The Battle of Tornai 1794After spending the winter with his home regiment, Major Andras Kareil rejoined the Coalition army in spring.
Meanwhile Lazare Carnot of the French Committee of Public Safety authored a strategy that directed the French armies to strike at both flanks of the Coalition army defending the Austrian Netherlands. The French left wing would seize Ypres, Ghent, and Brussels, while the right wing captured Namur and Liège in order to disrupt the Austrian line of communications to Luxembourg City. The French center would stay on the defensive the between Bouchain and Maubeuge. General Pichegru, the Army of the North's new commander arrived at Guise on 8 February 1794. In March 1794, the Army of the North counted 194,930 men, including 126,035 soldiers in the field army. Pichegru was also given authority over the subordinate Army of the Ardennes which had 32,773 men; the combined armies totaled 227,703 troops. On 13 April 1794, Pichegru came to Lille to organize the forces of his left wing. These consisted of Pierre Antoine Michaud's 13,943-man division at Dunkirk, Jean Victor Marie Moreau's 15,968-strong division at Cassel, Joseph Souham's 31,865-man division at Lille, and Pierre-Jacques Osten's 7,822-strong brigade at Pont-à-Marcq.
At the start of April 1794, the Coalition field army of Prinz Coburg occupied the following positions. The right wing consisted of 24,000 Austrians, Hanoverians, and Hessians under Count François of Clerfayt with headquarters at Tournai. On Clerfayt's left, Ludwig von Wurm's 5,000 soldiers were holding Denain. The 22,000 troops of the right-center were led by the Prinz Frederick, Duke of York and Albany at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. Prinz Coburg's headquarters and the 43,000 troops of the center were at Valenciennes. William V, Prinz of Orange commanded 19,000 Dutch of the left-center at Bavay. Franz Wenzel, Graf von Kaunitz-Rietberg commanded 27,000 Austrian and Dutch troops of the left wing at Bettignies watching French-held Maubeuge. Johann Peter Beaulieu's 15,000 Austrians guarded the extreme left from Namur to Trier. On 14 April, Kaiser Franz arrived at Valenciennes and Coburg urged that the fortress of Landrecies be attacked first.
The Siege of Landrecies began an 21 April and ended on 30 April with a French surrender. On 24 April, Pichegru launched an offensive by the left wing of the Army of the North. Michaud's division advanced toward both Nieuport on the coast and Ypres. Moreau's division swept past Ypres and surrounded Menin. Souham's division, accompanied by Pichegru, moved through Mouscron to seize Courtrai. In reaction, Clerfayt rapidly marched 10,000 troops to Mouscron on 28 April. The next day, Souham concentrated 24,000 men against Clerfayt and defeated him in the Battle of Mouscron, capturing 3,000 Coalition troops and 33 guns. The Coalition garrison successfully broke out of Menin, leaving that place and Courtrai in French hands.
Twice the Coalition allies tried to recapture the two cities. On 5 May, the Duke of York with 18,000 troops arrived at Tournai, joining Clerfayt with 19,000 and Johann von Wallmoden-Gimborn with 4,000–6,000 Germans. Meanwhile, Pichegru had added Jacques Philippe Bonnaud's 20,000-man division to the 40,000–50,000 French soldiers already in the area. On 10 May in the Battle of Courtrai, 23,000 French troops under Bonnaud and Osten attacked York but were beaten mostly by British cavalry. On the same day, Clerfayt attacked Courtrai from the north but failed to capture it. On 11 May, Souham overwhelmed Clerfayt and forced him to retreat to Tielt. Realizing the numerical odds against him, York called for reinforcements.
In the Battle of Tourcoing on 17–18 May, the Coalition army under Coburg concentrated 74,000 soldiers in a major effort to crush the 82,000-strong French forces led temporarily by Souham. The result was a French victory due to a serious breakdown in Allied cooperation and staff work. Coburg and his chief-of-staff Karl Mack von Leiberich planned to catch the French at Courtrai and Menin between five converging columns from the south and Clerfayt's column from the north. Souham and his lieutenants Moreau, Étienne Macdonald, and Jean Reynier devised a counterstroke whereby the divisions of Souham and Bonnaud attacked the two most advanced Coalition columns while Moreau held off Clerfayt. On 18 May, the French crushed the two exposed columns of York and Rudolf Ritter von Otto while the other three southern columns remained strangely inert.
On 19 May, the Coalition army returned to its camps around Tournai after the defeat at Tourcoing. Kaiser Franz and his Austrian generals were disheartened while the Coalition members blamed each other for the fiasco. The British troops, in particular, were angry with the Austrians for leaving them in the lurch. Expecting an attack Prinz Josias von Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld distributed his forces around Tournai in an outer outpost line and in an inner circle of prepared positions. Army headquarters was located northeast of Tornai and Major Kareil served there as staff officer.
From the Schelde in the north of Tornai to Marquain the right wing was commanded by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Alvinczy, followed by Prinz Williams forces that covered the area towards H.Trouvlu. South of them the British troops under the Duke of York constituted the left wing of the Coalition army. In front of this positions, both the Austrian and British Avantgarde were screening against French probes. On the 22nd of May General Pichegru attacked and the first French troops were sighted in the North near Pont Chin.
The Coalition advance guards retired to the main line and by 0830 first skirmishes erupted near H.Trouvlu while French columns kept coming on from the North and East.
An hour later the French had maneuvered and fought their way into the Coalition line south of H.Trouvlu. The British Guards and cavalry was rushed there and a very bloody battle evolved between the Bois du Lieux and H.Cornuau. Meanwhile a second strong French attack started from the North with Tornai nearly open after the Austrians had to shift their forces West.
British troops came out of reserve in the nick of time and saved Tornai, but now the coalition lines west of Froinnes and at Marquain were under heavy attack.
Between the Bois du Lieux and H.Cornuau the French attack was stopped though and even pushed back slowly.
“Slaughter at the Bois du Lieux.” Johann Tiller, oil on canvasSeveral hours of frantic maneuvering and heavy fighting followed but by noon, the French attacks had stalled all along the line and the Coalition army started first counter attacks.
“Fighting for every house in the town of Marquain.” Johann Tiller, oil on canvas An hour later General Pichegru sounded a general retreat and the French Forces retired to the North and West with the Coalition forces in pursuit, an important Victory against the murdering mob of the French revolution.
(Austria=brown,British=red| France=blue | VictoryPointHexes=yellow)
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Scenario: 057_Tournay_FB-V2_HTH
Title: John Tillers Republican Bayonets on the Rhine (v 4.07)
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