attendance, as the anticipated action was slated to be a joint attack by both French armies. Disagreement as to the best offensive punch ensued, and the council ultimately decided to attempt a plan favoured by General Desaix with the cavalry leading the attack on the enemy’s left by means of the Rhine flood plain. On 2 July Michaud launched the agreed upon attack. On the extreme right, Desaix successfully pushed back the left wing of the coalition forces. Across the other fronts, however, the French armies were halted and then reversed through counterattacks by Prince Baden that inflicted approximately 1,000 casualties. This left Desaix’s division exposed and isolated. Ultimately, Desaix withdrew and at the end of the day, there was no substantial change in the positions that French armies held at the start of hostilities. At Michaud’s next council of war, new plans were made to attack the coalition lines stretching from Kaiserslautern in the mountains, south to Trippstadt, down to the Rhine flood plain at Neustadt and along the Speyerbach River. In this offensive, the cavalry would be used at the outset only to hold the enemy in the front of the French armies while infantry units from both the “Moselle” and the “Rhin” confronted the enemy in the mountains. On 13 July Michaud launched the second French offensive. In the center of the battle, French General Alexandre-Camille Taponier's division attacked the Prussian camp at Trippstadt. The attack was held off for an entire day, but overnight the Prussians pulled back to a position closer to Kaiserslautern. On the left, the French advance divided the coalition lines preventing the Austrians from supporting the Prussians. On Taponier’s right, French General Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr captured Johanniskreuz. Further to the right the Prussians held Schänzel against an attack from the west but were forced to retreat to Neustadt when the French attacked from the south via Albersweiler and Ramberg. Prussian General Theodore von Pfau was killed during the fighting at Schänzel. General Michaud planned to continue the battle and attack the Prussians at Kaiserslautern on 16 July but overnight the evening before Hohenlohe retreated out of the mountains to Frankenthal on the Rhine. On 17 July Saint-Cyr advanced forward and the French occupied Kaiserslautern. Aftermath This victory gave the French control of the mountain passes across the lower Vosges, but in the end the battle was all for naught. Later that