuge, Austrians under Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour crossed the Sambre near Marpent and Jeumont.

When some soldiers complained to Chancel that they were hungry and tired he replied, "Listen young men, it takes a lot of work and privation in order to gain the honor to fight and die for your country.

[22] Leaving 10,000 soldiers in the Camp of Gavrelle to support Bouchain and Cambrai, Jourdan immediately moved to the relief of Maubeuge with the remaining 20,000 men.

Berú promptly sent Gratien's brigade and other units from Lille and Mons-en-Pévèle, this body of 11,701 soldiers was assigned to Florent Joseph Duquesnoy.

[24] Left wing commander Jean-Baptiste Davaine sent 9,012 troops under Martin Jean Carrion de Loscondes which arrived at Guise on 10 October.

[25] On 14 October, Jourdan and Committee of Public Safety member Lazare Carnot reconnoitered the Coalition front south of Maubeuge.

[30] From right to left the French divisions were Beauregard at Solre-le-Château, Duquesnoy on the main road from Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Balland in reserve at Avesnelles, Cordellier at La Capelle and Fromentin at Dompierre-sur-Helpe.

In the afternoon Bellegarde launched a counterattack led by Austrian regular infantry, while two regiments of cavalry swept down on the French left flank.

[36] Jourdan, Carnot and Representative Ernest Dominique François Joseph Duquesnoy accompanied Balland's division in the center.

In the thick of the bullets, Jourdan bravely urged his troops on but an Austrian force appeared from the direction of Saint-Aubin, threatening the French left flank.

Louis Henri Loison capably covered the retreat with the French cavalry, saving the foot soldiers from being cut to pieces.

[48] Fearful of a sortie by the large garrison of Maubeuge, Coburg lifted the siege and retreated across the river at Hautmont and Buissière.

[11] Jourdan did not follow up his victory; after adding the Maubeuge garrison, he had about 60,000 French soldiers, opposed by 65,000 well-entrenched Coalition troops on the north bank of the Sambre, from Solesmes on the west to Thuin on the east.

[57] In Paris, Carnot demanded an advance on Charleroi and Jourdan tried to comply but found that the Coalition held all the river crossings and heavy rain had ruined the roads.

This was the usual prelude to arrest and execution but Jourdan was allowed to return to the army and put his soldiers in winter quarters.

In the night the nearly equal partition of force, which was largely responsible for the failure, was modified, and the strength of the attack massed opposite Wattignies.

To drive away a poorly led covering force of 20,000 with the 45,000 available to the Army of the North should have posed no great problem, but the business was sadly bungled.

Carnot insisted that there should be a double encircling movement, a favorite maneuver of his, combined with a frontal attack, thus carefully dispersing the French numerical superiority.

[63] Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, a French Royalist who emigrated to the Russian Empire attributed the Coalition failure to the Dunkirk expedition that split the army, the retreat from Maubeuge, chronic slowness and the "disastrous system of forming a cordon, which causes one to be weak everywhere".