Battle of Erquelinnes

The Battle of Erquelinnes or Battle of Péchant[1] (24 May 1794) was part of the Flanders Campaign during the War of the First Coalition, and saw a Republican French army jointly led by Jacques Desjardin and Louis Charbonnier try to defend a bridgehead on the north bank of the Sambre River against a combined Habsburg Austrian and Dutch army led by Franz Wenzel, Graf von Kaunitz-Rietberg.

Without a single leader to control the force, Desjardin's troops were beaten by Kaunitz at Grand-Reng on 13 May while Charbonnier's men stood idle nearby.

Kaunitz's sudden assault on 24 May overwhelmed his foes' defenses and the French were saved from catastrophic losses when Kléber turned back and marched to the rescue.

The Committee of Public Safety ordered the 70,000-strong left wing of the Army of the North under Jean-Charles Pichegru to capture Ypres and Tournai.

The 24,000-man center under Jacques Ferrand was instructed to guard the communications between the French left and right wings while keeping an eye on the Coalition army.

[3] On 4 May 1794, the French left wing divisions were posted as follows, from left to right, Pierre Antoine Michaud with 14,238 men at Bergues, Jean Victor Marie Moreau with 15,744 troops at Menen (Menin), Joseph Souham with 31,115 soldiers at Kortrijk (Courtrai), Nicolas Pierquin with 8,423 men at Cantin and Pierre-Jacques Osten with 7,569 troops at Pont-à-Marcq.

The Army of the North right wing divisions were led by Jacques Fromentin with 15,749 troops at Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Éloi Laurent Despeaux with 7,042 soldiers at Limont-Fontaine and Desjardin with 10,075 men at Beaumont, Belgium.

[4] At the same time, the 30,000-strong Coalition left wing was led by Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany and François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt and deployed from Nieuport to Denain.

Farther to the southeast, Johann Peter Beaulieu had 8,000 men at Arlon and Ernst Paul Christian von Blankenstein defended Trier with 9,000 more.

Leaving Anne Charles Basset Montaigu's 4,741-man brigade to hold Avesnes, Fromentin marched the bulk of his division to the east side of Maubeuge.

[6] In an extraordinary oversight, Pichegru neglected to appoint a single commander of the right wing, leaving Desjardin and Charbonnier to work out some sort of joint action.

To make matters more difficult, the representatives on mission attached to the force were the high-handed Louis Antoine de Saint-Just and Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas.

Without attempting any maneuver, Desjardin and his generals threw their soldiers, with no shoes, wet powder and shabby uniforms into the assault against enemies well-protected by solid fieldworks.

[11] On 16 May, Saint-Just and La Bas called a council of war at Desjardin's headquarters which was attended by Pichegru, Charbonnier, Jean Baptiste Kléber and Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer.

Outraged by seeing French soldiers fleeing from the recent battlefield, the two political operatives published a broadside announcing that cowards and malingerers would be shot.

Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul arrived from Capelle with three light cavalry regiments, to which a fourth was added to create an advanced guard.

[13] At this time Prince Coburg warned his wing commander that the main army was moving in the direction of Tournai and that Kaunitz must act strictly on the defensive.

[15] Kaunitz deployed an outpost line along the north bank of the Sambre with Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen in charge of the left and Paul Davidovich directing the right.

Aware of the large numerical superiority of the French, the Austrian wing commander issued orders to be carried out in case a retreat was necessary.

Fromentin also crossed at Lobbes and moved west past Bienne-lez-Happart in two brigade columns, with Guillaume Philibert Duhesme on the right and Jean Froissard on the left.

The division followed the retreating Coalition forces through the abandoned village of Péchant (Peissant) until it was facing the entrenched Grand-Reng camp.

At the same time Franz von Werneck with six battalions and two squadrons was to march up from Villers-Sire-Nicole in the rear to turn Desjardin's left flank.

[16] Soland's horsemen were driven off but Poncet formed his men into battalion columns and charged into the teeth of artillery fire, repulsing Werneck's cavalry and recapturing Erquelinnes.

Kléber brought the idea to Desjardin, but that general declined to directly order Mayer's division to advance because it belonged to the Army of the Ardennes.

[19] This force was composed of nine battalions of elite troops under Poncet and Duhesme drawn from the Army of the North plus Hautpoul's four light cavalry regiments.

The Army of the Ardennes contributed 4,000 men to the force, including two battalions of light infantry, the 20th Chasseurs à Cheval and the grenadier companies from Vezú and Mayer's divisions.

To divert the attention of the French in Maubeuge, Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour made a false attack against Boussois at day-break with one battalion, one 12-pound cannon and two squadrons each of Austrian Chevau-légers and Dutch cavalry.

Immediately, Kléber turned his force around and headed for Lobbes where he found the wreckage of Fromentin's division retreating, covered by a single intact battalion.

[30] One authority estimated that the French suffered losses of 3,000 killed and wounded plus 2,400 men, 32 guns, 40 ammunition wagons and three colors captured out of 30,000 engaged.

During the meeting, Saint-Just abruptly cut off further discussion by announcing, "Make a victory for the republic tomorrow: choose a siege or a battle!

Bust of a clean-shaven square-faced man in a coat with epaulettes on the shoulders.
Jacques Desjardin
Detail from a painting shows a calm-looking man from head to the top of his thighs. On his head he has a late 18th century-style white wig with the hair curled over the ears. He wears a white military uniform with navy blue lapels and cuffs with a red and white sash across his shoulder.
Franz von Kaunitz
Map of the approximate dispositions of French and Allied troops on 19 May prior to the battle of Erquelinnes, and the second French crossing of the Sambre, on 20 May 1794.
Kaunitz's attack on 21 May. Having advanced up to the Allied entrenched positions, Kaunitz launches an attack on the French left, attempting to flank them away from the river and cut their communications by capturing Erquelinnes. Despite initial success, Davidovitch's and Werneck's attacks are repulsed with a counterattack and French reinforcements. Meanwhile the French lose an opportunity to outflank the Allies' exposed left with Mayer's division due to their divided command arrangement.
Kleber's intended French raid on Nivelles. Whether intended purely to capture supplies, or to force the enemy to divide his forces to defend Nivelles, the most immediate effect of this sending away of nearly a third of the French army was to drastically weaken the forces facing Kaunitz on the actual day of the battle.
The battle of Erquelinnes, 24 May, first phase. Kaunitz launches an attack in 5 columns on the French forces, which have been weakened by the detachment of Kleber. Caught by surprise, the French divisions are quickly routed back across the Sambre. Fromentin and Mayer's divisions are only saved from destruction by Kleber, who marched to the sound of the guns in time to cover their retreat.
The battle of Erquelinnes, 24 May, second phase. With Montaigu's and Muller's divisions having retreated back across the Sambre, Reuss' column tries to recapture Lobbes, but is stopped by Kleber, who covers the retreats of Fromentin and Mayer's divisions before recrossing himself.
Black and white print of a man with a long nose and a small mouth wearing a powdered wig with the hair curled up at the ears. He wears a while military uniform with a Maria Theresa Cross.
Peter Quosdanovich
Painting of a man with a round face, cleft chin and wildly wavy hair. He wears a dark blue military uniform of the 1790s era.
Jean Baptiste Kléber
Black and white print of a man whose hair is combed back and who appears to have an injury to his right eye. He wears a white military uniform with numerous awards pinned to the left breast.
Prince Reuss
Painting of a handsome young man with wavy brown hair. He wears a black coat open at the neck to reveal a white shirt and collar.
Louis Saint-Just