The Battle of Kaiserslautern (28–30 November 1793) saw a Coalition army under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel oppose a Republican French army led by Lazare Hoche. Three days of conflict resulted in a victory by the Prussians and their Electoral Saxon allies as they turned back repeated French attacks. The War of the First Coalition combat was fought near the city of Kaiserslautern in the modern-day state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, which is located about west of Mannheim. In the First Battle of Wissembourg, the Coalition army of Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser broke through the frontier defenses and drove the French Army of the Rhine south to Strasbourg. In response to this crisis, the French government appointed Hoche to command the Army of the Moselle and Jean-Charles Pichegru to lead the Army of the Rhine, while urging them to relieve the siege of Landau. In November, Hoche launched an offensive which pressed back the Duke of Brunswick's army to Kaiserslautern. On 28 November, French troops moved on Brunswick's defenses from the north, northwest and west, but for two days the Coalition army fended off the piecemeal attacks of their adversaries. Hoche finally got his entire army into action on the 30th, but the professional Prussian soldiers proved more than a match for the enthusiastic but indifferently-trained French. After the setback, Hoche changed his strategy and turned a large part of his army against Wurmser's exposed western flank in Alsace. The next engagement was the Battle of Froeschwiller in December. Prologue The 36,850-man Coalition army of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick successfully concluded the siege of Mainz on 23 July 1793. The French garrison of 18,675 men surrendered and was released on the promise of not fighting the Coalition for one year. The French government immediately sent the released troops to fight in the internal War in the Vendée. During the siege, the French suffered approximately 4,000 casualties while the Coalition lost about 3,000. The 60,000-strong Army of the Rhine under Alexandre de Beauharnais and the 40,000-strong Army of the Moselle under Jean Nicolas Houchard were poised to march to the relief of Mainz. However, Beauharnais had not informed the Mainz garrison that help was on the way and then took too long to start his movement. After the fall of Mainz, both French armies retreated, the Army of the Rhine to Wissembourg and the Army of the Moselle to