of the 5th Line, Lot, République and Rhône-et-Loire, 2nd Battalion of the 17th Line, 4th Battalion of the Moselle, a half company of sappers and eight guns in one foot artillery battery. Vincent's advance guard included one battalion of the Chasseurs de Rheims, five squadrons each of the 1st Chasseurs à Cheval and Gendarmerie Regiments and six guns in one horse artillery battery. First day Brunswick's army was deployed with its right flank resting on the city of Kaiserslautern and its flank covered by the marshy banks of the Lauter River. Just to the north, a regiment was stationed on the castle hill at Otterberg in order to maintain a link with Ernst Christian von Kospoth's division at Lauterecken well to the north. Another division was posted at Trippstadt to the south. The Trippstadt force maintained communications with Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen's corps near Pirmasens. Hohenlohe blocked the eastward routes to Landau via Neustadt an der Weinstrasse and Annweiler am Trifels. Another Prussian corps under Wilhelm René de l'Homme de Courbière operated in the Rhine valley, supporting Wurmser's army and covering the passes in the Vosges. Finally, a brigade under Leopold Heinrich von der Goltz guarded the Pigeonnier height west of Wissembourg. Military theorist Antoine-Henri Jomini commented that Brunswick ought to have massed all these forces against Hoche. He also faulted Hoche for attacking in three separated columns. On 28 November the French army advanced in three columns against the Prussian position. with Taponier leading the right, Hoche the center and Ambert the left. Taponier moved against the village of Vogelweh while Ambert aimed to cross the Lauter at Hirschhorn. Taponier's column was the first to encounter the Prussians and to open the battle, meeting moderate success. The initial attack carried his troops onto the outer ridge of the Hoheneck heights. Taponier also came up against the Galgenberg (Gallows Hill) which was defended by a Prussian redoubt. Alarmed at the march of Ambert's column, Brunswick reacted by sending Kalckreuth north to block it. Kalckreuth's force took a new position with his left flank on the Lauter, his center at Morlautern and his right near Erlenbach. Another division was placed on the Kaiserberg, while Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar was left to defend the western approaches to Kaiserslautern. After leaving Rodenbach, Hoche's column encountered impassable roads in the Voog Forest and had to detour around the obstacle. His troops stayed