In May 1712, Villars prepared to take the offensive. The
French gathered an army of 200,000 men on the northern border, stretching from
Arras to Cambrai. The Allied northern army was positioned along the Scarpe
between Douai and Marchiennes, occupying the communes of Denain and Landrecies.
The successful but controversial Marlborough had recently been relieved of his
command and the British forces were now under the leadership of the Duke of
Ormonde, who was under secret orders not to fight alongside the Allies under
the Prince of Savoy. In June, Prince Eugene besieged and captured Le Quesnoy.
The Duke of Ormonde withdrew his forces during the siege, leading to a rift
between the British and the rest of the Allies.
After a detailed examination of the enemy dispositions,
Villars decided in the greatest secrecy to attack Denain. Elements of the
French cavalry were sent to seize the various bridges crossing the river Selle which ran through le Cateau to join the
Scheldt opposite Denain. During the evening a French detachment also took up
positions around a mill at Haspres, blocking the river crossing there. That
night the French infantry began to march towards Prince Eugene’s forces at
Landrecies. In response to this threat, Prince Eugene reinforced Landrecies,
weakening the Allied right wing (under the Earl of Albemarle) holding Denain.
At dawn, however, Villars swung the line of advance of his
army and aimed it (behind the cover of the Selle) in three columns at Denain.
At five o'clock in the morning, Villars and his principal lieutenants drew up
their plan of attack at Avesnes-le-Sec; they choose the windmill there as a
vantage point for observation of the surrounding lowland. At seven o’clock the
French infantrymen reached Neuville-sur-Escaut and were immediately ordered to
seize the bridges across the Scheldt. At eight o’clock, the Allies were
surprised to discover the large French presence in the area. The Earl of
Albermarle, at the head of the Dutch garrison in and around Denain, warned
Prince Eugene, but the Prince of Savoy was not greatly concerned at the time.
By one in the afternoon the attack had developed to the point of an assault on
the palisade at Denain. The French sappers led the infantry against heavy fire
and took Denain at the point of the bayonet. Many defenders were killed and the
remaining Dutch infantry attempted to escape across the mill bridge, but it
collapsed during the retreat and hundreds of Allied troops drowned.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Prince Eugene
attempted to force his way across the Scheldt at Prouvy to help Albemarle.
Under the command of the Prince de Tingry, French regiments held the bridge at
Prouvy against repeated Austrian attacks; finally, as the day drew to a close,
the French destroyed the bridge to prevent it falling into the hands of the
enemy. This left the Prince of Savoy's army blocked on the left flank by the
Scheldt and the Allies could not counterattack to retake Denain. There,
Albemarle and his staff were taken prisoner, together with some 4,100 troops.
Aftermath
The battle was not immediately recognised to be as decisive
as it turned out to be; most of Prince Eugene's army was relatively unscathed.
However, with the loss of Denain the Allied position began to unravel, and over
the next few months the French recovered most of the towns they had lost in the
region in previous years.
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