The senior members of the Society of Collectors of Historic Figurines will recognize here a fragment of the excellent survey of W. Aerts on the battle: this had appeared in the S.C.F.H bulletin. nbr II April 1950, p. 5-7.

There is without a doubt in the word Fontenoy something like a legend, so prized in the Belgian annals, like that of the Noble Six Hundred, the one about the ponds of Austerlitz, the sunken road of Waterloo, the phrase of Cambronne and of twenty other histories with which we are crammed, ever for the public sentiment, without ever wanting to understand that truth is always more useful to read than fiction.

To recall the facts briefly; the 11th of May, 1745, in the French line of battle, which spread from Anthoing to the wood of Barry forming from it a near right angle, with the village of Fontenoy at the top, The regiment of the French Guards, minus four of its battalions, occupied the left with the Swiss, the Irish brigade beyond and the brigade of Aubeterre on the right, the space included between the wood and Fontenoy. Invoking an ancient privilege of his regiment, the Duke de Gramont had expressed the desire of choosing his position of battle and his choice was carried on the village of Fontenoy, but the colonels of Dauphin and of Beauvoisis forcefully reclaimed the right to fight in the entrenchments constructed by them, and the Marshal de Saxe sided with them.

After the abortive attempts of the English against the wood of Barry and of the Dutch against Fontenoy, the Duke of Cumberland resolved nothing less than to make a breach between the wood and the village, and massed for this objective eighteen battalions of redcoats, more than 12,000 English and Hanoverians, in an imposing column which marched six ranks deep in three lines each, the English Guards at the head, lead by Brigadier Churchill, a bastard of Marlborough. It was nearly eleven o'clock when this mass, preceded by several cannon, started off to the sound of fife and drum. A fold in the terrain separated the adversaries,

And it is here that M. de Voltaire interjects: "The English and the Hanoverians advanced, preceded by their cannon. MM. the officers of the French Guards, seeing these cannon appear, said the one to the other: It is necessary to go remove them. They went up quickly and were very surprised to find two (three) lines of infantry supporting their artillery. This imprudent venture made them lose one sixtieth of the men, and the rest returned very quickly each into his rank. The English and the Hanoverians advanced and weren't more than fifty paces distant. The English officers greeted the Frenchmen by doffing their hats. The French officers returned the salute. Milord Charles Hay, captain of the English Guards, having advanced out of the ranks, M. the Count d'Hauteroche, [1] lieutenant of the grenadiers, not knowing what he wanted, came to him: - 'Sir,' the Englishman said to him, 'have your people fire.' - 'No, Sir,' answered the Count d'Hauteroche, 'we never fire first."' [2]

With Voltaire and d'Espagnac, Captain J. Colin, author of a remarkable work on the campaigns of Marshal de Saxe, holds the incident to be factual: "Its character a little theatrical," he said, "renders it suspect, but the near unanimity of the contemporary testimonies didn't allow him any doubts. . ." An even stranger reflection, we note in passing is that from the enormous quantity of testimonies and of letters placed today by the author, a solitary letter (without signature, nor place, nor date) reports the fact, and also in somewhat different terms.

"The officers of the head of the first line (English) greeted ours with the hat saying to them: 'To you, Gentlemen, the French, fire.' - The salute was returned to them and they fired first. . ."

The Marshal de Camp de Cossigny said the following: "I am astonished that M..de Voltaire... has reported so puerile an answer to the mocking invitation of the English captain. Moreover, this answer, which could have been most noble, is not right. To whom did M. the count d'Hauteroche say that we never fire first? It is a fact that depends upon circumstances... For me, a lieutenant of the grenadiers of the second battalion of the regiment of Brittany, which formed the left of our army at Malplaquet (1709), I would have answered in similar case only to Milord of the Guards of Queen Anne who attacked us: '- No, gentleman, we don't fire first or last when we are ordered to, but since you invite us out of such good grace to fire, fair enough - I shall commence."'

Have we grounds to say that doubt persists? The English deny the narrative of Voltaire, and here, according to them, is what happened: "The English and French were unexpectedly at thirty paces from each other and stopped instinctively, Lord Charles Hay, a young and ardent officer of the 1st regiment of the Guards, where he commanded the King's company, advanced in front of his battalion and saluted by elevating his hat.

Then he produced a small bottle from his pocket and ironically toasted the health of the French, crying: 'We are the English Guards, and we hope that you will await us and that you won't be swimming the Scheldt, like you swam the Main at Dettingen!' Then, turning toward the troops, he gave out three hurrahs! that were taken up by the troops. A bit stunned by these eccentricities, Biron, d'Auterroche and the others advanced ahead, returned to Lord Hay his salute and cheer, which was echoed by only a few among the French Guards. . ." [3]

The day of the battle of the 27th of June, 1743, the Marshal de Noailles had recommended to the troops posted in Dettingen to march only when they should receive the command from him. But Gramont, his nephew, could not contain his impatience, pushed in front the head of the Guards, dragged the remainder of the army and masked the French batteries who had to defer their fire.

Greeted in the plain by a terrifying fire, then attacked by an irresistible impetus, the Guards were driven from the field and a great number compelled to jump into the river in order to escape. After this misfortune, the jealous called them "the ducks of the Main." The loss of 30 officers and 200 men killed, not counting the innumerable wounded, should have been enough, it would seem, to disarm the bantering of the Court and the town. But, adds Captain Lacolle, don't there always live the "warriors of the Agora" rather more profuse in criticizing than concerned about their own security?

However, to return to Fontenoy, there is hardly a way to reconcile the word of Anterroche and the fusillade of the French Guards, unless by admitting insubordination and a lack of cool-headedness.

Nor had the former method of the Thirty Years War, of holding fire or of approaching the enemy without firing, survived beyond 1700. Until the XVIIth century the musketeer had fired bravely to the cadence of 12 shots per hour, he didn't do much more until the middle of the XVIIIth century, when a trained soldier normally burned off three cartridges per minute.

It is impossible to doubt this fact that the French Guards fired first.

They hardly had discharged their weapons than the rolling fire of the English completely demolished the first French ranks.

But it would be a mistake to believe, as did Captain Lacolle and ourselves after him, [4] that it was a Prussian-style volley.

Some years before Fontenoy, Frederick II had introduced such perfections in the fire of the infantry that the former habit, previously excellent, said Captain Lacolle, of letting the adversaries discharge their muskets and their pistols, and to smash into them immediately "a l'arme blanche," had become a deplorable tactic. Nothing could resist trained battalions beginning a Prussian-style fire: this fire executed by division, such that the front of a battalion 4 men deep having fired, another battalion fired, and thus in succession, while the first reloaded.

But it is doubtful, as we have said, that the French had preserved the tactics out of honor to the time of the Great Cond6. Yet it is doubtful, in the way that Ardant du Picq did it, that the celebrated Prussian fire had ever been executed anywhere on the field of maneuver.

And this is not to be doubted - ask Lawson and Fortescue about this topic - it is that the Prussian drill was not introduced in the English Guards until eleven years after Fontenoy. .

As to what could give birth to the legend, it was the politeness and courtesy which then reigned in the officer corps of all the armies of Europe; that the gesture made by Lord Charles Hay was somewhat out of place in that ambiance of sophistication which existed as much among the English as among the French, witness the following letter addressed the very day after the battle by the Duke of Cumberland, the loser, to Marshal de Saxe, the winner:

"From the camp of Ath, the 12th of May, 1745. Sir, the trumpeter has delivered with care the letter that you wrote me. I am very sensible to the orders that His Very Christian Majesty much wanted to give on the subject of General Campbell (the commander in chief of the English cavalry, severely wounded and fallen into the hands of the French), the same as for the relief of our wounded soldiers. The people in their circumstances are indeed very worthy of His generous attention. He should well know that I assure him also on my side that I will neglect nothing to ease the misfortune of those of yours who may be wounded among us, and that they will have all the care possible, charmed to benefit herein of an opportunity to state my regards to his Majesty.

"I am, Sir, your loving friend. Signed: 'William."'

W. Aerts

Footnotes