Infernal columns
The infernal columns (French: colonnes infernales) were operations led by the French Revolutionary general Louis Marie Turreau in the War in the Vendée, after the failure of the Royalist Virée de Galerne. Following the passage on 1 August 1793 and 1 October 1793 by the National Convention of laws, the National Convention stated that the goal was to exterminate "brigands" in the area south of the river Loire (the so-called Vendée), 12 army columns were formed and sent through the Vendée to exterminate the local anti-Republican population.