Fontenoy

Background
The Battle
Battlefield Today
Pragmatic Army:
French Army
Photographs
Celebrations

Background

The War of Austrian Succession came about as a result of the death of the Emperor Charles VI of Austria on 20^th October 1740. By the famous Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 Charles changed the order of succession so that his daughter, Maria Theresa would take precedent over other claimants to the Hapsburg throne. The unstable position of Austria gave the Prussian King, Frederick the Great a chance to overrun the province of Silesia, and thereafter in May 1741, despite strong opposition from the Prime Minister of the day, Walpole, King George II of England, who had much sympathy for the plight of Austria, travelled to Hanover where he formed an army, to become known as the Pragmatic Army, of British, Dutch, Hanoverian, Danes, Hessians and Austrians which forced Frederick to redeploy some of his forces against any threats from Hanover and Saxony.

The years 1741-1742 were uneventful for the British forces under King George. However on the 27^th June 1743 the battle of Dettingen was fought in which the king took command in person, and it was the last time that an English monarch led an army in battle. The battle itself was of no great strategic importance, but it did once again prove the steadfastness of the British infantry.

Things became quieter again on the British front during 1744, and George II returned to England leaving the British contingent under the command of his third son, the Duke of Cumberland. A professional soldier, Cumberland was made Commander-in-Chief of all the Allied forces in 1745.

By the spring of 1745 the French army under Marshal Maurice de Saxe had hoodwinked the Allies by a well-directed feint towards the town of Mons. While this was in progress and diverting the attention of Cumberland the French suddenly appeared before the fortress of Tournai and surrounded the garrison. Not wishing to leave the door to western Flanders in French hands Cumberland ordered his army to march to its relief.

The delay entailed in collecting the Allied forces, together with the uncertainty of the threat towards Mons had given Marshal de Saxe time to prepare a favourable position on which to receive the Pragmatic Army, and given the fact that he already had all his engineers from the siege of Tournai on site to oversee the construction of his battlefield fortifications, it is small wonder that he himself thought his position almost impregnable.

The French right wing was anchored firmly on the river Scheldt at the fortified village of Antoing.Here the houses had been turned into miniature fortresses, the streets were barricaded and slit trenches were dug around the outskirts of the village to enable an even greater volume of fire to be delivered by the defenders. On the east bank of the Scheldt a strong battery of artillery was installed so as to enfilade any advance on Antoing from the south. From Antoing the French line extended to the west for just over a mile until it reached another fortified village, Fontenoy. Along this line de Saxe had constructed three redoubts each about 400 meters apart. These were not just constructed as a kind of breakwater upon which the enemy columns would have to loose formation in order to attack and then reform after passing between them, but also to facilitate counterattacks, allowing the French cavalry to flow through in pursuit of a beaten foe.

The village of Fontenoy, like Antoing was turned into a strongpoint with cannon placed to cover every approach. From here the French line turned at right angles to the north for approximately 1000 meters following the course of a sunken road across a plateau leading to the Bois de Bary (Wood of Barry). Behind the sunken road de Saxe placed two lines of infantry, supported by two lines of cavalry of around 60 squadrons.

On the French left, in and around the Bois de Bary, de Saxe lavished still more of his considerable talents in field fortification. The wood was lined with infantry and many of the trees had been felled to form abattis. Two strong redoubts were constructed at the eastern side of the wood to dispute any turning movement, the most famous of these being known as the Redoubt D’Eu which had been built at the south-eastern tip of the Bois de Bary so as to enfilade any advance made by the Allies against the French centre. In support of this position was a reserve of picked infantry and cavalry regiments, including the Irish Brigade, the “Wild Geese”. In all the French army numbered 93 battalions,146 squadrons and 80 cannon, some 70,000 troops, of which 27 battalions and 17 squadrons were left to cover Tournai.