92] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
partment by Dumouriez. Operations under Marischal Luckner. First 
Division of the Prussian Army, under the Duke of Brunswick, arrive at 
Coblentz. The Situation and Strength of the different Armies of France. 
Position of the Austrian Army. Maniftsto of the Duke of Brunswick. 
Desertions from the Austrian Armies. Reduction, by the Austrians 
under General Clairfait, of Longwy and Verdun. Siege of Thionville, 
and vigorous and successful Defence. Various Actions between the 
Prussians and the French, under Dumouriez. Sickness in the Prussian 
Army. War with Sardinia, and Successes of the French Troops under 
General Montesquieu. Retreat of the Prussians. 
N the 21st of April, M. de 
Rochambeau left Paris for 
Valenciennes, to assume the chief 
command on the frontier of the 
Netherlands, towards Mons and 
Tournay. The farce that had been 
collected there amounted to nearly 
30,000 men, and had been drawn 
principally from the different gar- 
risons, The general’s orders from 
the ministers of France, were, to 
establish, on his arrival at Valenci- 
ennes, three camps, in order to 
cover the frontier, and to be ready 
to act against the enemy. The 
head-quarters being Valenciennes, 
the Marischal was directed to re- 
tain under his own immediate com- 
mand 18,000 men; and to establish 
at Maubeuge, at the distance of 
twenty miles, asecondarmy of 5,000 
men; while a third was to be formed 
at Dunkirk. The whole army, com- 
posed of all the three, occupied, 
besides Valenciennes and Lisle, Ar- 
ras and Cambray. The army on 
the side of Maubeuge and Cambray 
was commanded by D’Harville; 
that of Dunkirk by Delbeck. Be- 
sides those principal officers, Lieu- 
tenant-General D’Aumont com- 
manded at Lisle, and Caulaincourt 
at Arras ; making in all nine Mares- 
chales de Camp, 
_M. de Rochambeau, greatly 
struck with the undisciplined state 
of the army, determined (April 22) 
to avoid offensive operations, and 
to carry on the war by posts and 
entrenched camps. 
The force under the command 
of Rochambeau was destined to 
cover the frontier towards the Aus- 
trian Netherlands, from the Ger- 
man Ocean, at Dunkirk to Mau-. 
beuge, in French Haynauet, with, 
their right extending to the Meuse. 
The Marquis de la Fayette, ap-. 
pointed to the command of the. 
second army, fixed his head-quar- 
ters at Metz, and occupied Nancy, , 
Thionville, and Luneville. He 
had under hiscommand Lieutenant-, 
General de Wittgeinstein, De Bel- 
lemont, Crillon, Parquet, and De- 
franc, with fourteen Mareschales 
de Camp. By this means was the, 
cordon extended from the banks. 
of the Meuse to the Moselle, and 
retained in checks the important. 
fortress of Luxemburg. ; 
This officer had also conceived a 
very unfavourable opinion of the 
state of the army; but younger, 
more ofa courtier, and milder than 
Rochambeau, he did not deliver his 
sentiments with equal warmth and 
decision. He hoped to be able to 
place matters in a better train, and 
in time to model the army accord- 
ing to the rules of military men. 
The third army was formed on_ 
the Rhine, under Luckner, and 
extended from Landau, by Stras- 
burgh, towards Montbeliard, and 
the pass of Porentrui into Switzer- 
land. 
i 
oe. 
