Battle of Ekeren
Map of the Battle of Ekeren 1703, 1712
| date | June 30, 1703 |
|---|---|
| place | Ekeren near Antwerp , today's Belgium |
| output | Tie with a slight advantage on the French side |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 10,000 men | 40,000 men |
| losses | |
|
2,400 |
more than 2,800 |
Carpi - Chiari - Cremona - Kaiserswerth - Luzzara - Cádiz - Friedlingen - Vigo - Schmidmühlen - Ekeren - Höchstädt (1703) - Gibraltar - Speyerbach - Schellenberg - Bonn - Höchstädt (1704) - Vélez-Málaga - Cassano - Barcelona (1705) - Sendlinger Murder Christmas - Calcinato - Ramillies - Turin - Castiglione - Almansa - Toulon - Lille - Oudenaarde - Malplaquet - Almenara - Saragossa - Brihuega - Villaviciosa - Denain - Rio de Janeiro - Barcelona
The Battle of Ekeren on June 30, 1703 was a battle in the War of the Spanish Succession . The French armed forces encircled a Dutch division that barely escaped complete annihilation. As a result of this battle, hopes for a decisive victory for the Allies in 1703 were finally destroyed.
background
After taking Bonn on May 15, 1703, the Duke of Marlborough planned to take Ostend or Antwerp or at least force the French into an open battle. He ordered the Dutch general Menno van Coehoorn to march to Ostend and lay siege to the city. The Dutch general Van Sparre was supposed to keep southwest of Antwerp, while his colleague Obdam was supposed to approach from the south of Bergen op Zoom and Marlborough wanted to attack Lier . However, because of their trade competition , the United Netherlands was not exactly eager to open the ports of Antwerp and Ostend to English trade. Therefore Coehoorn did not besieged Ostend, but only plundered the area between Ostend and Antwerp.
Obdam, however, stuck to the plan and marched on June 28 from Bergen op Zoom in the direction of Antwerp and arrived the next day in Ekeren, seven kilometers from Antwerp. However, the Duc de Villeroy was not deterred by Marlborough's diversionary maneuver and sent all his troops from Diest to protect Antwerp. When Marlborough learned of this, he tried to warn Obdam but was too late.
The battle
In the early morning of June 30th, French dragoons marched from Merksen and Ekeren in the direction of Kapellen to cut off the Dutch escape route to Breda and Bergen op Zoom , located near Hoevenen . The Marquis de Bedmar and his Spanish troops were positioned near Wilmarsdonk. This made it possible to ensure that the Dutch were surrounded on all sides by superior troops.
Soon the Dutch vanguard spotted the French dragoons and so Obdam immediately sent his cavalry to Hoevenen. The order came too late, however, the village was already overrun by the French. An attempt to take the neighboring Muisbroek failed. When the French attacked in turn, Obdam tried to take Oorderen . He was briefly successful with this, but was soon expelled by the French, who quickly recaptured the village.
The fighting continued all day. At eight o'clock there were no more signs of Obdam and so Slangenburg decided to launch an attack on Oorderen. This took place in the form of a surprise bayonet attack led by Friesheim. Friesheim led his men wading through the water, a direction from which the French had not expected an attack. This measure made it possible for the remaining Dutch troops to break through the ranks of the French and to retreat towards the Netherlands under cover of darkness.
Aftermath
Overall, the battle ended in a draw, even if both sides claimed victory for themselves. The French had held the battlefield at the end of the battle, the Dutch had meanwhile broken the French lines and enabled their outnumbered troops to withdraw. On the one hand, the success of the battle can be attributed to the French side, as they were able to stop the Dutch advance along the Scheldt . On the other hand, the battle can be seen as a tactical victory for the Dutch as they managed to save 8,000 men instead of losing 10,000.
Although the French claimed victory in their ranks, Boufflers was not celebrated for it; on the contrary, he was blamed for the fact that the Dutch had escaped and that he had missed the chance to destroy them completely. Obdam had panicked that afternoon and had managed to break through enemy lines with a handful of horsemen, throwing away their green field badges and orange sashes, making everyone mistake them for French. His behavior was not forgotten by the Dutch military leadership, his career was over. Slangenburg, on the other hand, was celebrated as a hero. For his part, however, he was angry with Marlborough, as the latter had let himself be outmaneuvered by the French and so could not rush to the aid of the Dutch.
The Dutch captured a cannon, two sets of dragoons, and at least 17 banners (some others had been repurposed as scarves before they could be collected). The French and Spaniards lost at least 2,800 men: more than 1,200 were killed, as many were wounded, the rest are missing. The Dutch suffered losses of 2,400 men, of which around 700 were killed and 1,000 wounded. 700 other men were captured and are considered missing.
Current situation
Much of the battlefield including the villages of Oorderen, Wilmarsdonk and Lillo disappeared as the port of Antwerp expanded in the 1960s.