Battle of Dettingen: battle dettingen

The British force of 16,000 men under John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair had landed at Ostend in the Austrian Netherlands on July 10, 1742. Here it formed the Pragmatic Army, some 44,000 strong at the start of the campaign, also containing 16,000 Hanoverians with the balance made up of Austrians, Hessians and Dutch.^[8]
The army remained here inactive until January 1743, when King George II ordered Dalrymple to march into Germany, leaving the Hessians and some Austrian troops to protect the Netherlands. The internal divisions in the Dutch Republic delayed their army of 20,000 so that it came too late to participate in the campaign.^[9]

The Austrian commander, the Duke of Arenberg, proposed to follow the Neckar and march towards Bavaria, but King George feared a Prussian attack on Hanover and decided to march along the north bank of the Main, keeping all options open.

On June 17 the army set up camp between Kleinostheim and Aschaffenburg. King George II, accompanied by 25 squadrons of British and Hanoverian cavalry, arrived here on June 19 and took up overall command.

By June 27, the French had cut the allies' line of supply and the Pragmatic Army had suffered severely from a lack of supplies and, in a reduced state, decided to fall back on Hanau, just what the French wanted. This was the result of skillfull maneuvering and harassment by a French army of some 45,000 led by Noailles.

The battle

On June 27, the Pragmatic Army marched west from the town of Aschaffenburg, along the line of the north bank of the Main river, right into the famous 'mousetrap'^[10]set by Noailles at the village of Dettingen cutting the allies line of retreat to Hanau. There, behind the Forbach stream running into the Main, Noailles had stationed the Duc of Gramont with a blocking force of some 23,000 troops in a line that ran from Dettingen to the Spessart Heights behind the marshy stream and had lined the south bank of the Main with artillery that could fire without interference on the Pragmatic army's left flank while about 12,000 French troops marched south on Aschaffenburg crossing the Main behind the allied army. Thickly wooded hills to the Pragmatic Army's right flank prevented the allies from turning Gramont's position.

Some six hours passed with the British, Austrians and Hannoverians trying to form an advance in this confined position. At one point, George II's horse ran off with him; it was halted by Ensign Cyrus Trapaud, who received a promotion as a reward. James Wolfe wrote that the Pragmatic first line of infantry consisted of 9 regiments of English foot, 4 or 5 Austrian regiments and some Hanoverian regiments.^[11]About noon, against orders,^[12] Gramont impatiently attacked the allies with the Maison du Roi cavalry, initially with some success breaking through the English front lines throwing the British cavalry into their infantry and capturing a number of standards.^[13] The French infantry followed and they too had initial success throwing back several English regiments of foot. However, the charge forced the French artillery to stop firing and with the attack spent and the French out of their defenses, the allies counter-attacked. An Austrian brigade of three regiments advanced into a gap made by the British retiring^[14] and charged the French infantry in the flank while a large Hannoverian artillery battery cannonaded the French line.^[15]The French line collapsed with the allies driving Gramont's force across and into the river, opening the road to Hanau for continuing the allies' retreat and resupply.

The two parties had agreed before the battle that the sick and wounded who fell into the hands of the enemy would be cared for and not considered prisoners of War. When the allies retreated, they left behind most of their wounded and the French respected the agreement, a precursor of the Geneva Convention.

Aftermath

With the French defeat at Dettingen, the Duc du Noailles missed the best opportunity to win the war at a stroke for the French. Had the French prevailed the Pragmatic Army would have had to surrender or starve and the King of England, George II, would have fallen prisoner to Louis XV.^[16]

Quotations

During the battle, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw warned his Regiment The Royal Scots Fusiliers not to fire until they could “see the white’s of their e’en.”^[17] A noted wit, Sir Andrew is also quoted as addressing his regiment thus: "Lads, you see they loons (young men) on yon' hill. Better kill them afore they kill you." And to George II after the battle, who had (humorously) chided him for letting a French cavalry charge break into his Regiment's position: "An' it please Your Majesty, but they didna' gang oot again."

Legacy

Dettingen has since 1947 been the name of one of the training companies at the British Army's officer training academy. In recent years it has been the training unit for short courses (for example the Territorial Army Officers' Commissioning Courses) run at the Academy. Additionally, it is the name of 4 (Dettingen) Troop at Army Training Regiment Winchester.

Notes

^ 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, entry National Flags: "The Austrian imperial standard has, on a yellow ground, the black double-headed eagle, on the breast and wings of which are imposed shields bearing the arms of the provinces of the empire . The flag is bordered all round, the border being composed of equal-sided triangles with their apices alternately inwards and outwards, those with their apices pointing inwards being alternately yellow and white, the others alternately scarlet and black ." Also, Whitney Smith, Flags through the ages and across the world, McGraw-Hill, England, 1975 ISBN 0-07-059093-1, pp.114 - 119, "The imperial banner was a golden yellow cloth...bearing a black eagle...The double-headed eagle was finally established by Sigismund as regent...".
^ George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana, The American Cyclopaedia, New York, 1874, p. 250, "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis...". *[1]The original Banner of France was strewn with fleurs-de-lis. *[2]:on the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)."
^ Chandler, David. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough. Spellmount Limited, (1990): ISBN 0-946771-42-1, p.306: Some statistics taken from Chandler
^ Hamilton, Lieutenant-General F.W..Origin and History of the First or Grenadier Guards, London, 1874, Vol. II, p.109, gives French under Grammont at 20,000 in 5 Brigades.
^ Hamilton, Lieutenant-General F.W..Origin and History of the First or Grenadier Guards, London, 1874, Vol. II, p.111
^ Hamilton, Lieutenant-General F.W..Origin and History of the First or Grenadier Guards, London, 1874, Vol. II, p.111
^ Many British sources from the time have the date as June 16th instead of June 27 according to the Gregorian calendar, which the British had not yet officially adopted)
^ Edward E. Morris, The Early Hanoverians, London, 1886, pp.123- 127.
^ See DBNL. De Gids Jaargang 1885 (in Dutch), p.300.
^ Stephen Brumwell, Paths of Glory, London, 2006, ISBN 1 8528 5553 3, P.31
^ Robert Wright, The Life of Major-General James Wolfe, London, 1864, p.44
^ Duffy, Christopher The Military Experience in the Age of Reason, 1998, Wordsworth Editions Ltd., Hertfordshire, ISBN 1 85326 690 6, p. 19, "the Comte de Stainville(later Duc de Choiseul) three times heard Marshall Noailles order the army to reoccupy the position...".
^ Morris, Edward Ellis.The Early Hanoverians, London, 1886, p.126, of the Maison du Roi cavalry: "The charge came with such force that it broke, at least in parts, the three front lines of the English, but could not break the fourth."
^ Robert Wright, The Life of Major-General James Wolfe, London, 1864, pp. 44-45.
^ Daniel Mackinnon, Origin and services of the Coldstream Guards, London 1883, Vol.1, p. 358
^ Brumwell, Stephen, Paths of Glory, London, 2006, ISBN 1 8528 5553 3, pp. 30-31.
^ Anderson, William (1863). The Scottish Nation: Or, The Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland 2. Fullarton, p. 679.

Battle of Dettingen

Contents

Prelude

The battle

Aftermath

Quotations

Legacy

Notes

References

External links