Battle of Saint-Cast
| Battle of Saint-Cast | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Seven Years' War | |||||||
Engraving by Nicolas Ozanne | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Great Britain | France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Thomas Bligh Alexander Dury † George Anson Richard Howe |
Richelieu, duc d'Aiguillon Marquis d'Aubigné | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
over 10,000 soldiers 32,500 seamen | 8,000–9,000 soldiers and militiamen | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
2,300 killed or wounded 800 prisoners |
155 killed 340 wounded | ||||||
The Battle of Saint-Cast was a military engagement during the Seven Years' War on the French coast between British naval and land expeditionary forces and French coastal defence forces. Fought on 11 September 1758, it was won by the French, as they attacked a numerically superior British field force and drove it back to the ships, having suffered relatively minor casualties.
During the Seven Years' War, Britain mounted numerous amphibious expeditions against France and French possessions around the world. In 1758 a number of expeditions, then called descents, were made against the northern coast of France. The military objectives of the descents were to capture and destroy French ports, divert French land forces from Germany, and suppress privateers operating from the French coast. The battle of Saint-Cast was the final engagement of a descent in force that ended in a French victory.