and reassembled his troops at Cérans-Foulletourte. He was followed by Jean Baptiste Kléber and his troops of the Army of Mainz. Marceau wished to wait for Kléber's troops to arrive before attacking but Westermann insisted and launched an attack, Marceau had to follow. The Republican army entered Le Mans by nightfall, overwhelmed all the Vendéen defences. The Vendéens were completely disorganized, chaos resulted in the city where all night long street skirmishes were taking place. La Rochejaquelein, seeing that all was lost, sought only to protect the retreat towards Laval for the survivors. The Vendéens deployed 14 cannons at the gates of the city, managing to cover their retreat and stopping the Republicans. Yet thousands of Vendéens, most of them non-combatants, were stuck inside the town, having taken refuge in the houses. Groups of resisting Vendéen soldiers were spread across the city. They resisted for a long while, standing their ground until the end of the day. Nonetheless, they were eventually destroyed by the Republican artillery under General François Carpentier, which opened fire on the buildings and houses from where shots were fired. The battle then turned into a massacre, with the wounded, women and children who had taken refuge in the houses being forced out and massacred. Kléber and Marceau tried to save the prisoners, but could not hold back their troops. Westermann assembled his hussars and pursued the Vendéens. Those who were slow and fell behind were massacred, but the larger part of the Vendéen army, reduced to half on its strength, managed to reach Laval on 14 December. The Republican cavalry, not daring to enter the faubourgs, decided to head back. According to the Committee of Public Safety, 2,000 to 5,000 Vendéens, both combatants and non-combatants, died in Le Mans, while Republican losses totaled only 30 dead and approximately 100 wounded. Adding to the Vendéen victims of the battle those killed south of Le Mans during the flight to Laval, the total deaths were approximately 15,000. Le Mans Le Mans Le Mans History of Sarthe Le Mans Massacres in France Le Mans