A History of England, Period III. Constitutional MonarchyBright, J. Franck (James Franck)
History
A History of England, Period III. Constitutional Monarchy
Bright, J. Franck (James Franck)
Great Britain -- History
along their front from Antoing to Fontenoy, and their left was covered
by the wood of Barré, on the right of which a redoubt had been
constructed. The whole of this position was fortified with field-works
and abattis, with the exception of a gap between Fontenoy and the wood
of Barré, where the difficulties of the approach were held to be of
themselves sufficient. It was resolved to assault this terribly strong
position. To the Dutch was intrusted the attack of the French right,
with the villages Antoing and Fontenoy; to the English the attack on
their left. The attack of the Dutch was without energy, and failed, and
the Prince of Waldeck, withdrawing his troops to a safe distance, kept
them unemployed the remainder of the day. A similar want of energy was
exhibited by General Ingoldsby, who had been instructed to assault a
redoubt on the left of the French and to clear the wood of Barré.
Finding more opposition than he expected, he withdrew when the enemy
were on the point of abandoning their redoubt, and demanded further
orders. The English and Hanoverians, on the other hand, energetically
assaulted the unfortified gap between Fontenoy and the wood. Regardless
of the flanking fire by which they were decimated, they pushed across
the ravine and up the opposite hill. The space was narrow, and they
advanced, without deploying, in a solid column 10,000 strong with a face
of about forty men. The ground was too rough for their cavalry, which
therefore advanced in their rear. In this solid formation, with
astonishing heroism and determination, they pushed on, crushing all
opposition, and unchecked by frequent cavalry charges. They won the
crown of the position, cut the enemy's centre, and were moving onwards
towards the bridge of Calonne, threatening thus to cut off all retreat
from the broken army. The victory seemed decided, and Voltaire allows
that, had the Dutch only moved, the French must have been inevitably
routed and destroyed. But the Prince of Waldeck never stirred. Fresh
troops could therefore be brought from Antoing and Fontenoy to repel the
victorious column. In this work it was the Irish Brigade which chiefly
distinguished itself, and at last when, by the advice of the Duc de
Richelieu, four cannon were placed right in front of the column so as to
fire down its whole length, finding itself wholly unsupported, the
heroic body began to give ground. It retired as it had come, slowly,
disputing every yard, and entirely without confusion. When it reached
ground where cavalry could act, that arm, hitherto useless, covered the
retreat, and the whole army fell back to Ath. Tournay was treacherously
surrendered, and the allies had to content themselves with covering
Brussels and Antwerp. This wonderful unsupported advance, though useless
for the battle, and purchased with immense loss of life, was for long a
just source of pride to the English soldier.
[Sidenote: Prince Charles Edward lands in Scotland.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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