dispersed. The Guards, with the Seventh and Fifteenth Light Dragoons,
under Abercromby, were at Mouveaux; four Austrian battalions and
the Sixteenth Light Dragoons were at Roubaix; the Fourteenth,
Thirty-seventh, and Fifty-third were on the road between Roubaix and
Lille, in order to repel any attack from the garrison of the latter
place; two Hessian battalions lay at Lannoy, and four squadrons of
Austrian hussars were engaged in patrolling. The Duke’s right was
indeed covered, but his left was exposed to attack not only by the
garrison of Lille but by Bonnaud’s superior force about Flers; and
thus both his column and Otto’s practically passed the night pent in
on three sides by forces of thrice their strength. To the left, or
southward, there was a gap of four miles between the Duke’s troops and
the nearest of Kinsky’s detachments, which lay at Pont-à-Tressin and
Chereng, with the main body still further south at Bouvines; while the
Archduke Charles, with nearly one-fourth of the whole army, lay over
against him at Sainghin on the other side of the Marque, with advanced
detachments pushed far to the south-west at Seclin. Finally, Clerfaye,
with rather more than a fourth of the entire Allied force, was still on
the western side of the Lys at Wervicq. Certainly the dispositions lent
themselves to a plan of annihilation.
◆May 18.◆
At three o’clock on the morning of the 18th, while Coburg was signing
the orders for his troops, the French army began its march to the
attack. On the south Osten’s division was left about Flers and
Lezennes, to watch the Archduke Charles and Kinsky; while Bonnaud,
dividing his eighteen thousand men into two columns, directed
them northward, the one by L’Hempenpont upon Lannoy, the other by
Pont-à-Breug upon Roubaix. Simultaneously Malbrancq’s brigade marched
south from Roncq upon Mouveaux; Macdonald’s from Mount Halluin upon the
western front of Turcoing; Compère’s from Mouscron upon the northern
front; Thierry’s, also from Mouscron, together with Daendels’s from
Aelbeke, upon Wattrelos; while Jardon’s brigade moved from Belleghem
towards Dottignies to hold the Hanoverians in check. Excluding this
last brigade, sixty thousand men in all were thus turned upon the six
posts in which the eighteen thousand men under Otto and the Duke of
York were dispersed.
Otto’s force, being nearer to the enemy, was the first to feel
the weight of the attack. General Montfrault, who commanded at
Tourcoing, perceiving the overwhelming strength of the enemy, begged
reinforcements from the Duke of York, who sent him two Austrian
battalions from Roubaix, but with strict orders that they should return
in the event of their arriving too late to save the town. As a matter
of fact they did arrive too late, for the garrison had already been
driven from Tourcoing; but none the less they attached themselves,
as was perhaps natural, to Montfrault, who stood fast on the eastern
skirts of the town and held back the enemy for a time, until a
French battery unlimbering on ground to the north of him, forced him
to retire. Seeing himself threatened by large bodies of cavalry,
Montfrault formed his troops into a large square, with four battalions
and light artillery in front, one battalion on each flank, and the
cavalry in the rear. In this order he fell back, his heavy artillery
and waggons being enclosed in the centre of the square, and his light
troops skirmishing on all four sides. It was about half-past eight when
he began his retrograde movement; but already Wattrelos, the first
post on his rear, was in possession of the enemy. The garrison, two
Hessian battalions, had manfully resisted an attack of six times their
number until eight o’clock, when, finding themselves in danger of being
surrounded, they retired, and, with the help of two companies sent
forward by General Otto, withdrew successfully to Leers. Montfrault
thereupon found himself compelled to leave the main road for a by-way,
which ran between Wattrelos and Roubaix, in order to continue his
retreat.
Between six and seven o’clock, rather later than the opening of the
attack on Tourcoing and Wattrelos, Bonnaud’s two columns came up from
the south upon Lannoy and Roubaix; and shortly afterwards Malbrancq’s
brigade from the north fell upon Mouveaux, while a part of the French
force that had captured Tourcoing appeared also on the north of
Roubaix. The Duke of York despatched urgent messages to recall the
two Austrian battalions which he had sent to Otto, but of course in
vain; and meanwhile he made such head as he could with his handful of
troops against overwhelming odds. The troops at Mouveaux were disposed
in two sides of a square, the left showing a front towards the east
at Mouveaux, the guns stationed in the angle at the northern end of
the village, and the right thrown back to the hamlet of Le Fresnoy. To
the south, the British brigade of the Line under Major-general Fox,
near Croix, sought to bar the way against part of Bonnaud’s division
from Lille; but to defend the rest of the ground there were but three
Austrian battalions. Of these half a battalion was stationed in Roubaix
itself, and the remainder echeloned to the right rear of Fox’s brigade
behind the sources of the Espierres brook, which ran along the southern
skirts of the village. These Austrian battalions seem to have been
the first to give way, and one of them, by Craig’s account, did not
behave as it ought; but they were pressed hard both in front and on
their right flank, which, owing to the absence of the two battalions
sent to Otto, was wholly uncovered. One brigade of Bonnaud’s division
therefore succeeded in forcing its way between Mouveaux and Roubaix
to Le Fresnoy; and the Duke thus saw Abercromby and the brigade of
Guards absolutely cut off from him. Moreover, though he knew it not,
the victorious French of Thierry’s and Daendels’s brigades were coming
down from Wattrelos upon his rear. Seldom has a General found himself,
through no fault of his own, in a more extraordinary position. He had
been assured that the Archduke Charles would join him from the south,
and he had therefore ordered Abercromby to defend Mouveaux to the
last extremity; but not a sign of an Austrian was to be seen whether
to south or north. His first instinct was to ride to the Guards at
Mouveaux; but this was seen to be out of the question. He then tried
to make his way to Fox’s brigade, but found that the French were in
possession of the suburbs of Roubaix, and that he was cut off from
this brigade also. Realising then that, his Austrian battalions being
dispersed, he had not a man left to him except two squadrons of the
Sixteenth Light Dragoons, he took a small escort from them and rode to
Wattrelos, hoping to obtain from Otto the means for extricating the
Guards. Meanwhile he sent orders to Abercromby to retire to the heights
on the east side of Roubaix.
Montfrault, however, had fared ill in his attempt to withdraw. Until he
reached the ground between Wattrelos and Roubaix, his square preserved
good order; but being attacked at that point by overpowering numbers
from the south as well as from north and west, it was broken up, and
fled in disorder towards Leers. Meanwhile General Fox, finding himself
absolutely isolated, at length gave the order for his brigade, which so
far had held its own, to retire. The retreat began in perfect order,
and the brigade, having successfully fought its way to the road at
Lannoy, followed it for some distance, under incessant fire from all
sides, until checked by a battery covered by an abatis, which the
French had thrown up on the road. The first shots from this battery
struck down several men, and Fox for the moment feared that surrender
would be inevitable; but fortunately in the ranks of the Fourteenth was
a French emigrant who knew the district well, and undertook to lead the
brigade across country. It pursued its retreat therefore under constant
fire of artillery and musketry in front and on both flanks, and with
cavalry constantly threatening its rear; but it kept its assailants
at bay, and at one moment made so sharp a counter-attack as to take
temporary possession of some French guns. Thus partly by good luck,
partly by good conduct, partly by the misconduct and mismanagement of
the enemy, the three battalions contrived to reach Leers, with the loss
of all their battalion-guns excepting one, and of nine officers and
five hundred and twenty-five men out of eleven hundred and twenty. The
greatest credit was given to General Fox for the coolness, skill, and
patience with which he extricated his brigade.
Abercromby appears to have begun his retreat from Mouveaux at about
nine o’clock, but of necessity very slowly, having with him a
considerable number of guns. The retirement was conducted in perfect
order as far as Roubaix, the Seventh and Fifteenth Light Dragoons
covering the rear with great gallantry. At Roubaix the French, though
in occupation of the suburbs, were not in possession of the little
walled town, which was still held by a dismounted squadron of the
Sixteenth Light Dragoons. The place consisted of a single long street,
the direct continuation of which led to Wattrelos, while, just outside
the eastern gate, the road to Lannoy turned sharply to the right, being
bordered on one side by a deep ditch and on the other by the Espierres
brook. To defile through the town took necessarily much time, but the
guns emerged safely and the Guards also. Next to the Guards were the
Austrian Hussars, still in the street; then in rear of them a party of
the Fifteenth; next to this party were the Sixteenth, who were formed
up in the market-place; and in rear of all were the remainder of the
Fifteenth, holding the pursuing French in check. All was still in order
when a French gun posted on the Wattrelos branch of the street suddenly
opened fire from the edge of the town, sending shot after shot among
the Austrian Hussars. The ordeal would have been a severe one for any
troops, and presently the Hussars dismounted and tried to find a way
out among the houses, but in vain. The trial became unendurable as the
French pressed on and opened fire on all sides upon the horsemen thus
pent in for slaughter; and at last the whole body remounted, galloped
wildly down the road, swung round the corner, where the French infantry
thrust vainly at them with their bayonets, and raced onward for three
or four hundred yards, when the foremost troopers suddenly found
the way blocked by horseless guns. The French had brought a second
gun to enfilade the road to Lannoy, and the drivers of the British
cannon had fled. The shock of this mass of galloping horsemen suddenly
checked was appalling. In an instant the ground was strewn with men
and horses, kicking and struggling in frantic confusion, while a
number of bât-horses dashed into the ranks of the Guards, plunging
and lashing out, with their loads hanging under their bellies. For
a short time the disorder appears to have been beyond remedy, for a
belt of wood surrounding the town gave excellent shelter to the French
sharpshooters, who had a very easy target in the mass of struggling
men and animals. Very soon, however, the Guards recovered themselves,
and cleared a way for the cavalry to pass on beyond the wood to open
ground. There the Light Dragoons rallied, the rear-guard was re-formed,
and the retreat, always under heavy fire, was resumed towards Lannoy.
That village, which was enclosed by a low earthen rampart and a shallow
ditch, had likewise been attacked early by one of Bonnaud’s brigades
from Lille, but had been defended with the greatest gallantry by
two battalions of Hessians, who were apparently still in possession
when the British troops approached it, though surrounded on the
west side, and indeed nearly on all sides, by the French.[241] The
British officers, however, could see no sign of a friendly garrison,
and Colonel Congreve was actually wheeling his cannon round to open
fire on the place, when there galloped up to them some blue-coated
horsemen, who, being mistaken for Hessians, were allowed to approach
without molestation, and succeeded in cutting the traces of some of
the guns before they were discovered. The Guards then perceiving
their retreat to be cut off, faced about against their pursuers, and,
leaving the high road, made their way across country as best they could
south-eastward to Marquain. The Hessians in Lannoy, either before or
shortly after this, were forced to evacuate the village, and, finding
the road to Leers blocked by the enemy, were likewise obliged to make
their way across country in disorder, losing out of nine hundred
officers and men some three hundred and thirty, of whom two hundred
were cut off and captured in Lannoy itself.
Meanwhile the Duke of York, conspicuous by the star on his breast,
had been hunted all over the country by the enemy’s dragoons, and
had escaped, as he frankly owned, only by the speed of his horse. On
reaching Wattrelos he found it in the hands of the French, but passing
beyond it under constant fire he came upon a gallant little party of
Hessians still holding the bridge of the Espierres brook. These by a
final attack with the bayonet gained a little respite for him, but
were presently swept away from the bridge, and escaped only by fording
the brook neck-deep. The Duke, thinking apparently that the bridge
was lost, or not knowing of its existence, spurred his horse into the
brook; but the animal rearing up and refusing to enter the water, he
dismounted, scrambled over on foot, and taking a horse from one of
his aide-de-camps, at last succeeded in finding Otto. About Leers and
Nechin the fragments of Otto’s force, together with some of the Duke
of York’s men, rallied upon the few battalions that held these places.
The French did not press their advantage, and at half-past four the
action came to an end. The loss of the Allies was about three thousand
men killed, wounded, and missing, which was relatively slight, for,
with proper management and conduct on the part of the French, not a man
of the Duke’s and Otto’s columns would have escaped alive. The Brigade
of Guards lost one hundred and ninety-six officers and men killed,
wounded, and missing, the flank-companies being the heaviest sufferers;
while the Seventh, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Light Dragoons, who by
general admission behaved admirably, lost fifty-two men and ninety-two
horses. The total loss of the British of all ranks was nine hundred
and thirty, besides which nineteen out of their twenty-eight guns were
captured.
It may be asked what the rest of the army was doing on this day, while
these two columns, together less than one-third of the whole, were
in process of annihilation. The answer is that, for some reason, it
observed a conspiracy of inaction. Bussche sat still at Dottignies
exchanging occasional shots with Jardon’s brigade. Clerfaye crossed
the Lys near Wervicq at seven o’clock in the morning, and turning
eastward advanced between Bousbecque and Linselles, where he was met
by Vandamme’s brigade, which numbered eight thousand men against his
sixteen thousand. He engaged the French, overthrew their right wing,
took eight guns, and then remained stationary; until, being informed
of the approach of more French troops about Bondues, he withdrew to
the Lys, which he recrossed on the next day, and thence retreated
northward. The behaviour of Kinsky and of the Archduke Charles was
still more extraordinary. Kinsky, on being asked by one of his officers
for orders at six o’clock in the morning, replied that he was sick
and no longer in command. The Archduke Charles received at five in
the morning the order to move at once upon Lannoy, a distance of six
miles, so that his troops might well have come upon the scene of action
between eight and nine. He did not march till noon, though within sound
of the guns, nor did he strike the road from Tournai to Lille until
three, when he received orders to return to Tournai. The military
renown justly earned later by the Archduke forbids us to believe that
this delay was due to ignorance; and the fact that, though the Duke of
York had early informed the Emperor of his danger, not a word was sent
to hasten the Archduke or Kinsky, shows clearly that their torpidity
was not unexpected nor disapproved at headquarters. Jealousy of the
Duke of York and of Mack are among the reasons assigned to account
for the general paralysis of the Austrian commanders; but possibly
the true reason was that Thugut was sick of the war in Belgium, and
wished the English to sicken of it also. Why he should have chosen the
slaughter of several hundred British and Austrians as the best means
of forwarding his purpose, and how he persuaded Austrian officers to
second him therein, are matters which only an Austrian can determine.
For us it must suffice that the decisive battle of the campaign was
lost by the deliberate design of the Imperial Generals. Before long
they were to learn that those who court defeat for dishonest ends may,
when they least desire it, find defeat thrust upon them.[242]
VOL. IV. BOOK XII. CHAPTER XI
◆1794.◆
◆May 19.◆
The entire army of the Allies, with the exception of Clerfaye’s corps,
was gathered into camp about Tournai in the course of the 19th, the
Emperor being received in silence when he rode into the town, while the
Duke of York was loudly cheered by the inhabitants.[243] The condition
of the army was very far from satisfactory. The troops themselves, or at
any rate the British, were not seriously shaken by the rout of the
previous day; but the Emperor and the Austrian commanders were much
discouraged, and the animosity of the various nations towards each other
was dangerously embittered. The British, above all, were furious against
the Austrians for leaving them to be overwhelmed without so much as an
attempt to assist them. “It is impossible,” wrote Craig to the War
Office, “to bring the Austrians to act except in small corps. I lament
that we should be destined as victims of their folly and ignorance. Do
not be surprised at the word ignorance: I am every day more and more
convinced that they have not an officer among them.” These were hard
words, but they were true and just, though the Archduke Charles in later
days redeemed himself from this reproach. ◆May 20.◆ However, for the
moment the commanders laid aside their differences and agreed that the
attack should be renewed, this time with united forces, upon Mouscron;
and meanwhile Coburg dispersed the whole army in a semicircle around
Tournai; the advanced posts running from Camphin on the south by
Baisieux, Willems, Nechin, Leers, Estaimpuis, and St. Legers to
Espierres, while the inner circle of entrenchments ran from the Scheldt
on the north by Froyennes, Marquain, and Lamain to the suburb of St.
Martin and the citadel of Tournai itself.
The French Generals, as already narrated, made no effort to follow up
their victory of the 18th, but awaited the return of Pichegru, who,
on the news of the victory, hastened from the Sambre to turn it to
account. On the 22nd, after a consultation with his officers, Pichegru
decided to make a general attack upon Coburg’s position, and directed
that Souham with four brigades,[244] numbering from thirty to forty
thousand men, should assail it on the right or northern half of its
front from Espierres to Leers, while Bonnaud’s division should fall
upon its left about Templeuve, and Osten’s division should make a
demonstration still further to the south about Baisieux. May 23.◆ On
the following day between six and seven o’clock in the morning the
action began; and after long and hard fighting the Allies were finally
driven from three important points, namely, Blandain and the hill of La
Croisette immediately adjacent to it, a little to the west of Tournai,
and Pont-à-Chin upon the Scheldt, a little below the city. To abandon
to the enemy these posts, particularly Pont-à-Chin, which lay on the
direct road from Courtrai to Tournai and commanded the navigation of
the Scheldt, was impossible; and Coburg decided that they must be
recovered at any cost. Throughout this long day’s fighting the troops
that had borne the brunt of the work on the 18th had been held in
reserve; but at about six o’clock in the evening Fox’s brigade of the
British Line was called out to recover Pont-à-Chin which had already
been taken and retaken three or four times. The brigade went into
this action with fewer than six hundred men, having lost half of its
numbers just four days before; but the three gallant regiments, though
unsupported, carried the village unhesitatingly with the bayonet,
pressed on to the low heights to south of it, swept everything before
them, so far as their front extended, and captured seven cannon.
◆ May 22.◆ The day ended, after a severe struggle of fifteen hours,
in the retreat of the French, with the loss of some six thousand men
and seven guns; the fire, both of musketry and artillery, having been
the heaviest ever remembered by the oldest soldiers present. Both
sides, however, fought for the most part in dispersed formation, and
inflicted, comparatively speaking, little damage upon each other. The
one exception was Fox’s brigade. “Had their order of attack,” wrote
Calvert, “been adopted by the Allies in general, the day would probably
have ended in the ruin of the French.” But the losses of the brigade
amounted to one hundred and twenty killed, wounded, and missing; and
there are few troops that can be trusted, after losing half their
numbers on Sunday, to storm a position held by a superior force and
lose one-fifth of their remnant on Thursday. Some indeed claim that
but for this handful of British soldiers the day would have been lost
to the Allies;[245] but whether this be true or not, the 22nd of May
should be a great anniversary for the Fourteenth, Thirty-Seventh, and
Fifty-Third.