Siege of Bouchain (1712)
| Siege of Bouchain (1712) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Spanish Succession | |||||||
 Plan-relief of the Bouchain fort. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France |
 Dutch Republic Holy Roman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Duc de Villars |
Frederik Sirtema van Grovestins | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
20,000 40 artillery pieces |
2,000[1] 23 guns 2 mortars 2 swivel guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 400 killed and wounded[1] | 2,000 killed and captured[1] | ||||||
The siege of Bouchain (1 October – 19 October 1712), was a
Allied-controlled fortifications after an 18-day siege, with the 2,000-strong Dutch-Imperial garrison under Major-General Frederik Sirtema van Grovestins
capitulating on 19 October.
Prelude
The allies had captured Bouchain from French forces the previous year after a 34 day siege, ending on 12 September 1711.[2]
Having taken advantage of the overstretched Allied
advance guard besieged Bouchain on 1 October even before the French siege of Le Quesnoy was complete on 4 October.[3] Villars and Louis XIV decided to conduct a siege instead of a blockade, to spare their troops the discomfort and because cutting off the water-logged town would be too difficult.[4]
Villars wrote
I am pressing vigorously to open the trenches...two days saved will be of great benefit when the rains arrive.[5]
— Villars
Siege
French provincial
Vauban's recommended three.[9]
Aftermath
Villars' victory nullified the
Treaty of Utrecht on terms that kept the fortified zone constructed by Vauban in northern France under French control[citation needed
].
Casualties
The French lost 400 killed and wounded (2% of their force).[1] The whole Allied garrison was either killed, wounded or taken prisoner.[1]
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Bodart 1908, p. 169.
- ^ Chandler 1973, p. 299.
- ^ a b Ostwald 2006, p. 190.
- ^ Ostwald 2006, p. 225.
- ^ Ostwald 2006, p. 240.
- ^ Ostwald 2006, p. 368.
- ^ a b c Ostwald 2006, p. 249.
- ^ Ostwald 2006, p. 250.
- ^ Ostwald 2006, p. 256.
Sources
- Bodart, G. (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Vienna: C.W. Stern.
- Chandler, David (1973). Marlborough as Military Commander (1989 ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: Spellmount Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0946771127
- Nimwegen, Olaf van (1995). De subsistentie van het leger: Logistiek en strategie van het Geallieerde en met name het Staatse leger tijdens de Spaanse Successieoorlog in de Nederlanden en het Heilige Roomse Rijk (1701-1712) [The subsistence of the Allied and especially the Dutch army during the War of the Spanish Succession] (Thesis) (in Dutch). Universiteit Utrecht.
- Ostwald, J. (2006). Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession. Brill. ISBN 978-9004154896