he was supposed to act under the orders of Pichegru. On 18 November, Pichegru began a series of attacks on Wurmser's defensive lines in the Battle of Haguenau. The French government reinforced the Army of the Moselle with 15,000 troops taken from the Army of the Rhine and 5,000 from the Army of the Ardennes. Both Hoche and Pichegru were well aware that the main objective was the relief of Landau. In mid-November 1793, Hoche advanced from the Saar with 36,000 troops while the rest of the army guarded the passes through the Vosges. Hoche used rough language with his subordinates; at this time he wrote one of his division commanders Jean-Jacques Ambert, "Listen, bugger of a sans-culotte...". On 17 November, a Prussian raid on the fort at Bitche failed. Leopold Alexander von Wartensleben's column of 1,200 picked soldiers overran the outer defenses with the help of a French traitor. However, they were soon discovered and repulsed with casualties of 120 killed and 251 captured. The French lost 63 men captured and few other losses. The same day, the French divisions of Alexandre Camille Taponier and Louis Pierre Huet bumped into 13,000 Prussians under Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth at Biesingen, north of Mandelbachtal. The 20,000 French troops were drubbed, losing 760 men killed or wounded and 42 captured against a Prussian loss of only 16 killed and 92 wounded. Despite the setback at Biesingen, Brunswick's troops were pulling back into winter quarters and Hoche entered Blieskastel on 18 November. The Prussians abandoned the camp of Hornbach and the French occupied it on the 19th. Believing that he had his enemies on the run, Hoche became very optimistic. Alarmed at the French offensive and anxious that they intended to relieve Landau by moving via Pirmasens, Brunswick made up his mind to offer battle at Kaiserslautern. In fact, Hoche hoped to raise the siege of Landau by striking east from Zweibrücken (Deux-Ponts) and then down the Queich River. Meanwhile, Hoche completely lost track of his enemies. From Zweibrücken he launched his army toward Pirmasens on the 24th only to have to march back to his starting point the next day when he did not find Brunswick. Finally, the French started northeast for Kaiserslautern in three columns. On the left, Ambert moved through Neunkirchen am Potzberg and Reichenbach-Steegen toward Otterberg, north of Kaiserslautern. On the right, Taponier marched directly on Kaiserslautern via