Everything about Battle Of Wattignies 1793 totally explained
The
Battle of Wattignies, during the
French Revolutionary Wars, was fought near the village of
Wattignies-la-Victoire, near
Lille,
France on
October 15-
16 1793. It resulted in the victory of the French under
General Jourdan and
Lazare Carnot against the
Austrians under General
Coburg. This victory forced Cobourg to lift the siege of
Maubeuge and retreat eastward.
It should be noted that a number of historians are often making the confusion between 2 battles of the 2 Wattiginies existing in France: the
Battle of the Revolution (1793) near Maubeuge and the
Battle of the siege of Lille won by the Duke of Malborough in 1708 near Lille.
Wattignies
15 October
The Allied army, chiefly Austrians, under
Coburg, was besieging
Maubeuge, and the Revolutionary army, preparing to relieve it, gathered behind
Avesnes. Coburg disposed a covering force of 21,000 astride the Avesnes-Maubeuge road, 5,000 on the right with their flank on the
Sambre, 9000 in the centre, on a ridge in an amphitheatre of woods, and on the left, chiefly on the plateau of
Wattignies.
The long line of woods enabled the Republican commander,
Jourdan, to deploy unseen; 14,000 men under Gen. Fromentin were to attack the right, 16,000 under Gen. Duquenoy were sent towards Wattignies, and 13,000 under Gen. Balland were to demonstrate in the centre until the other columns had succeeded in their mission and was then to attack. Meantime (though this part of the programme miscarried) the Maubeuge garrison under Gen. Ferrand, which was almost as strong as its besiegers, was to sally out. Even without the Maubeuge garrison Jourdan had a two-to-one superiority. But the French were still the undisciplined enthusiasts of
Hondschoote. Their left attack progressed as long as it could use dead ground in the valleys, but when the Republicans reached the gentler slopes above, the volleys of the Austrian regulars crushed their swarms, and the Austrian cavalry, striking them in flank, rode over them. The centre attack, ordered by
Carnot on the assumption that all was well on the flanks, was premature; like the left, it progressed while the slopes were sharp, but when the Republicans arrived on the crest they found a gentle reverse slope before them, at the foot of which were Coburgs best troops. Again the disciplined volleys and a well-timed cavalry charge swept back the assailants.
The French right reached, but couldn't hold, Wattignies. But these reverses were, in the eyes of Carnot and Jourdan, mere mishaps. Jourdan wished to renew the left attack, but Carnot, the engineer, considered the Wattignies plateau the key of the position and his opinion prevailed.
16 October
In the night the nearly equal partition of force, which was largely responsible for the failure, was modified, and the strength of the attack massed opposite Wattignies. Coburg meanwhile strengthened his wings. He had heard, wrongly, that Jourdan had been reinforced up to 100,000. But he called up few fresh battalions, and put into line only 23,000 men. In reality Jourdan hadn't received reinforcements, and the effects of the first failure almost neutralized the superiority of numbers and enthusiasm over discipline and confidence.
On October 16, after a long fight the French army managed to win the plateau and forced Coburg, having lost 2,500 to Jourdan's 3,000, to withdraw to the east and to lift the siege of Maubeuge.
Trivia
The Battle happened the same day
Marie Antoinette was executed at the
guillotine in
Paris, 130 miles to the south.
Further Information
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