A third Coalition body, Army of the North led by Prince Jean Baptiste Bernadotte sent major elements into the Low Countries to drive out the Imperial French occupation forces.

Badly outnumbered by the Coalition forces under Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Maison mounted a daring operation.

[2] On 23 November 1813, Bülow's Prussian III Corps advance guard under Adolph Friedrich von Oppen crossed the border into the Netherlands.

[5] On 30 November in the Battle of Arnhem, Bülow defeated Henri François Marie Charpentier's division, inflicting 1,500 casualties on the French while suffering losses of 600 killed and wounded.

[7] Despite this promising start, the Coalition effort in the Netherlands stalled when the Russian corps commander Ferdinand von Wintzingerode refused to cooperate with Bülow in December.

[8] On 21 December 1813, Emperor Napoleon appointed Nicolas Joseph Maison to replace his previous commander in the Netherlands, Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen.

[10] However, the strength of Antwerp's defenses persuaded Bülow to leave an observation force and pull the bulk of his corps back to Breda.

[12] Wintzingerode advanced very slowly, ostensibly to wait for the arrival of the III German Corps of Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

Anxious to join the main armies of Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Bülow ordered a series of attacks on the fortress of Gorinchem, which were unsuccessful.

The conscripts were poorly equipped and clothed and Maison found it necessary to use most of them to man garrisons, leaving only 1,100 troops to reinforce his field force.

The Saxons withdrew to Tournai that evening where they joined a third column which had marched as far as Orchies before being blocked by the 75th Line Infantry Regiment and 200 French cavalry.

[15] Hoping to add more troops to his small corps, Maison ordered Antwerp's commander Lazare Carnot to hold Roguet's division ready to break out.

Early that day, Maison's force drove Major Friedrich von Hellwig's Freikorps from Menen (Menin).

The French overran Deinze and appeared before Ghent at 2:00 pm, completely surprising its defenders, a Belgian regiment in the process of formation, 200 Don Cossacks and two artillery pieces.

Maison sent his chief of staff Colonel Villatte from Ghent to Antwerp escorted by 50 cavalrymen and one company of light infantry riding in wagons.

Maison hoped to persuade the Coalition commanders that he intended to attack Brussels via Aalst when he only wanted to get back to Lille safely.

[17] Altogether, 4,000 infantry, 260 cavalry and 14 guns were added to I Corps from the Antwerp garrison to increase its numbers to 9,700 foot soldiers, 1,360 horsemen and 35 cannon.

[18] Napoleon's War Minister Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke hoped that Carnot might draw 3,000 marines and sailors from Edouard Thomas Burgues de Missiessy's French squadron that was bottled up in the Scheldt.

But his superior the Duke of Saxe-Weimar believed that Maison wanted to capture Brussels, a belief that the Frenchman encouraged by spreading false rumours among the Belgians.

The real danger to Maison remained Thielmann who might cut off the French with his total force of 12,000 troops in 15 battalions and 500 cavalry.

To shield the movement, he sent Solignac's division and one squadron of the 2nd Guard Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment farther east to Petegem.

[18] Finding that Maison evacuated Ghent, Thielmann moved south-west to Avelgem, hoping catch Solignac's division.

Maison responded by ordering a body of French skirmishers to hit Thielmann's left flank while sending four of Roguet's battalions forward,[19] led by the 10th Tirailleur Regiment.

When Lottum tried to seize Courtrai, he bumped into the withdrawing Ghent garrison under Charles-Louis Lalaing d'Audenarde and was compelled to fall back to Harelbeke.