Battle of Jemappes

In the summer of 1792 Charles Dumouriez, the French foreign minister and commander of the Armée du Nord, had believed that the best way to prevent an Austrian and Prussian invasion of France was to invade the Austrian Netherlands, but the Allies had launched their invasion before Dumouriez was ready to move, and he had been forced to move south. The Allied invasion had been at Valmy on 20 September where the French army stood up to an artillery bombardment, and proved that it would not flee at the first sign of opposition The Allied commander, the Duke of Brunswick, was not willing to risk a full-scale assault on the French line, and withdrew after it.

This left Dumouriez free to move north, to first raise the siege to Lille in late September and into early October, and then to launch his long-planned invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. His original plan for a three-pronged invasion had to be changed, as the promised resources to achieve it proved unavailable, and instead, at the end of October, he concentrated most of his men in front of Valenciennes and marched towards Mons, and the way to Brussels.

The monument of the battle in Jemappes.

See Jemappes 1792 Order of Battle for details of the Austrian and French organizations.

Saxe-Teschen entrenched his 11,628 infantry, 2,168 cavalry and 56 guns along the Cuesmes Ridge just a few kilometers west of Mons. The Austrian artillery included fourteen 12-lb cannon, thirty-six 6-lb and 3-lb cannon and six 7-lb howitzers.[2] The north end of the position, defended by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Franz Freiherr von Lilien, was anchored on the village of Jemappes. Feldzeugmeister Count Clerfayt commanded the center and Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann Peter Beaulieu led the left wing. The Austrian right wing faced to the west, while the center and the left wings faced toward the southwest.[3] The village of Cuesmes lay behind the Austrian left. One flaw in the position was that an Austrian retreat could only be made across a single bridge over the Hain River.[2]

Dumouriez had 32,000 infantry, 3,800 cavalry and 100 artillery pieces. He expected to be joined by an additional 4,000 troops on the right under General Louis Auguste Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville. (Digby Smith gave a total of 40,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.)[2] Dumouriez planned to turn both Austrian flanks. Accordingly, he divided his army into two wings, giving General Jean Henri Becays Ferrand command of the left wing and General Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville control of the right wing. The French army was made up of a motley collection of royal army, volunteer, and national guard units.

The French made a series of "ill-coordinated but enthusiastic"[4] attacks which began at dawn and continued throughout the morning. With momentum stalling Dumouriez ordered a renewed assault at noon. The Duke of Chartres sent a massive French column at the center of the ridge. This gained a foothold which the Austrians could not dislodge. Some French soldiers also enveloped the enemy right, threatening the Austrian rear. In response, Saxe-Teschen withdrew his right and center into Mons. Beaulieu ably covered the retreat with his left wing.

The French reported approximately 650 dead and 1,300 wounded. One of the dead being Armand Gagné, the foster son of Marie Antoinette. The Austrians reported 305 dead, 513 wounded, plus 423 men and five guns captured. Many of the Austrian casualties were caused by the plentiful French artillery. The Bender Infantry Regiment Nr. 41 suffered especially heavy casualties, losing 14 officers and 400 rank and file. Mons surrendered to the French the day after the battle and Brussels fell on 14 November. The French populace "went wild with joy" at this first offensive victory of the war.[2]

At first glance Jemappes was not an impressive French victory. The Austrians had suffered 818 casualties, and lost another 423 men taken prisoner, while France had a higher casualty rate and had failed to prevent the escape of a much smaller army to defend a position of danger. However, in the context of the situation in 1792, with the French army in chaos due to exile of many of its experienced officers, it was a great success. The victory at Jemappes, achieved by inexperienced volunteers over the Austrian regulars, greatly increased the confidence of the revolutionary government in Paris, and encouraged their tendency to aggressive warfare.

In the short-term Jemappes gave the French control of the Austrian Netherlands. Mons opened its doors to Dumouriez, and he remained there until 12 November. He then moved to Brussels, fighting a rearguard action in Anderlecht on 13 November, before capturing the city on 14 November. This first French occupation of Belgium would be short-lived, but in the few months that the revolutionaries managed to alienate the population, imposing their ideas of freedom on a conservative population. In 1793 Dumouriez was forced to flee into exile, but his victory at Jemappes was an important step in the direction of the military triumphs of the French Republic. In addition, it ensured that the majority of the battles fought in 1793 would occur outside the borders of France.[5]

• Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 5 July 2022.

• Chandler, David. Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars. New York: Macmillan, 1979. ISBN 0-02-523670-9.
• Smith, Digby. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

• Media related to Battle of Jemappes at Wikimedia Commons