Battle of Fontenoy

War of the Austrian Succession
Mollwitz – Chotusitz – Dettingen – Toulon – Fontenoy – Hohenfriedberg – Soor – Kesselsdorf – Rocoux – 1st Finisterre – Lauffeld – 2nd Finisterre – Havana

The Battle of Fontenoy (May 11, 1745) near Fontenoy in the Austrian Netherlands, was a French victory in the War of Austrian Succession.

French forces under Marshal Maurice de Saxe were besieging Tournay. An Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army under the Duke of Cumberland, known as "The Pragmatic Army" advanced to the relief of Tournay, with the British forces attacking French positions uphill. The French lost 6,000 (of 60,000 present) men, while the British lost 12,000 (of 50,000), a defeat for Cumberland's forces. His assault, carried out by 16,000 British and Hanoverian troops, repulsed repeated attacks by the finest cavalry regiments in the French Army, including the Maison du Roi, until it was defeated by a counterattack carried out by the French cavalry, 5,000 men of The Irish Brigade and the Normandy and Vaisseaux regiments of French infantry.

1 Trivia
2 Reputations
3 Black Watch
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Trivia

The most celebrated anecdote of the battle relates to Sir Charles Hay, a captain in the 1st Foot Guards. On reaching the brow of the incline the columns confronted the French line of Foot. Opposite the 1st Foot Guards were the Garde Francaise. This French regiment had given way at the Battle of Dettingen and in their precipitate retreat had tipped up one of the bridges of boats. Many had drowned. Sir Charles Hay is reputed by Voltaire to have doffed his hat and bowed to the French officers saying: "We are the English Guards. We remember you from Dettingen and intend to make you swim the Scheldt as you swam the Main." The alternative story is the French officer Count of Anterroches said "English gentlemen, please shoot first!" (Messieurs les anglais, tirez les premiers!) Hay was wounded in the battle.

[edit] Reputations

Fontenoy gave the British Foot a reputation for stubborn determination. It caused observers to express surprise at the weak performance of troops at the Battle of Prestonpans and Falkirk later the same year.

Whilst Cumberland's attack on the superior positions of the French army showed little tactical skill and his forces had to retreat, the Duke showed great personal courage.

[edit] Black Watch

The brigade Cumberland commanded in the attack included the Scottish Highland Black Watch regiment. Although they had joined the British forces on the continent in 1743, this was their first battle; their courageous determination to press the attack greatly impressed the Duke of Cumberland, and they introduced the then novel technique of hurling themselves to the ground when a volley was fired at them, then leaping to their feet and firing back. This "Highland way" of fighting may have been learned in their previous role of policing the highlands. However, whilst they were away the Jacobite Rising started and in the autumn of 1745 the Black Watch was moved to the South of England to help with defence plans against any possible French invasion while the British were preoccupied further north.