This effort was halted by a combination of supply shortages and an excellent French defensive position in front of Sierck, and Marlborough and his army were recalled by the Dutch States General when Marshall Villeroi attacked and took the fortress of Huy and threatened Liège.

[3] On the eve of the Battle of Elixheim, 17 July 1705, Dutch troops, consisting of 22 battalions and 30 squadrons, under Noyelles, Hompesch and Scholten attacked the castle of nl:Wange that protected a bridge across the Gete river and a part of the Lines of Brabant.

The attack on the castle itself was to be carried out by the left column, at a stone bridge over the Geete, close to the village of Nederhespen.

[4] On the evening of 17 July Marlborough sent the Dutch troops under Marshal Nassau-Ouwerkerk in a feint southward towards Namur, drawing Villeroi and 40,000 men after them.

After a cavalry battle in which Marlborough personally participated, the Allies managed to disperse the French squadrons with heavy losses.

Marlborough did not challenge the opinions of Ouwerkerk and Dopff and, instead of advancing on Leuven, made a circumferential move west of the lines with 80,000 troops to cut Villeroy off from Brussels.

A final effort in early August, using wagons loaded with supplies to remove his dependency on his lines of communication, forced Villeroi's army to make a stand close to Waterloo.

On the 18th of August Marlborough first attempted a flanking manoeuvre, but the 13,000 troops under his brother, Charles Churchill, were forced to turn back when they encountered the French in the Sonian Forest.

Desperate, Marborough now planned a frontal assault on the strong French positions at the Yse river, a tributary of the Dyle.

Willem Buys managed to calm tempers by promising Marlborough that Slangenburg would be suspended - formally for health reasons.