Battle of Gosselies

Map of the Charleroi fortress by Joseph de Ferraris

Date	30 May – 3 June 1794
Location	Gosselies, Belgium
Result	Austro-Dutch victory

Belligerents

Dutch Republic

Habsburg Austria

Republican France

Commanders and leaders

Prince of Orange

Jacques Desjardin

Louis Charbonnier

Strength

28,000

27,000

Casualties and losses

424

2,000, 1 gun

The Battle of Gosselies or Battle of Charleroi (30 May – 3 June 1794) saw a Republican French army co-commanded by Jacques Desjardin and Louis Charbonnier try to cross the Sambre River against a joint Dutch and Habsburg Austrian army under William, Hereditary Prince of Orange. The French defeat in the battle marked the third of five attempts by their armies to win a foothold on the north bank of the Sambre during the War of the First Coalition. In 1794, Gosselies was a separate village but is now part of the Charleroi municipality, about 7 kilometres (4 mi) north of the city center. Charleroi is located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Brussels.

The spring of 1794 saw bitter fighting in the Austrian Netherlands as the numerically superior French armies mounted continual attacks against the forces of the First Coalition. In trying to cross the Sambre, the French were beaten at Grandreng on 13 May and Erquelinnes on 24 May. Nevertheless, the French recrossed the Sambre on the 26th and laid siege to Charleroi on 30 May. After their defeat and withdrawal on 3 June, the French would make one more failed attempt to cross the Sambre at Lambusart on 16 June before they triumphed in the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794.

In a 9 May 1794 return, the 31,736-man Corps of Desjardin at Maubeuge under General of Division Jacques Desjardin was organized into three divisions under Generals of Division François Muller, Jacques Fromentin and Éloi Laurent Despeaux. Muller's 14,075-strong division was led by brigadiers André Poncet and Joseph Léonard Richard and included the 10th Light Infantry Battalion (753), 1st Battalions of the 18th Line (815), 49th Line (996), 68th Line (744) and 89th Line Infantry Demi Brigades (900), 2nd Battalions of the 68th Line (807), Calvados (960), Haut-Rhin (952), Mayenne-et-Loire (854) and Nièvre (844) National Guards, 3rd Battalions of the Eure (950) and Haute-Marne (864), 4th Battalion of the Chasseurs Francs (340), 5th Battalion of the Somme (789), 6th Battalion of the Oise (936), 6th Cavalry (138), 7th Dragoon (459) and 16th Chasseurs à Cheval (285) Regiments, 3rd Artillery Regiment detachment (102) and 15th Light Artillery Company (87).

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