Fontenoy 1745

The Battle

by Ken Bunger
Illustrations by Jurgen Olk

At ten in the morning of May 10th, Lord Crawford's force of five British and one Hanoverian battalions, twelve squadrons, 500 pioneers, six 3-pounder galloper guns and two 8-inch howitzers of the Royal Artillery attacked Vezon. After a brief exchange of fire the French withdrew from Vezon and other outlying hamlets. After clearing these obstacles of French, the Pragmatic Army formed line of battle. By the time the last units had arrived in position, darkness fell and the men slept under arms. Lord Crawford's suggestion to Cumberland that the Barri Wood also be occupied was ignored. This oversight was to have disastrous consequences.

Ingoldsby got his brigade moving on May 11th at 6 a.m. and deployed it in front of Vezon about one-half mile from the Barri Wood. During this halt Ingoldsby requested artillery support from Cumberland. This was the first indication of the day that maybe Ingoldsby wasn't the man for this critical job. Captain Mitchelson arrived with his three 6-pounders and began to fire canister into the edge of the woods. Cumberland arrived on the heel of the guns and urged Ingoldsby to get his attack moving. Cumberland then rode off. After a hesitant advance, Ingoldsby again halted. The presence of the Volontaires de Grassin had caused Ingoldsby to believe the Barri Wood to be very strongly held. Cumberland's subsequent orders left much to the discretion of the lethargic (or drunk) Ingoldsby.

With no quick resolution of Ingoldsby's difficulty likely, Cumberland determined that he had to get on with the main attack. This involved both the main thrust up the open slope in front of Vezon and the Dutch assaults on Fontenoy and Antoing.

At 7 a.m. fifteen squadrons of Sir James Campbell's cavalry trotted out from Vezon to form a line behind which the British and Hanoverian infantry could deploy. The cavalry was greeted by heavy French artillery fire. Sir James was mortally wounded in the thigh. Command of the cavalry went to Crawford and Hawley. With French roundshot tearing through their ranks, the troopers withdrew back to the wooded environs of Vezon.

With the cavalry accomplishing nothing, except providing the French gunners with the opportunity for ranging shots, it became the turn of the Anglo- Hanoverian infantry under Sir John Ligonier.

The seventeen battalions marched out of Vezon and onto the sloping plain in columns of grand-divisions. The French artillery in Fontenoy and in the redoubts, at about 400 yards distance, gleefully started playing on these new red-coated targets. Despite this destructive fire the battalions maintained their order and wheeled into two lines of battle. The French moved their battalion guns closer to the British infantry. Countering this move, Cumberland brought seven 6-pounders (Skrine says 3 pdrs.) to the front and drove away the smaller French guns.

There the infantry remained under the sustained French bombardment until 9 a.m. while Lord Ligonier waited for word that the Dutch had taken Fontenoy.

Word Never Came

That word never came. The attack by Prince of Waldeck's Dutch was, if anything, more useless than the abortive hesitant movements of Ingoldsby.

Waldeck formed eighteen battalions astride the Vezon to Fontenoy road and advanced. Unfortunately, having carried out no reconnaissance, both he and his men were surprised at the strong French defenses in Fontenoy. A storm of musketry and canister drove the Dutch back to the wooded hamlet.

Waldeck's left column fared little better. Twelve battalions with twenty squadrons advanced upon Antoing from the south. The Dutch were fired on from the three redoubts and Antoing to their front and took enfilade fire from the French 12 pounders high on the opposite side of the Scheldt River. The Dutch attack ground to a halt by 11 a.m.

Both of the flank attacks which hitherto had been thought to be crucial had failed. Cumberland concluded that the only road to victory led straight up theopen slope to the awaiting French. "Butcher" Cumberland (a title he would soon acquire in Scotland) had had enough of finesse and placed himself in front of the red-coated infantry beside the incredulous Ligonier. The British bulldog instinct had taken over. There is some authority that the Austrian Count Konigsegg initially urged Cumberland to attempt this rash advance between two enemy strongpoints. It is certain that Lord Ligonier opposed it.

Ligonier's infantry were formed into two lines of battle. From right to left the first line consisted of the Guards Brigade (1 Gds, 2 Cds, 3 Gds) under Colonel Carpenter, Royal Brigade (1, 21, 31) under Geo. Churchill, and

Onslow's Brigade (8, 25, 33, 19). The second line consisted of the Buff's Brigade (3, 23,32) under H. Skelton, Sowle's Brigade (11, 28, 34, 20) under Thomas Bligh, and the Hanoverian Brigade of four battalions. In addition the force was joined by the 13th Foot and Boschlanger's Battalion led by General Zastrow detached from the wounded Ingoldsby's command.

Cumberland, in front of the first line, gave the order to advance. Up the slope the approximately Sixteen thousand men, battalion guns and dozen 6-pounders surged. As the two lines advanced between Fontenoy and the Redoubt d'Eu, this defile narrowed. Cumberland's command was forced into three lines. During the whole of the allied advance the French artillery tore at their flanks with enfilading fire. The red-coated lines kept their order stepping over their own dead. After a half-mile the first line crested the slope and stood muzzle to muzzle with the French at a range of forty yards.

The Gardes-Francaises were now directly opposite the British Guards Brigade. At this momentary lull, Lord Charles Hay, colonel of the First Guards, stepped out to the front of the Guards. He took a long swallow from his silver hip flask, bowed towards the French and shouted: "I hope, gentlemen, that you are going to wait for us today, and not now swim the Scheldt as you swam the Main at Dettingen." Hay didn't have long to wait. The French lowered their muskets and let loose an ineffective volley into the Guards. The British returned the salute with a fusilade that obliterated the entire French first rank of 700 men. This was enough for the French Guards and they broke.

After a short advance, the British halted to trade volleys with the French Brigade Aubeterre. This second line of French were also driven away. The next blows were delivered by Le Roi, Royal Vaisseaux, Hainault, Royal, Soissonnais and La Couronne. The British, now in battalion "squares", probably the observers meant the battalions doubled ranks), repulsed this third French line. The British and Hanoverians now stood three hundred yards within the French lines with a disordered French Army to their front. Was this to be another glorious victory for the British infantry as at Malquepet? Unfortunately, there was no Marlborough to exploit the fleeting moment of victory. it was the French who were commanded by one of history's "Great Captains"!

Galled by the continuous fire and new threats to their flank, the entire allied command was forced to form a large hollow square.

After seeing his lines torn open, de Saxe rode over to reassure the King. He then galloped from brigade to brigade giving orders. The pain caused this dropsy-ridden commander must have been excruciating.

At 1 p.m., de Saxe launched his first counter-attack. Repeated attacks by almost the whole of the French horse were unsuccessful against the steady British-Hanoverian musket fire. If this was merely to pin the British in the crossfire (as de Saxe later asserted), it was an excessive waste of cavalry.

De Saxe's infantry reserve, under Lowendahl, at this moment arrived on the field. Lowendahl's corps, led by the Regiment of Normandie, attacked the allied square. The Irish Brigade, driven away earlier in the day, also came forward. These "Wild Geese" came charging in with bayonet shouting "Remember Limerick!". A ferocious melee ensued with the French infantry taking terrible casualties. The British square maintained its order but began to fall back.

Glory, But...

At this point, about 2 p.m., the French Household Cavalry (Maison du Roi) came forward along with the Carabinieres. Not to be denied their part in the day's glory, they charged upon the retreating redcoats but were bloodily repulsed. The French horsemen had their glory but deSaxe lost his final reserve.

The square marched back through the gauntlet maintaining its order all the way back to Vezon. The Anglo-Hanoverian cavalry, led by the Blues, belatedly arrived to cover the British retreat. Cumberland, caught up in the infantry advance, seemed to have forgotten about his cavalry. When the cavalry did come forward, they were further delayed by the routing Dutchmen from the left flank.

Nothing has been said about the Dutch since early in this narrative, simply because the entire Dutch contingent, over fifty percent of the Allied Army, became completely irrelevant to the battle.

The Black Watch and the 12th Foot were withdrawn from Ingoldsby and sent to the Dutch before Cumberland began the advance. Led by the British the Dutch made one final try at Fontenoy at the time Cumberland began his advance. The assault went in at Fontenoy with the Black Watch actually getting in among the French entrenchments with targe's and broadswords. The French were in too great a strength and the highlanders withdrew. With this repulse, the Dutch lost all heart and remained inactive the remainder of the day. Part of the blame must be laid upon Cumberland, who, far off in the middle of the British square, gave no further orders to Waldeck.

The Allied Army reformed in the rear of Vezon and began its retreat to Ath. The French did not pursue. De Saxe's cavalry was largely blown and the still intact Dutch would have been on his flank. Tournai fell to de S4axe in June followed by the remainder of the Flanders. Cumberland retreated to Antwerp and became tied to the defense of this vital seaport. Fontenoy had indeed been a British disaster of major proportions.

The battle was one of the bloodiest of the Eighteenth Century. De Saxe's casualties totalled over 7,000 men. The foot lost 53 officers and 1681 men killed, while 321 officers and 3282 men were wounded. The French had 1800 cavalrymen killed and wounded.

The allied loss in dead and wounded as 7545 officers and men. The bulk of the casualties were British and Hanoverian soldiers. The Dutch lost 1544 men or 6.5 percent of their force. Many of the battalions that assaulted with Cumberland lost nearly half their strength (source note: Grant's book has a typographical error on page 80. The numbers given for the British and Hanoverian units' wounded are actually the total of both killed, missing and wounded).

The battle again showed Maurice de Saxe to be one of history's great captains. It also unfortunately clearly demonstrated the military ineptitude of the young Cumberland for high command. The English Prince was also poorly served by his allied generals.

Cumberland, in his hurry to come to the relief of Tournai, completely failed to adequately reconnoiter the French positions. He failed to find the great redoubt in the Barri Woods. He failed to discover the great strength of the French Fontenoy-redoubt-Antoing line. Once the battle began, he abdicated all control by personally accompanying the attack of the Anglo-Hanoverian battalions. Even with these mistakes and an uninspired plan, Ligonier's infantry gave Cumberland one last chance at decisive victory. if the British and Hanoverian cavalry had been ready to exploit the breakthrough of the infantry, rather than remain idle, the entire French Army might have been destroyed.

KEY TO BATTLE MAP

1. Redoubts garrisoned by 2 bns d'Eu
2. 4 bns Dauphin and 1 bn Beauvosis, and later 1 bn du Roy in Fontenoy
3. Redoubts garrisoned by detachments from Diesbach and Bettens. 2 bns Diesbach served the artillery. 2 bns Diesbach and 2 hns Berens formed line between redoubts.
4. 4 bns Piedmont and 1 bn de La Marine in Anthoing.
5. 1 bn Biron went to Fontenoy during battle.
6. 4 bns Normandie
7. 1 bn Royal Corse
8. 6 bns Irish Brigade
9. 3 bns Royal Vaisseaux
10. 1 bn Hainaut, 3 bns Royal, 1 bn Soissonnais, 3 bns La Couronne.
11. 2 bns Gardes Suisses
12. 4 bns Gardes Francaises
13. 3 bns Courten
14. 1 bn Aubeterre
15. 3 bns du Roy
16. 3 bns Crillon

Note on following, the number of squadrons is given in parentheses.
17. French 12 pdrs on heights
18. Royal Roussillon (4)
19. Prince Camille (4)
20. Cravates(4), Fiennes(3), FitzIames (4), Clermont- Prince (4), Bra ncas (4), Colonel General (4).
21. Carabiniers (10), Gendarmes (8), Chevau-1egers (1), Mousquetaires (2), Carries du Roy (8), Grenadiers-a-cheval (1).
22. Berry (4), Noailles (4), Penthievre (4), Pons (4), Brionne (4), Chambrillant (4), Royal Etranger (4).
23. Royal Dragoons (4), Beufremont Dragoons (5), Mestre cle Camp Dragoons (4).
24. Reserve arriving late in day - Cuirassiers (4), Egmont (4), Tallerand (4), Orleans (4), Clermont-Tonnerre (4), du Roy (4), Egmont Dragoons (4), 3 bns Touraine, 3 bns Nivernois,4 bns Auvergne.

AA Dutch Infantry
BB Dutch Cavalry
CC Ingoldsby's Infantry
DD Ligonier's Infantry
EE Position of British Cavalry

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