[9] The engagement occurred as the Spanish were withdrawing ahead of an impending Dutch and English attack on their winter quarters in Turnhout (which did not have defensive walls), to Herentals, the nearest fortified town, 17 kilometres (11 mi) to the southwest.

[7][10] After the successful attack on Cadiz in 1596, the English forces allied to the Dutch led by Sir Francis Vere were urgently required back in the Netherlands and went there directly.

The severe damage from the raid contributed to the bankruptcy of Spain for the third time, which meant that payments to their armies dried up, leading to frequent mutinies.

[14] The Dutch Stadtholder, Maurice of Nassau, had received orders from the States General to collect a force at Geertruidenberg to counter this Spanish threat.

Though the town was not walled, Turnhout was strategically important - it held a small castle surrounded by a moat and contained a garrison of forty men.

[16] Varax heard exaggerated reports of the size of Maurice's approaching army; this information and the lack of defensive walls at Turnhout caused him to immediately order a withdrawal south to the fortified town of Herentals.

The country was intersected in all directions by hedges and ditches and having reached the banks of the river Aa, Varax removed all but one plank from the wooden bridge that crossed it.

The Spanish were now in full retreat, while Maurice ordered the whole of the Anglo-Dutch cavalry to pursue, leaving his infantry and artillery well behind, struggling with the muddy road.

[17] These skirmishers kept up a constant harassing fire on the Spanish rearguard, while Vere along with sixteen horsemen followed them along the highway in full sight and at the same time sent back a report to Maurice to come up in support.

[18] Varax formed his infantry in four solid squares of pikemen in column in the open space of the heath as they marched south, with musketeers on the flanks as was standard practice for the Spanish.

The surprise was complete; the Spanish cavalry which included the famed squadrons of Guzman, Mondragon, and Mendoza were hit hard at the first onset and within moments retreated for the opening of the enclosed lane.

The musketeers of Sultz's regiment fell back in confusion upon the pikemen behind them and the whole formation promptly surrendered en masse upon being charged by the Anglo-Dutch cavalry.

The veteran tercio under Treviso managed to deploy in combat formation and resisted manfully for some time, but Vere and Bacx's charge upon them was decisive.

[1] The Dutch and English troopers rode up very close to the massed ranks of the Spanish infantry and discharged their pistols and carbines at point-blank range, inflicting carnage.

[20] The cuirassiers' fire opened gaps within the Spanish ranks into which the troopers rode in and started attacking the formation from within, rapidly causing a rout.

[6] While the veteran Spanish troops were fighting, the surviving Germans in the front and the other infantry in the rear had been simultaneously shattered and the panicked survivors swamped the two other regiments, those of Hachicourt and La Barlotte which were placed between them, masking their fire and spreading panic among them.

[2] On 8 February Maurice returned to The Hague - the captured Spanish flags were displayed in the Ridderzaal (the political headquarters of the States General) as a symbol of victory.

[2] He that played Sir Francis Vere got a beard resembling his, and a watchet satin doublet with hose trimmed with silver lace.

This tactic, which had already defeated French gendarmes (lancers in full armour) at Ivry, proved to be effective as well against the lighter Spanish demi-lancers.