support them in good time and despite fierce assaults the Republican encirclement could not be broken. Royalist reaction On 10 and 11 July, the Royalists launched a plan to break through the Republican lines. Two Chouan columns, one of 2,500 men under Lantivy and Jean Jan and the other of 3,500 men under Tinténiac and Cadoudal, would embark on British ships and land at Sarzeau. The Chouans, wearing British uniforms, had the task of attacking the Republican lines from the rear. However, the first column dispersed and the second was ready to attack but was met by chevalier Charles de Margadel with news from the Royalist alliance in Paris of a new landing near Saint-Brieuc and diverted towards the Côtes-d'Armor against Cadoudal's advice. Tinténiac was killed in an ambush on 17 July and no further landing took place to reinforce them. Angered at this, the Chouans threw off their British uniforms and, led by Cadoudal, managed to evade the Republican troops and get back to their homes. In the meantime, on 15 July, 2,000 more émigré soldiers, commanded by Charles Eugène Gabriel de Sombreuil landed at Quiberon as reinforcements. The émigrés, then the Chouans, thus launched new offensives but were beaten back, with Louis Charles d'Hervilly mortally wounded in the attack and émigré losses already risen to 1,500 dead. The assault on Quiberon Lazare Hoche thus ordered a decisive assault on the night of 20 July against the fort de Penthièvre and its garrison of 4,000 men, despite a violent storm and the fort being covered by the British naval guns. However, the Republican prisoners brought over as part of the Royalist force deserted and delivered the fort to Hoche by treachery, with many of its defenders being massacred. The British ships then opened fire on the fort, but their shots landed on Royalist, Republican and civilian alike. Joseph de Puisaye judged the situation hopeless and ordered his men to re-embark onto the admiral's flagship so as to limit the extent of the Royalist defeat and so, despite his later being accused of deserting to save his own life, 2,500 émigré and Chouan troops were evacuated in British rowing-boats. Only Sombreuil and his men, cornered as they were, stood in the way of the Republican advance and they put up a last resistance. However, on the morning of 21 July Hoche and Sombreuil began negotiations and the Royalists capitulated shortly