The regiment was afterwards encamped near Hanau; in August it crossed the Rhine, and was employed in West Germany; but in the autumn it returned to Flanders. [Sidenote: 1744] During the campaign of 1744 the regiment served with the army under Field-Marshal Wade; it was encamped between Asche and Alost, afterwards on the banks of the Scheldt, and subsequently penetrated the French territory to the vicinity of Lisle; but returned to Ghent for winter-quarters. [Sidenote: 1745] Quitting its cantonments in April, 1745, the regiment marched, with the army commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, to the relief of _Tournay_, which fortress was besieged by a numerous French army, which took up a position near the village of _Fontenoy_. The enemy had a great superiority of numbers; but the Duke of Cumberland, trusting to the innate bravery of his troops, resolved to hazard a general engagement on the 11th of May, when the ROYAL NORTH BRITISH FUSILIERS had their valour and endurance put to a severe test, and they proved themselves not unworthy successors of the gallant officers and soldiers who triumphed at _Blenheim_ and _Ramilies_ under the great Duke of Marlborough. Soon after nine o'clock the British infantry advanced in the face of a heavy fire of grape and musketry, and by a gallant charge broke through the French lines; but the Dutch failed to carry the village of _Fontenoy_, and a brigade under Brigadier-General Ingoldsby did not capture the battery it was appointed to attack; the troops, which had forced the enemy's centre, were thus exposed to so severe a cross fire, that they were ordered to retire. A second attack was made; British valour and intrepidity were again triumphant; but the failure of the Dutch a second time, produced disastrous results, and the British regiments, which had carried the enemy's entrenchments, and forced the centre, were nearly annihilated by a destructive cross fire. The ROYAL NORTH BRITISH FUSILIERS suffered severely on this occasion. The Duke of Cumberland afterwards ordered a retreat, and the army withdrew from the field of battle to Aeth. Lieutenants Campbell, Houston, and Serjeant, of the regiment, were killed; Major Colville, Captains Latan, Olivant, and Knatchbull, Lieutenants Maxwell, Colville, Ballenden, Macgaken, and Townsend, wounded; Captain Sandilands, Lieutenant Stuart, and Quarter-Master Stewart prisoners; eleven serjeants and two hundred and fifty-nine rank and file killed, wounded, and prisoners. The severe loss which the regiment had experienced occasioned it to be placed in garrison at _Ostend_. This place was besieged by a numerous French force; and the garrison defended their post some time; but the works were not in repair, the stores were defective, and the garrison not sufficiently numerous: under these circumstances the governor surrendered, on condition that the garrison should join the allied army.