Siege of Zoutleeuw

Siege of Zoutleeuw
	Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
	; Town hall and cloth hall of Zoutleeuw in 2005.
Date	Investment:; 29 August – 5 September 1705; (1 week); Siege:; 31 August – 5 September 1705; (5 days)
Location	Zoutleeuw, Flemish Brabant, Belgium50°49′59″N 5°06′14″E / 50.833°N 5.104°E
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
Allies:; Dutch Republic; England; Scotland; Holy Roman Empire	France
Commanders and leaders
Lieutenant general Dedem	Brigadier general Dumont
Strength
10,000 men; 16 artillery pieces	400 men; 18 guns; 2 mortars
Casualties and losses
Light	400 men captured or killed; 20 guns and mortars captured

The siege of Zoutleeuw or the siege of Léau (29 August 1705 – 5 September 1705) was a siege of the War of the Spanish Succession. Allied troops with 16 artillery pieces under the command of the English Captain general the Duke of Marlborough, besieged and captured the small French-held Brabantine fortified town of Zoutleeuw in the Spanish Netherlands.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Prelude

After piercing the French fortified lines

field fortifications and the unwillingness of the Dutch Field Deputies to submit to his plans.^[2] The Allies contented themselves by widening the breach in the lines of Brabant by capturing Zoutleeuw to the north of Eliksem on 5 September. Zoutleeuw had been hastily abandoned by the French troops of the Duke of Berwick in July, after the Allied capture of Huy

, with gaps being blown up in the walls.

Siege

Zoutleeuw, surrounded by

siege train arrived from Maastricht on 3 September. That same night, the besiegers attacked and captured a redoubt with little opposition. The infantry battalions carried the trenches within 100 yards of the town, the siege artillery quickly following them.^[2]

Before the Allied

prisoners of war in Maastricht, the officers being allowed to retain their swords

and baggage.