The Battle of Lauffeldt, July 2^nd 1747.

The Duke of Cumberland was the third son of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach. He became known as the “Butcher” after his victory at the battle of Culloden Moor (16^th April 1746), where he had ruthlessly ordered that no quarter should be given to the defeated Highlanders. The unfortunate Jacobites were the only army Cumberland ever managed to defeat, and another epithet that could have been attached to his name was “Blunderer.”

His previous campaign in the Netherlands during 1745 had disclosed his almost total lack of military understanding. At the battle of Fontenoy (11^th May 1745) he failed to reconnoitre the French position correctly, and was totally ignorant of the redoubts covering their left flank. He misused his cavalry and artillery, blamed his allies for not attacking more vigorously against prepared positions, and more by luck and the bravery of the Hanoverian and British battalions finally managed to penetrate the French centre which, in the end, was to prove just how bankrupt he was as a commander. Only the firm leadership shown by Sir John Ligonier and General Lord Crawford in extracting this massive pile-up of battalions in good order back to their own lines saved Cumberland from total ruin.[i]

Now once again in 1747, thanks in the main to his doting father, who still considered that his son was something of a military genius, the twenty-six year old Cumberland took command of the allied forces in the Netherlands. In January he and Ligonier, now promoted to General of Horse, were at The Hague making arrangements for the forthcoming campaign. Prince Waldeck was placed in charge of the Dutch contingent, while the Austrian troops came under the orders of old Marshal Batthyany. The Pragmatic Army also contained Hessians, Hanoverians and Bavarians, in all some 90,000 men and over 200 cannon.[ii]

The French army facing Cumberland’s motley band of mixed nationalities was at the peak of its strength and efficiency. Marshal de Saxe, the French commander, could put some 120,000 men in the field, supported by 300 cannon, the other armies of France having been stripped to a bare minimum in order that de Saxe could now administer a crushing victory.[iii] The French held a line from Liége to Bruges.

 

 

      

 

 

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