Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies
Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the War of the First Coalition | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
French First Republic |
Habsburg Austria Great Britain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
René-Bernard Chapuy |
Rudolf von Otto Merveldt | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
7,000 | 300 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1,200 killed, wounded or captured, 5 cannons | 95 killed, wounded or missing | ||||||
In the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies, fought on 24 April 1794, a small Anglo-Austrian cavalry force routed a vastly more numerous French division during the Flanders Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Villers-en-Cauchies is 15 km south of Valenciennes.
Background
At the beginning of the
On 23 April a French force was mustered in an attempt to cut off the Allied column of
On hearing reports of the combat the Duke of York at Le Cateau sent his deputy, the Austrian
Battle
On the morning of the 24 April patrols informed Otto that the French were in the same position as the previous evening, and he immediately resolved to attack, deploying the four advanced squadrons with him. The two squadrons of Leopold Hussars (112 men) on the right commanded by Colonel Sigismund Ladislaus Szent-Kereszty; the 15th Light Dragoons (160 men) drew up on the left under Major
At 7.00 am the Advance Guard rode from Saint-Python via the valley of the Selle towards Montrécourt to turn the French right. Near there Mécsery spotted in the underbrush 300 French chasseurs and 400–500 hussars of the former Esterhazy Regiment (the French 3rd Hussars). The Advance Guard was halted and Mécsery climbed a slight hill, from which he could see the bulk of the French cavalry (Bonnaud's command) hidden likewise in the underbrush, with a screen of scouts to their front. The Allied advance guard therefore moved towards their right, followed 600 paces behind by their support, obliging the French to mount the plateau and form up facing Otto at 400 paces. After observing for a moment, the French cavalry then retired and reformed near to and to the east of six battalions of infantry assembled between Viller-en-Cauchies and Avesnes-le-Sec.
At this time, the Austrian leader heard that Emperor Francis II was nearby with a small retinue.[4]
Mécsery's Advance Guard, thinking they were supported by Mansel's brigade began to charge the left flank of Bonnaud's cavalry, but when they reached 60 paces the French cavalry made a half turn and galloped off, exposing the six battalions behind. Seeing themselves thus uncovered the French infantry formed square and opened fire on the advancing enemy Advance Guard. The Allied cavalry halted while Szent-Kereszty and Mécsery gave energetic speeches, then they charged straight onto the oblong square formed by the French battalions, rupturing one wall and seizing four cannons. A part of the infantry took to flight, the rest continued to fire, and were joined by flanking artillery support fire from supporting columns on each side, but Mécsery's Advance Guard charged again, the remainder of the infantry broke and ran in the direction of Caesar's Camp. These infantry units, who belonged to Chapuis' command at Cambrai had been defeated some days earlier on the same plains while under Nicolas Declaye, so their discouragement can be understood.
Otto attributed the success to Mécsery, and noted that had they been supported by Mansel's brigade the French would have been utterly destroyed.[5] But for some reason, later explained as a 'mix-up of orders' Mansel's command had halted, the entire attack was made by the vastly outnumbered members of the Advance Guard.
The Allied horse pursued the fleeing Frenchmen for 8 miles (13 km) in the direction of Bouchain. Seeing the defeat, two French flank guards of 5,000 men each on each side of the defeated column hastily retired on Cambrai, covered by cavalry. Otto's men withdrew on Saint-Aubert to reform, but Bonnaud's cavalry had meanwhile recovered and counterattacked. Otto however, was now reinforced with three squadrons of Austrian Hussars, one from the Archduke Ferdinand and two from the Karaczay Regiments. Two pieces of Austrian horse artillery bombarded the French and menaced their flank, forcing them to retreat once more.
Bonnaud blamed Chapuis' infantry in his report, "...we were attacked on all sides and they threw a lot of cavalry on our right which, supported by nothing, was at first forced back. The infantry were placed in route, the cavalry, especially the Carabiniers, the 13th Dragoons, the 5th and 6th Hussars, did their duty well and had to repair the lack of energy displayed by the infantry".[6]
Results
That afternoon, as Otto re-established communications between the Duke of York and Denain, Clerfayt did the same thing on the side of Valenciennes. The Hanoverian General Maydel had been reinforced, giving him a total of 7 battalions, 2 companies and 13 squadrons. Leaving part of these at Douchy, with the rest he drove the French from Haspres, supported on the opposite side by Mansel's brigade which Otto had detached. This double movement against the French advanced on Douchy threatened to cut their retreat on Bouchain, causing them to hastily withdraw. The retreat became a rout when the French artillery drivers panicked and cut their traces, the whole column then took to flight.[7]
Pichegru made light of the French losses and exaggerated the bravery of the French troops, claiming among other things that "a single squadron of the 6th Hussars had sabred 600 Hungarian Hussars and made 60 prisoners"[8]
Chandler says the French admitted 1,200 killed, wounded and captured[9] out of a force of 7,000 men. These figures are not backed up by other sources and may be totals for the whole operation.
York's report states that at Villers-en-Cauchies the French lost 900 killed, 400 wounded and only 10 unwounded prisoners. They also lost 5 cannons.[10]
The Austrians lost 10 killed and wounded and 10 missing. British casualties were 58 killed and 17 wounded.[11]
Emperor Francis II awarded 8 British officers involved in this action with a special gold medal
Commentary
During the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars, the French cavalry was particularly weak compared to the cavalry of their enemies. Historians blame this weakness on the loss of many aristocratic cavalry officers who fled France during the Revolution.[14] In addition, the French infantry was filled with raw conscripts who were still learning their trade. Soon, the quality of the French cavalry and infantry would greatly improve as the officers and soldiers absorbed hard lessons at the hands of their enemies.
Chapuis would suffer a further and even greater humiliation at Beaumont-en-Cambresis (Troisvilles) on the 26th. The next major engagement would be the Battle of Tourcoing on 17–18 May.
References
- Coutanceau, H & Jonquiere, C de la. La Campagne de 1794 a l'Armée du Nord; IIe Partie: Operations Volume 1 (Chapelot, Paris 1907)
- Wylly, Colonel H.C.XVth (The King's) Hussars 1759 to 1913 p. 95-99 (Caxton publishing 1914)
- Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
- Chandler, David. Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. New York: Macmillan, 1979. ISBN 0-02-523670-9
- Glover, Michael. The Peninsular War 1807-1814. London: Penguin, 2001. ISBN 0-14-139041-7
- London Gazette nr. 15025 of June 9, 1798
- London Gazette nr. 15370 of June 2, 1801
- Mericka, Vaclav: Orden und Ehrenzeichen der Oesterreichisch Ungarischen Monarchie Vienna, Praha, Schroll, 1974
- Smith, Digby. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9
Footnotes
- ^ Coutanceau p.370
- ^ Coutanceau p.372
- ^ Wylly p.95
- ^ Chandler Dictionary, p 465
- ^ York's report, mentioned in Coutanceau p.379
- ^ Bonnaud's report in Journal de la 5e Division, quoted in Coutanceau p.378 and roughly translated
- ^ Coutanceau, p. 381.
- ^ Coutanceau, p. 382.
- ^ Chandler Dictionary, p. 465. Chandler gives 66 total Allied casualties.
- ^ Coutanceau, p. 379.
- ^ Smith, p. 74. Smith also gives 800 killed, 400 wounded and 150 captured.
- ^ "No. 15025". The London Gazette. 5 June 1798. p. 495.
- ^ "No. 15370". The London Gazette. 30 May 1801. p. 607.
- ^ Chandler Campaigns, p 69
External links
- Otto by Digby Smith, compiled by Leopold Kudrna
- Account of the Action by J Rickard
- Media related to Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Second Battle of Wissembourg (1793)
|
French Revolution: Revolutionary campaigns Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies |
Succeeded by Second Battle of Boulou |