Defense of the
Dutch Republic 1793
Dutch During the
Revolutionary Wars Part 11
British Attack and French Retreat
by Geert van Uythoven, Netherlands
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The British Night Attack During the following night, Lieutenant J.C. Koff, commanding a gaffelaar on its post opposite Noordschans, detected some movement in the harbour of this village. Not known by him, this movement was caused by a strong French force arriving from the fortress-city Klundert. This force was send after the report was received that the Dutch were trying to land troops at the Noordschans. This report was of course false, probably caused by the transport fleet destined for Willemstad passing by, and the engagement between some of its escorts and the guns at Noorschans. To find out more about the movement he had seen, Lieutenant Koff carefully approached Noordschans, to have a better look. Suddenly he was fired upon by some guns from the French battery there, which was believed to be abandoned. Not knowing what to expect, Kolf set more sail, to be able to manoeuvre quicker. At the same moment, more guns were fired, and much to his surprise some gunboats closed in on the battery, exchanging a lively fire, and apparently trying to land troops! The French replied, with guns and heavy musketry, and the gunboats had to retreat out of range before they had reached the river bank. Lieutenant Koff made contact with the gunboats, learning that it were Captain Berkeley's eight British gunboats. British losses were a Lieutenant Western killed, and another officer and a sailor wounded. Kolf thought that the British were lucky with so few losses, taking in account the heavy French musketry. Next day, Vice-Admiral van Kinsbergen received a report from Captain Berkeley about what had happened. Berkeley wrote that he had been executed a reconnaissance to Noordschans. When his forward gunboats had reached the harbour entrance, they were fired upon with cannon and muskets. he replied with gunfire and musketry of his own, but was not able to execute a landing because of the heavy French fire. Therefore, he found it necessary to retreat, but not before he had silenced the enemy fire. Further, he wrote that Lieutenant Webster was killed, and another one of his officers and a sailor wounded. Vice-Admiral van Kinsbergen replied to Captain Berkeley that he was sorry that the expedition had failed, but added that Berkeley at least should have informed him about the undertaking he had planned. As it was now, Berkeley acted without orders, and the whole riverfront was alarmed by Berkeley's expedition, with the Dutch not knowing what was happening! In addition, the attack was badly executed, and could well have led to the loss of several gunboats. Why decided Captain Berkeley to undertake this 'reconnaissance', as he called it himself, without any orders? Well, that is any one's guess. Possibly he wanted a more active role for the British naval forces. Or he wanted to earn some glory for himself. As it was now, he was lucky the Dutch did not dare to compromise the fresh and feeble alliance with the British, by condemning Berkeley for his unauthorised action. The French Retreat Things were going badly wrong for the French. When hearing of the Austrian advance in the east, General Dumouriez initially did not want to give up the conquest of the Dutch Republic. But after being forced by the Convention on 8 March, he to give up his plans and had to defend Belgium. Dumouriez finally handed over command of the troops in the Dutch Republic to Mar6chal de Camp De Flers. De Flers received orders from Dumouriez to continue with the plans, and to execute a crossing, while Durnouriez would hold the Austrians and Prussians at bay. But not surprisingly, De Flers hesitated. On 18 March, Dumouriez lost the battle of Neerwinden. In order not to be cut off, the French troops in the Dutch Republic had to retreat south. On 22 March, the French evacuated Noordschans and the fortress-city Klundert completely, after having demolished the latters' defence works. Gradually, the French retreated further south, abandoning more and more of the occupied Dutch territory. And gradually, Dutch troops crossed the Hollandsch Diep and occupied the abandoned French positions. As can be imagined, French discipline collapsed during the retreat and the Dutch population suffered much from the badly behaving and plundering soldiers. Especially the village Rucphen was thoroughly plundered. The city Roosendaal feared to suffer the same fate, and asked for protection to the governor of Bergen op Zoom, who, with the French threat disappeared, dispatched six hundred men to Roosendaal for protection. It would go to far, and would not be very interesting, to describe these events in detail. It is time to have a look to what had happened in the eastern part of the Dutch Republic and Belgium, were important events had been taken place. But that will be the subject of the next parts of this series. Next part: The Prussians and Austrians counterattack: the battles of Aldenhoven and Swalmen BibliographyAa, Cornelis van der Geschiedems van den jongst-geendigden oorlog, tot op her sluiten van den vrede te Amiens, bijzonder met betrekking tot de Bataafsche Republiek (Amsterdam 1802)
Footnotes[1] Part 5 and 6 of the series have appeared in First Empire No.
56 and 57 (Jan/Feb and Mar/Apr 2001).
Defense of the Dutch Republic 1793 Dutch in Revolutionary Wars Part 11
The Dutch During the Revolutionary Wars
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