The Allies planned to next besiege Cambrai, however the British government ordered the Duke of York's Anglo-Hanoverian corps to instead seize the coastal port of Dunkirk, the possession of which they believed would be a valuable military base and bargaining counter.

Formerly one of Custine's closest deputies, he was in his element leading the charge of a cavalry regiment, but had neither the acumen or confidence to head an army the size of the Armée du Nord.

Lazare Carnot, newly elected to the Committee of Public Safety, had galvanised the command structure and had ordered a rapid concentration of forces south of Freytag's position.

The only concessions made were for a corps under Beaulieu to be moved up to Bouvines and Orchies, while the lackluster Dutch troops of the Prince of Orange spread out between Lannoy to Menin.

At Tourcoing, faced by Houchard's central column the Dutch abandoned the village after a stiff fight, but the French then dispersed to plunder, only to flee on the sight of two small bodies of enemy cavalry.

Freytag's men withstood the assault bravely despite being vastly outnumbered and the fighting became very protracted, those facing Houchard and Jourdan behind the Yser held out at Bambecque all day, helped by a violent rainstorm.

As French ammunition began to run low Jourdan wrote to Houchard to ask if they should halt, to which the Chief of Staff Berthelmy responded "we must conquer at any price; failing cartridges, are there not bayonets?".

The latter soon escaped, thanks to the help of his young Aide-de-Camp Scharnhorst, but Freytag remained a prisoner in French hands until Walmoden, who had suspected his commander could be in danger, arrived with his column at Rexpoede and retook the town, scattering Jourdan's three battalions and almost capturing Houchard in turn.

The next day Houchard attempted to renew the assault, but Jourdan's troops in particular were scattered and demoralised after the hard fighting, so his forces were pulled back to the south bank of the Yser to reorganize and re-supply.

As 8 September dawned the situation lay as: Walmoden was at Hondschoote with 13,000 men, faced by the three largely fresh columns of Vandamme, Leclaire and Hédouville, 17,800 in total.

In the centre Houchard personally led the main attack with Jourdan's Division from Rexpoede flanked on its left by Vandamme from Killem and on the right Colaud's brigade detached from Hédouville's command, in total a column of 20 battalions directly along the dyke covered by artillery.

Nevertheless, tactics were on the side of the Republicans, the broken ground before Hondschoote was perfectly suited to the French use of loose skirmishers, Jourdan and Vandamme's men kept up a constant fire from the protection of the hedges which the Hanoverians had little answer to.

After four hours of determined combat however, with the fighting at such close range the opposing troops were within stabbing distance [16] the French in the centre were making no headway and were slowly being forced back.

Having fought against incredible odds and endured heavy losses Walmoden withdrew in two disordered columns to Furnes, covered by a Hessian battalion and his cavalry which prevented any French pursuit.

[17] With news of his left flank exposed The Duke of York gave orders for his heavy baggage to be withdrawn to Furnes, while at a Council of War it was decided to lift the siege of Dunkirk.

At midnight of the 8th York's corps began withdrawing to the coastal city of Furnes (now Veurne in Flanders-Belgium), where the next day he rejoined the rest of Walmoden's troops.

Walmoden had lost 2,331 officers and men from his 9,000 infantry over the past few days fighting, including the Hessian General Cochenhausen, who was captured and later died of his wounds.

At Hondschoote, 30,000 French had defeated 14,500 Hessian and Hanoverian soldiers, capturing 6 flags and (as a consequence of the subsequent retreat) the Duke of York's 32 requisitioned naval siege guns.

Alfred Burne[18] devotes several pages assessing the siege of Dunkirk and Hondschoote, including York's report, in which he made plain he felt Freytag was culpable.

York writes of Freytag: "On the 6th of September, the day of the first attack upon the Field Marshal's Corps, He never would believe that the Enemy had forced the post on His left flank in spite of repeated reports that were sent to Him, nor was it till six in the evening, that he consented to retreat, which he did in two Columns.

"In my opinion Freytag occupied the best possible position; his mistake was that he was forgetful of the principle of maintenance of the objective – namely, to cover the besieging army – till pulled up sharply and rightly by the Duke" [19]