Editing Battle of Wattignies (section)

===French reaction===
Leaving 10,000 soldiers in the Camp of Gavrelle to support Bouchain and Cambrai, Jourdan immediately moved to the relief of Maubeuge with the remaining 20,000 men. He also called in 12,000 reinforcements from the Camp de Madelaine and 10,000 more from farther north.{{sfn|Dupuis|1909|pp=89–90}} Without waiting for the troops from the north, Jourdan assembled a division under [[Jacques Fromentin]]. Leaving the camp on 3 October, it arrived at [[Guise]] on the 6th. That same day [[Antoine Balland]]'s division left the Camp of Gavrelle and reached Guise on 9 October. Berú promptly sent Gratien's brigade and other units from Lille and Mons-en-Pévèle, this body of 11,701 soldiers was assigned to [[Florent Joseph Duquesnoy]].{{sfn|Dupuis|1909|pp=91–94}}

Left wing commander Jean-Baptiste Davaine sent 9,012 troops under Martin Jean Carrion de Loscondes which arrived at Guise on 10 October. The [[Committee of Public Safety]] placed the ''Army of Ardennes'' under Jourdan's control on 2 October. The army's commander Ferrand was immured in Maubeuge and orders were sent for one detachment to operate from [[Philippeville]]. A motley force of 4,263 men was assembled under [[Pierre Raphaël Paillot de Beauregard]] and reached [[Fourmies, Nord|Fourmies]] on 11 October. The next day, several units from the north joined Beauregard's division. Jourdan's army shifted east from Guise to [[Avesnes-sur-Helpe]] between 11 and 13 October.{{sfn|Dupuis|1909|pp=95–97}}

On 14 October, Jourdan and Committee of Public Safety member [[Lazare Carnot]] reconnoitered the Coalition front south of Maubeuge. The numerical strength of the army was 37,906 infantry and 6,370 cavalry for a grand total of 44,276, with the troops distributed as follows. Fromentin's division numbered 7,357 men including 1,495 cavalry. Carrion's division, now under [[Étienne Jean-François Cordellier-Delanoüe]], counted 6,866 troops including 668 horsemen. Balland's division consisted of 13,294 soldiers, of which 1,440 were cavalry. Duquesnoy's division had 10,906 men including 1,960 mounted troops. Beauregard's division comprised 5,853 troops of which 837 were horsemen.{{sfn|Dupuis|1909|pp=103–104}} Historian [[Ramsay Weston Phipps]] remarked that Beauregard's men were "bad troops under a bad General".{{sfn|Phipps|2011|p=256}}