However, while the two main armies were engaged at Engen, Claude Lecourbe captured Stockach from its Austrian defenders (the latter commanded by Joseph Louis, Prince of Lorraine-Vaudémont).

Unwisely, Kray set up his main magazine at Stockach, only a day's march from French-held Switzerland.

[6] General of Division Jean Victor Marie Moreau commanded a well-equipped army of 137,000 French troops.

First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte offered a bold plan of operations based on outflanking the Austrians by a push from Switzerland, but Moreau declined to follow it.

A French column would distract Kray from Moreau's true intentions by crossing the Rhine from the west.

Bonaparte wanted General of Division Claude Lecourbe's corps to be detached to Italy after the initial battles, but Moreau had other plans.

[7] The Right Wing was led by Lecourbe and included four divisions led by Generals of Division Dominique Vandamme, Joseph Hélie Désiré Perruquet de Montrichard, Jean Thomas Guillaume Lorge and Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty.

These included General of Division Louis-Antoine-Choin de Montchoisy's 7,715 infantry and 519 cavalry, detached to hold Switzerland.