Battle of Willems

The Battle of Willems (10 May 1794) saw a Republican French army under Jean-Charles Pichegru oppose Coalition forces commanded by Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, as part of a French attempt to defeat an Allied counteroffensive and continue its own 1794 offensive in the Low Countries, which had already seen success with the battle of Mouscron and the capture of the important cities of Menin and Courtrai. The battle was a French tactical defeat, but victory in the battle of Courtrai the next day, coupled with the Duke of York's realisation that he was badly outnumbered, led to Allied withdrawal and a strategic victory for the French, who retained their hold on Menin and Courtrai. During this action, French infantry formed in squares and repulsed Coalition cavalry for the first time during the war. The fighting occurred during the War of the First Coalition near Kortrijk, Belgium, located about 85 kilometres (53 mi) west of Brussels.

For the spring 1794 campaign, Lazare Carnot of the Committee of Public Safety devised a strategy in which the French Republican armies attacked the flanks of the Coalition forces in the Austrian Netherlands. On the western flank, 100,000 troops were ordered to strike first at Ypres, then Ghent, and finally Brussels. On the eastern flank, 100,000 soldiers would thrust toward Liège and Namur in order to cut off Austrian communications with Luxembourg City. Meanwhile, 50,000 men held the center of the French line near Bouchain and Maubeuge. The defect of this double envelopment strategy was that the Allies might throw the main weight of their forces on either French wing and crush it.

Charles Pichegru, the new French commander, assumed command of the Army of the North on 8 February 1794. Pichegru was formerly the commander of the Army of the Rhine which had won the battles of Haguenau and Wissembourg, and relieved Landau. In March 1794, the Army of the North numbered 194,930 men, of which 126,035 were available for the field. Counting the 32,773 soldiers of the subordinate Army of the Ardennes, Pichegru controlled 227,703 troops. In mid-April 1794, the Army of the North units in western Flanders were, from left to right: Pierre Antoine Michaud's division (13,943) at Dunkirk, Jean Victor Marie Moreau's division (15,968) at Cassel, Joseph Souham's (31,856) division at Lille, and Pierre-Jacques Osten's brigade (7,822) at Pont-à-Marcq.

At the beginning of April 1794, the Coalition forces under the overall command of Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld were deployed as follows. With headquarters at Tournai, Clerfayt commanded a field army of 24,000 Austrians, Hanoverians, and Hessians on the Allied right wing. Clerfayt was charged with defending Menin, Ypres, Nieuport, Orchies, and Marchiennes. Ludwig von Wurmb and 5,000 troops held Denain between the right wing and center. The Duke of York and 22,000 troops formed the right-center with headquarters at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. Coburg and 43,000 men held the Allied center with headquarters at Valenciennes. William V, Prince of Orange and 19,000 Dutch soldiers made up the left-center, with headquarters at Bavay. The left wing under Franz Wenzel, Graf von Kaunitz-Rietberg counted 27,000 Austrian and Dutch troops and covered the ground between Bettignies (near Maubeuge) and Dinant. Under the eyes of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Coburg's main Coalition army advanced on 17 April and invested the fortress of Landrecies. The Siege of Landrecies began on 21 April and ended on 30 April with a French surrender.

On 26 April, Allied cavalry smashed a 20,000-man French column that intended to relieve Landrecies, inflicting 7,000 casualties and capturing its commander René-Bernard Chapuy along with Pichegru's plans for overrunning coastal Flanders. Meanwhile, the French harassed Wurmb's troops at Denain, compelling Clerfayt to send 8,000 from his right wing to their aid. On 24 April, Michaud's 12,000-man division advanced toward Nieuport and Ypres, Moreau's 21,000-strong division surrounded Menin, and Souham's 30,000-man division moved toward Courtrai, which it captured. With Pichegru's plans in his hands, Coburg sent a reinforcement of 12 infantry battalions and 10 cavalry squadrons under Sir William Erskine to the right wing and ordered Clerfayt's 8,000 men from Denain back to Tournai. It was too late; Souham defeated the badly-outnumbered Clerfayt in the Battle of Mouscron on 29 April, inflicting 2,000 casualties and capturing 23 guns. The following night, the Coalition garrison abandoned Menin. In the Allied rear areas there was a panicky retreat of supply trains headed for Ghent and Brussels.

As soon as Landrecies fell, Coburg sent York with the remainder of his corps to Tournai. Heavy rains slowed York's column so that it was 3 May before it rejoined Erskine's force at Tournai. York sent a detachment west to Marquain and Lamain to relieve 5,000 of Clerfayt's soldiers who were guarding those places. Near Tournai, York's corps numbered 18,000, Clerfayt's corps counted 19,000, and Georg Wilhelm von dem Bussche's Hanoverian division had 4,000–6,000 men at Warcoing and Espierre. Included in Clerfayt's total was a new British brigade under Richard Whyte (12th Foot, 38th Foot, 55th Foot, and 8th Light Dragoons) that was marching from Ostend and had not yet joined.

On 5 May, the Allied corps commanders worked out a plan where Clerfayt would cross the Lys River downstream from Courtrai and attack Courtrai from the north. Clerfayt's force included the following Hanoverian units: 3rd and 4th Grenadier battalions, and three squadrons of the 10th Light Dragoons. His Austrian troops consisted of 2 battalions each of Infantry Regiments Clerfayt Nr. 9 and Sztáray Nr. 33, the 3rd Battalion of Infantry Regiment Stuart Nr. 18, 8 squadrons of Latour Chevau-léger Regiment Nr. 31, and the Kaiser Dragoon Regiment Nr. 3, about 8,500 soldiers.

At the same time, York would advance west from Tournai in order to cut off Courtrai from the French base at Lille. York believed that French forces north of Lille, around Menin and Courtrai numbered 24,000, and were mostly north of Lille, allowing his attack to outflank their right and drive them against Courtrai, and against Clerfayt coming from the other direction.