The Battle of Krabbendam (also called the Battle of Zijpedijk) of 10 September 1799 was fought during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland between forces of the French Republic and her ally, the Batavian Republic, under the command of French general Guillaume Marie Anne Brune on one side, and a British division under general Sir Ralph Abercromby on the other.

This enabled the British and their Russian allies to land their expeditionary force and to break out of the bridgehead during the Battle of Bergen (1799).

In addition, it was not straight, but at intervals had circular and angular projections, somewhat like a trace italienne of old, which gave the defenders an opportunity to lay enfilade fire, if necessary.

General Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau brought up two-thirds of his 2nd Batavian division in forced marches from Friesland and he arrived on September 8 to take on a position in the center of the Franco-Batavian front, around Alkmaar.

[4] Brune's plan of battle was simple: he would have the Batavian divisions attack the villages of Eenigenburg and Krabbendam, as these commanded two roads that led into the Zijpe polder and hence two of the few points of ingress.

The main role would be performed by the French division of Vandamme, who would attempt to turn Abercromby's right flank by advancing along the subsidiary dike near Petten.

[6] As a consequence, Daendels was forced to take a more easterly route and concentrate on the alternate objective of the village of Sint Maarten, which he duly took.

The attempt to storm the British defenses at this point was, however, frustrated by the circular canal in front of the dike and the well-aimed fire of the defenders.

Bruce was supposed to advance from Alkmaar, but was delayed appreciably because a large number of farmer's carts going to market blocked the city gate he was trying to use to march his column out.

Meanwhile, the impatient general Dumonceau had borrowed about 100 grenadiers from Bonhomme's column and had with this small force attacked the British strongpoint of Krabbendam with unexpected success.

[13] After the battle Russian and British reinforcements arrived in Den Helder and the Anglo-Russian forces soon amounted to 40,000 men.

The Duke of York, having assumed supreme command of the Anglo-Russian expeditionary force, decided to exploit this numerical superiority.