Battle of Oudenaarde

Battle of Oudenaarde

Part of: War of the Spanish Succession

Battle of Oudenaarde

date	July 11, 1708 (Greg.calendar)
place	Oudenaarde
output	Allied victory

Parties to the conflict
France	Great Britain Holy Roman Empire United Netherlands
Commander
Duc de Vendôme Duc de Bourgogne	Duke of Marlborough Prince Eugene of Savoy
Troop strength
80,000	70,000
losses
	1,060 dead and 2,560 wounded

The Battle of Oudenaarde (French Bataille d'Audenarde ) was fought on July 11, 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession . The opposing armies were about equally strong in this conflict. While the French military leaders disagreed in the conduct of operations because of competition, the allies under the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene were characterized by uniform leadership. The French were badly beaten, as a result of the victory it was possible for the Allies to break into northern France and to conquer the fortress of Lille by mid-October .

prehistory

The efforts of the allies for the campaign of 1708 were initially directed towards the recovery of the Spanish Netherlands . To this end, the imperial rulers under Prince Eugene of Savoy were to march up the Rhine from the Moselle and, after unification with the imperial contingent in the Koblenz area, join the Anglo-Dutch troops of the Duke of Marlborough as quickly as possible. By July 5th, the Duke Vendôme's army had surprisingly captured Ghent and Bruges . The French threatened the province of Brabant, the fortified city of Oudenaarde , 55 km from Brussels in eastern Flanders , was the next target of their operations. This was supposed to prevent the enemy from crossing the Scheldt and cut off the connection between the Menin and Courtrai . Two French armies with 130 battalions, 216 squadrons and 120 cannons were concentrated in the Mons area.

At the council of war on July 8, the Allied Commander-in-Chief decided to strengthen the Duke of Marlborough Oudenaarde considerably with troops. In the area south of Brussels, British and Dutch troops, Hanoverians, Prussians, Hesse and the Imperial troops with 112 infantry battalions, 197 squadrons and 113 cannons were deployed. On July 8th the French stood before Lessines, an extreme march of the Marlborough avant-garde prevented on the night of 9/10. July the intention of Vendômes to cross the Scheldt north of Oudenaarde. The first attacks by the French Lieutenant General de Chémerault with 3000 men on Oudenaarde were repulsed. Over 80,000 French under the orders of the Duke of Vendôme and the French Prince and around 70,000 British and Dutch under the orders of the Duke of Marlborough and Imperial and Prussians under the command of Prince Eugene marched on the Scheldt for battle. The Duke of Bourgogne wanted to set up his army on the left bank of the Scheldt in front of Oudenaarde, secure the crossing points of the Scheldt at Gavre by means of entrenchments and advance with an army corps on Menin. Vendôme insisted on crossing the Scheldt together to attack the enemy on the other bank directly.

The battle

Louis Joseph Duke of Vendôme

The Duke of Marlborough at Oudenaarde, painting after John Wootton

Dutch infantry, 1701-13

Eugene of Savoy

On July 10th the allied army had passed over the Dender. Eugen and Marlborough had seen through the French intentions and immediately began their own operations. On the morning of July 11, the allies sent an advance guard under Major General Cadogan with a strong corps against the Scheldt to secure the river crossing at Oudenaarde for the following main army. At around 10 a.m., the construction of four ship bridges began immediately. The main army followed in 4 columns, strong cavalry protected the Tete. At noon Irish cavalry arrived on the Scheldt and walked at a strong trot over the ship bridges, then the English marched with 11,000 men on both sides of the village of Eyne and covered the march of the imperial under Prince Eugene. Seven Swiss battalions under the Duc de Biron had established themselves in the village of Heurne. Lord Cadogan was first attacked by 20 enemy squadrons, which had come from Gavre to support the still weak infantry. Cadogan and his cavalry advanced across the Eyne brook towards Heurne. At the windmill in front of Heurne, 8 Hanoverian squadrons under General Rantzau attacked the French cavalry regiments "maison royale" under Colonel de la Breteche, but were thrown back. The intervention of the Prince Elector of Hanover with the Leib-Schwadron, however, successfully threw themselves against the enemy. The commandant of the squadron, Colonel Johann Albrecht von Losecke, fell. The French vanguard, which had established themselves in the village of Eyne, meanwhile withdrew to the main force in good time, the rest were quickly fought down by Cadogan's troops.

The rapidly advancing majority of the French were already forming the order of battle, while the Allied infantry was still in transition. The Duke of Vendôme demanded that Bourgogne, together with the left wing, which he commanded, launch a massive attack against the cavalry of the right wing of the allies. This venture gave the allies additional time to carry out their deployment unhindered and with undivided strength. While Vendôme changed his offensive plans and wanted to wait for the allies behind the Norken brook, the Duke of Bourgogne suddenly turned his right wing to the left in order to establish a connection across the Norken brook. When Vendôme suddenly let the infantry on his wing advance across the stream, the duke gave another counter-order, which caused confusion among the infantry in front.

On the right wing, later led by Marlborough, the Prussians under General von Natzmer came up first, and under this the second meeting with the regiments of St. Laurent, Reden, Eltz and Hahn marched. Soon after, General Bülow's Hanoverians formed the first right-wing meeting alongside the English . The Duke of Argyll commanded 20 battalions here, including 6 Hanoverian battalions under Major General von Bernstorff.

The Imperialists under Prince Eugene on the left wing immediately attacked the main French power. At first quickly gaining ground due to the force of violence, the left wing came under increasing pressure from the opposing forces. Marlborough immediately sent 18 battalions of the Hanoverians and 20 battalions of the Prussians under Major General Wylich and Lottum for support after Eugen's call for help . A double encirclement ordered by Marlborough by the Corps of the United Provinces under Field Marshal Heinrich von Nassau-Ouwerkerk failed, however, because it was not possible to bridge the Scheldt on simple pontoons in this short time. The steadfastness of the Prussians under General von Grumbkow stabilized the front of the allies.

Result

For incomprehensible reasons, the French had not thrown almost a third of their armed forces into battle. Although this reserve could have intervened at any time against the weaker right wing of Marlborough on the elevated terrain at Norkenbach. The total loss of the French is said to have been less than 10,000 men, including 8,000 prisoners, and 25 cannons, 32 standards and 46 flags fell into the hands of the victors. The loss of the allies was about 1,060 dead and 2,560 wounded.

The French had receded under the protection of the walls of Ghent. Although badly beaten, the arrival of French reinforcements under the Duke of Berwick prevented the Allies from taking full advantage of the victory the following day . However, the invasion of northern France was open to the allies. To protect the fortress of Lille, Marshal Boufflers was able to strengthen the garrison to 15,000 men by July 28th. While the army of the Duke of Bourgogne remained watching on the Scheldt, the troops under Vendôme went back to Bruges and began to flood the whole area as far as Ostend by opening the locks there . The siege of the fortress of Lille, which Prince Eugene began on August 12, led to success on October 22, the remaining crew of 8,000 men on the citadel did not capitulate until the beginning of December.

literature

• Archibald Alison : The Military Life of the Duke of Marlborough. Verlag Trowisch and Son, Frankfurt ad Oder 1848, pp. 213–225.
• Alfred von Arneth : Prince Eugene of Savoy. Volume II: 1708-1718. Vienna 1858, pp. 22-25.

Illustrations

The Battle of Oudenaarde is one of the battles depicted by Ignace-Jacques Parrocel in the so-called Battle Picture Hall of Eugene of Savoy's Winter Palace .

• The Battle of Oudenaarde 1708 (detail of the painting)