With these armies just completed we decided to put them strait onto the table. It was a battle in the war of the Spanish succession. France of Louis XIV backed by Bavarian allies fought the "Grand Alliance", in this case consisting of England and Netherlands who fought to limit the power of Louis XIV to prevent him to lay a claim on the Spanish European and colonial Territories.
France was led by Marshal Villars (Justin) supported by Joost and reinforced with Bavarian troops led by Abe.
The Grand Alliance was led by the English General John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough (Sander) and Dutch troops under the leadership of Hendrik van Nassau-Oudekerk (Erik).
Marshal Villars entered the Flemish territories with a French/Bavarian army, shadowed by an allied army, for days a cat and mouse game took place between both armies while they were looking for "good ground". Eventually both armies approached each other near an abandoned Flemish fort, both armies could not allow the fort to be occupied by the other army. Early in the morning both armies faced each other, while dusk slowly passed into a cautious morning light both armies made themselves ready to deliver a decisive blow.
The first turn was for France and Bavaria, they tried to move their troops forward, Bavaria (Abe) went towards the abandoned fort where they wanted to place the lines at right angles, they stood facing the English troops (Sander) and if they would march past the fort, Bavaria could catch them in a crossfire. The French guard, cavalry and an infantry Division (Justin) were placed in the centre there they were to resist the Dutch troops (Erik and his son Alexander), on the left flank were two more infantry divisions and one Cavalry Division, led by Joost, these had to secure the flank near the village.
The allies wanted to win in the centre, England had to compete with Bavaria and the Dutch troops had to take the French in the centre, on the right, near the village they placed two artillery batteries, the only purpose of these was to distract the infantry from Joost and keep them away from the centre, the Dutch Cavalry also remained there in reserve. As a "distraction" they also placed an infantry division on the flank, these were to move directly towards the centre. The Dutch troops in the centre understood little of all these complex plans and remained where they stood, the Dutch Cavalry also did little. The English moved slowly forward but without follow-up of the Dutch they could not attack in force.
Bavaria closed the trap and now they would wait for the English to march into that trap, the Bavarian guns thundered and the English lines were hit, the casualties were limited however. The French in the centre moved forward although it was not fast, the Guard also did not move, the remaining infantry moved slightly but not convincing. On the left flank the French troops moved forward in line and closed the flank.
The English moved further forward but when they looked to the right they saw an absolute chaos in the centre, Dutch divisions remained standing while some others moved forward in frustration but no one could see anything like a "smooth forward movement", the Dutch Cavalry also did not move at all.
In the centre the French tried to move further forward but their orders were also ill received and the French troops moved only very slowly forward, if they moved at all. Artillery fire did manage to cause the first English victims but the casualties were light.
The next turn again brought little movement for the Dutch troops whom, because of the early hour by which they had had to assemble, hadn't been able to enjoy a good breakfast and so they made a very slow start. The rear troops had passed the front troops but all the screaming by the Dutch generals could not encourage the troops to move forward. The same was true about the Dutch cavalry that also looked around pointlessly waiting for the coffee that they had drunk just before the battle to wake them up. Only the English moved forward again and were now in range of the Bavarian troops, a first salvo was discharged but Bavaria received few casualties.
Violent Bavarian musket fire answered the English shots and several Englishmen were killed, the French troops formed a "V" formation in the Centre, this brought them a line to hold the Dutch advance but it also secured their flank to a possible attack by the English cavalry. The French troops were ready for the Allied attack.
With the French finally in sight and the coffee that the Dutch troops had consumed finally started to wake them up, the Dutch enthusiasm grew. Finally structured lines moved forward and they formed a line in front of the French, the command "fire" sounded and the Dutch line opened a deadly fire, a great number of French soldiers fell to the ground but the French held. The English realized they were marched too far forward, Bavaria stood in a good, too good a position and slowly the English army moved backwards, watchful, waiting for the chance to to strike.
The French opened fire on the Dutch troops, smoke filled the battlefield while several Dutch were killed. French and Bavarian artillery opened fire on the English troops that were now out of musket range but no casualties were inflicted.
The Dutch marched further forward, they could now see the white of the French eyes, a new salvo was discharged and the French line was torn apart by many casualties, Dutch grenadiers threw grenades and these brought further death amongst the French, despite the carnage the French remained undaunted and refused to bulge.
Behind the French troops that the Dutch had fired upon, the French Guard formed, these fixed bayonets and rushed forward, the front French lines opened and the French guard stormed towards the front Dutch lines. The Dutch opened a closing fire before fixing bayonets and a bloody fight broke out, French grenadiers of the guard tried to break the Dutch line and the Dutch fought back with bayonet and rifle butt, they drove the French back, startled holes formed in the French unit, the Dutch made good use of it and the guards were exterminated.
A second French guard unit was in combat with Dutch grenadiers, here they fared better, the pressure was too great and the Dutch grenadiers withdrew but managed to find safety behind the supporting Dutch lines. It was a very limited success, admittedly a unit was driven back but a Guard unit was lost. On the flanks Bavaria kept the English under artillery fire while on the other flank units marched up and down.
The Dutch had recovered from the French attack and the blood in their troops whirled, wishing to attack the French troops. The officers calmed their troops and gave the order to once again open fire, the remaining French guard unit was driven back and the French again suffered many casualties but again they held.
16 October 2008, 04:32:41 PM
