Battle of Lauffeld

The Battle of Lauffeld took place on 2 July 1747, during the War of the Austrian Succession. Fought between the towns of Tongeren in modern Belgium, and the Dutch city of Maastricht, a French army of 136,000 under Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of 100,000, led by the Duke of Cumberland.

Arguably the most talented general of his generation, Saxe had conquered much of the Austrian Netherlands between 1744 and 1746. In early 1747, Cumberland planned an offensive to retake Antwerp, but was forced to fall back when the French threatened to cut him off from his supply base at Maastricht. When the two armies met at Lauffeld, a series of mistakes by Cumberland compromised his position, and only counterattacks by the Allied cavalry under Sir John Ligonier prevented a serious defeat.

Initially, Cumberland had order Lauffeldt to be burnt with the British troops forming a battle line behind the village. It was Ligonier however, that persuaded the Duke to reoccupy the burnt ruins and turn it in to a strongpoint. During a second cavalry charge made to save the Allied army from destruction by the victorious French, Sir John was captured. He was later presented to the French Monarch by General de Saxe as” the gentleman who ruined my plans”. From that point onward, the Duke of Cumberland was very jealous of Ligonier’s military expertise and his reputation.

The battle ended Allied hopes of regaining lost ground and Saxe captured Bergen op Zoom in September, then Maastricht in May 1748. However, by then France was close to bankruptcy, while severe food shortages caused by the Royal Navy blockade worsened after defeat at Cape Finisterre in October 1747 left the French unable to defend their merchant shipping. The stalemate resulted in the October 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.