Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) TOURCOING [Illustration] TOURCOING BY HILAIRE BELLOC MCMXII STEPHEN SWIFT AND CO., LTD. 16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN LONDON CONTENTS PART PAGE I. THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE 9 II. THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION 17 III. THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES 28 IV. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE 49 V. THE TERRAIN 57 VI. THE ACTION 67 TOURCOING PART I THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE The Battle of Tourcoing is one of those actions upon which European history in general is somewhat confused, and English history, in particular, ignorant. That British troops formed part of those who suffered defeat, and that a British commander, the Duke of York, was the chief figure in the reverse, affords no explanation; for the almost exactly parallel case of Fontenoy--in which another royal duke, also the son of the reigning King of England, also very young, also an excellent general officer, and also in command was defeated--is among the most familiar of actions in this country. In both battles the posture of the British troops earned them as great and as deserved a fame as they had acquired in victory; in both was work done by the Guards in particular, which called forth the admiration of the enemy. Yet Tourcoing remains unknown to the English general reader of history, while Fontenoy is one of the few stock names of battles which he can at once recall. The reason that British historians neglect this action is not, then, as foreign and rival historians are too inclined to pretend, due to the fact that among the forces that suffered disaster were present certain British contingents. Again, as will be seen in the sequel, the overwhelming of the Duke of York's forces at Tourcoing, by numbers so enormously superior to his own, was not due to any tactical fault of his, though it is possible that the faulty plan of the whole action may in some measure be ascribed to him. Now Tourcoing is a battle which Englishmen should know, both for its importance in the military history of Europe, and for the not unworthy demeanour which the British troops, though defeated, maintained upon its field.