into two groups. Gambetta thus decided to reorganise its troops into two armées and to dismiss general d'Aurelle de Paladines. One part, regrouping 15th, 18th and 20th corps to form the Armée de l'Est, under General Bourbaki, was based at Gien and Salbris in order to send help to Belfort then resisting the Germans. The other part, 16th and 17th corps, commanded by Chanzy, set up base in Beaugency and thus became the second armée de la Loire. To it were also added the 19,000 poorly equipped troops left over from the closure of Camp Conlie in December 1870. It met the Prussians at Josnes and Villarceaux on 7 and 8 December, at Beaugency from 8–10 December, then at Fréteval and Château-du-Loir (Sarthe) on 14 and 15 December. Although reinforced by 21st corps under general Jaurès, it lost the battle of Le Mans to the south-west of Le Mans on 11 and 12 January 1871, with 7,000 of its troops dead or wounded, 22,000 captured and 50,000 deserters. The battles continued at Sillé-le-Guillaume (Sarthe) on 15 January and at Saint-Mélaine on 18 January. The armée thus retrenched behind the river Mayenne, until the armistice signed by the provisional government on 28 January 1871. On 14 March 1871 the armée was dissolved. Military units and formations of the Franco-Prussian War Field armies of France