It was without due regard to this principle, that Marshal Villeroi, on
assuming the command of the army of Italy, during the campaign of 1701,
attacked, with unwarrantable presumption, Prince Eugene, of Savoy, in
his entrenched position of Chiavi, on the Oglio. The French generals,
Catinat among the rest, considered the post unassailable, but Villeroi
insisted, and the result of this otherwise unimportant battle was the
loss of the _élite_ of the French army. It would have been greater
still, but for Catinat’s exertions.
It was by neglecting the same principle, that the Prince of Condé, in
the campaign of 1644, failed in all his attacks upon the entrenched
position of the Bavarian army. The Count Merci, who commanded the
latter, had drawn up his cavalry skilfully upon the plain, resting
upon Freyberg, while his infantry occupied the mountain. After many
fruitless attempts, the Prince of Condé, seeing the impossibility of
dislodging the enemy, began to menace his communications--but the
moment Merci perceived this, he broke up his camp and retired beyond
the Black mountains.