The Battle of Lauffeld[2] took place on
July 2, 1747,[3] during the French invasion
of the Netherlands (part of the War of the
Austrian Succession). Marshall Saxe led the French forces against the
Pragmatic Army, the combined forces of the British and Hanoverians under the banner of the
Duke of Cumberland, and the Dutch Republic,
fighting under the Prince of Orange, at Lauffeld (or
Lafelt, now part of Riemst), just west of Maastricht.
Cumberland moved to defeat a detachment of the French army commanded by the Prince of Clermont that de Saxe had sent to bait
the Pragmatic Allies into moving. Then Saxe a forced-march the main French force to the ground he had chosen outmanuvering them.
Cumberland now faced the entire French army but further compromised his chances of success by ignoring General Ligonier's[4] advice to occupy and
fortify a line of villages across the front of the allied army. Once again, as at the Battle
of Rocoux the Austrians on the right refused to move against the open French left lank. The villages changed hands a few
times until Saxe gained the upper hand. The Dutch broke and fled and a general French advance began to turn the Allies left
flank, threatening the annihilation of the British infantry. General Ligonier, on his own iniative, then led the cavalry in
charges that would save the army. The greatest cavalry engagement of the war ensued but Ligonier was captured along with four
standards while covering the retreat of the Allies with a final charge.[5]
It was a French victory that left the gateway to the Dutch Republic open to invasion and the Dutch at the mercy of the French.
The allied retreat allowed Saxe to send a detachment of 30,000 north across the lowlands quickly capturing the city of
Bergen-op-Zoom to finish that year's campaign season. At the opening of the Spring
campaign season of 1748, the French invested Maastricht and, after a brief siege the city fell on
May 7. The city's siege started the peace process in April that ended the war in October 1748 with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Maurice de Saxe's long series of victorious campaigns,
sieges and battles in the lowlands ensured France's position as the dominant land power in the peace negotiations during which
the sound of Saxe's siege guns could be heard pounding away at the city of Maastricht.
References
- ^ History of England,
Phillip Henry Stanhope, p. 333, "The number of killed and wounded, on both sides, was very great, and nearly equal."
- ^ The Battle of Lauffeld is also know as the Battle of Lafelt
or Battle of Maastricht, also Battle of Val.
- ^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld
& Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ Lingonier was a professional soldier who commanded the British cavalry in
Cumberland's battles.
- ^ History of England,
Phillip Henry Stanhope, p. 334
Bibliography
- Browning, Reed.The War of the Austrian Succession, St. Martin's Press, New York, (1993): ISBN 0-312-12561-5
- Chandler, David. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough. Spellmount Limited, (1990): ISBN 0-946771-42-1
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