After a detailed examination of the enemy…

July 1712 CE

After a detailed examination of the enemy dispositions, Villars decides in the greatest secrecy to attack Denain.

Elements of the French cavalry are sent to seize the various bridges crossing the river Selle which runs through le Cateau to join the Scheldt opposite Denain.

A French detachment also takes up positions during the evening of July 23 around a mill at Haspres, blocking the river crossing there.

The French infantry begins that night to march towards Prince Eugene’s forces at Landrecies.

Prince Eugene reinforces Landrecies in response to this threat, weakening the Allied right wing (under the Earl of Albemarle) holding Denain.

At dawn, however, Villars swings the line of advance of his army and aims it (behind the cover of the Selle) in three columns at Denain.

Villars and his principal lieutenants at five o'clock in the morning draw up their plan of attack at Avesnes-le-Sec, choosing the windmill there as a vantage point for observation of the surrounding lowland.

The French infantrymen reach Neuville-sur-Escaut at seven o’clock and are immediately ordered to seize the bridges across the Scheldt.

The Allies are surprised at eight o’clock to discover the large French presence in the area.

The Earl of Albermarle, at the head of the Dutch garrison in and around Denain, warns Prince Eugene, but the Prince of Savoy is not greatly concerned at the time.

The attack has developed by one in the afternoon, o the point of an assault on the palisade at Denain.

The French sappers lead the infantry against heavy fire and take Denain at the point of the bayonet.

Many defenders are killed and the remaining Dutch infantry attempts to escape across the mill bridge, but it collapses during the retreat and hundreds of Allied troops drowned.

Prince Eugene, realizing the gravity of the situation, attempts to force his way across the Scheldt at Prouvy to help Albemarle.

French regiments under the command of the Prince de Tingry hold the bridge at Prouvy against repeated Austrian attacks; finally, as the day draws to a close, the French destroy the bridge to prevent it falling into the hands of the enemy.

This leaves the Prince of Savoy's army blocked on the left flank by the Scheldt and the Allies cannot counterattack to retake Denain.

Here, Albemarle and his staff are taken prisoner, together with some forty-one hundred troops.

The battle is not immediately recognized to be as decisive as it turns out to be; most of Prince Eugene's army is relatively unscathed.

With the loss of Denain the Allied position begins to unravel, however, and the French over the next few months will recover most of the towns they had lost in the region in previous years.