Battle of Erquelinnes

The village of Erquelinnes (shown in 2009) was the scene of fighting on 21 and 24 May 1794.

Date	20–24 May 1794
Location	Erquelinnes, Belgium
Result	Austro-Dutch victory

Belligerents

Habsburg Austria

Dutch Republic

First French Republic

Commanders and leaders

Graf von Kaunitz

Jacques Desjardin

Louis Charbonnier

Strength

24,000

30,000–50,000

Casualties and losses

611–650

3,000–5,400, 25–32 guns
40 wagons, 3 colors

The Battle of Erquelinnes or Battle of Péchant (20–24 May 1794) was part of the Flanders Campaign during the War of the First Coalition, and saw a Republican French army jointly led by Jacques Desjardin and Louis Charbonnier try to defend a bridgehead on the north bank of the Sambre River against a combined Habsburg Austrian and Dutch army led by Franz Wenzel, Graf von Kaunitz-Rietberg. The French crossed the Sambre on the 20th and held their positions for a few days. On the 24th Kaunitz launched an early-morning surprise attack that routed the French. The War of the First Coalition combat represented the second of five French attempts to gain a foothold on the north bank of the Sambre. Erquelinnes is a village in Belgium directly on the border with France. It is situated about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Charleroi.

Jean-Charles Pichegru, the top French military commander in the north formed a mass of 60,000 troops by joining Desjardin's three-division right wing of the Army of the North to Charbonnier's two-division Army of the Ardennes. Without a single leader to control the force, Desjardin's troops were beaten by Kaunitz at Grandreng on 13 May while Charbonnier's men stood idle nearby. On the 20th, the combined force recrossed the Sambre and repelled Kaunitz's attempt to dislodge them on the 21st. Again there were command problems when Desjardin missed an opportunity because he could not issue orders to one of Charbonnier's divisions. After two days of hesitation, the French sent 15,000 men under Jean Baptiste Kléber north on a raid to seize Nivelles. Kaunitz's sudden assault on 24 May overwhelmed his foes' defenses and the French were saved from catastrophic losses when Kléber turned back and marched to the rescue. Desjardin and Charbonnier would try again but suffer a third defeat at Gosselies on June 3. After that a new general would try a fourth time at Lambusart on 16 June before achieving success at Fleurus on 26 June.

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