The garrison was commanded by Jacques de Fariaux, an experienced French Huguenot exile in Dutch service. Due to the serious situation of the Dutch, many regiments had been withdrawn from Maastricht after May 1672. In June 1673, eight regiments of States infantry, three regiments of States cavalry, an engineer company and a grenadier company remained. The Dutch troops had been reinforced by a Spanish Division containing a regiment of Italian infantry and two regiments of Spanish cavalry. The defenders totalled about five thousand men. This was about three thousand men below the strength that the city commanders had already in 1671 indicated as the minimum for a successful defence.