[Ennath]

April 26, 1794
Battle of Mouscron

For the 1794 Flanders Campaign, the French deployed 160,000 troops in the Army of the North and 35,000 in the Army of the Ardennes. Against them the Coalition had 150,000 soldiers from Austria, the Dutch Republic and various German and French émigré contingents paid for by Great Britain. Coalition strategy called for their armies to exert pressure on the north and northeastern frontiers of France in order to open a path to Paris. Jean-Charles Pichegru had control over the 2 French armies whose lines stretched from Dunkirk west through Lille, Douai and Cambrai to Maubeuge. The Army of the Ardennes was posted on the right wing and the newest recruits were used to man the fortresses. The French enjoyed numerical superiority but the Coalition fielded better troops. According to the plan drawn up by Minister of War Lazare Carnot, the French were to turn both Coalition flanks. The Coalition army was headed by Austrian Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld who was supported by British Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Both armies operated on the cordon system which required troops to guard the entire frontier.

With 85,000 troops, Coburg opened the campaign with a siege of Landrecies. Pichegru made 2 relief attempts but both were repulsed. On April 26, one of the columns was crushed at the Battle of Beaumont by the Duke of York (see posting). In this fiasco, the French suffered losses of 7000 killed, wounded and missing, plus 40 guns and a copy of Pichegru's plan of campaign. These Republican French failures led to the surrender of Landrecies on April 30.

On April 13, Pichegru was at Lille to organize his attack. His army consisted of divisions led by Pierre Michaud at Dunkirk (14,000 men), Jean Victor Moreau at Cassel (16,000), Joseph Souham at Lille (31,800) and Pierre-Jacques Osten at Pont-à-Marcq (7800). Austrian General François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt with 28,000 troops was responsible for covering the Coalition right wing. On April 23 a French force advanced from Cambrai toward Denain, menacing Coalition troops led by Hessian Gen. Ludwig von Wurmb. In response, Clerfayt was directed to move south from his base at Tournai toward Denain. Aware of the danger to Menin, Clerfayt was irritated by these orders.

On April 25, Pichegru started to advance on Menin and Courtrai. Michaud spread out between Veurne (Furnes) and Roesbrugge but his role was small in this offensive. Moreau moved down the north bank of the Lys and began firing on Menin on the 28th. Souham advanced on the south bank of the Lys. Spearheaded by Jacques MacDonald with 15,000 troops, Souham's division seized Courtrai on the 26th. In this skirmish, the French forced 1500 Hanoverian and émigré troops under Hanoverian General Georg Wilhelm von dem Bussche to abandon the city.

Also on the 26th, elements of Souham's division bumped into a force under Hanoverian General George von Oeynhausen at Mouscron. This Hanoverian force consisted 10,000 and 5 heavy guns. Oeynhausen moved east to Dottignies where his troops were able to hold their ground. Moreau and 14,000 troops invested Menin. The 2400-man Coalition garrison (Hanoverian-Hessian-Émigré) was commanded by Hanoverian Gen. Rudolf von Hammerstein, and had 28 guns.

Once the Coalition came into possession of Pichegru's plans, Clerfayt was ordered to march his troops to the west. Clerfayt attacked Mouscron on April 28 and drubbed Nicolas Bertin's brigade, the French retreating southwest to Tourcoing. Henri Antoine Jardon's brigade withdrew north to Aalbeke. That evening, Oeynhausen was reinforced. Also that evening, Clerfayt arrived with an Austrian force of 10,000 troops.

On the 29th Pichegru was unavailable. In the event, Souham acted with initiative, ordering Jacques MacDonald to march his brigade to Aalbeke and take command of Jardon's and Bertin's brigades, a total of 16,000 troops. When the brigade of Herman Willem Daendels arrived on the scene the total force numbered 24,000 men. As many as 28,000 French troops were engaged in battle on April 29. Meanwhile, Clerfayt planned to relieve Menin on April 30.

While Souham's main force attacked frontally, Bertin's brigade turned Clerfayt's left. The Austrian general believed the battle was over and was taken by surprise. Even so, the Coalition troops defeated Bertin again and twice repulsed the attacks of Daendels and MacDonald. At 2:00 PM Souham demanded another effort as he and MacDonald personally led the assault. French artillery superiority was decisive, despite a brief panic among the raw French troops. The badly outnumbered Austro-Hanoverians were eventually routed. They were saved from further losses when 5 battalions of reinforcements met their retreating columns at Dottignies. The corps continued its withdrawal to Espierres on the Scheldt.

The French Royalists in Menin were aware that they would be executed if captured. Therefore, on the night of April 30, the garrison broke out. Led by the Loyal Emigrant Battalion, Hammerstein's men cut their way out to the north. The garrison got away with most of their own artillery. The Hanoverians lost 38 killed, 123 wounded and 387 captured while the Royalists lost 92 killed and 87 wounded. Hessian and Austrian losses were not reported. The total loss was therefore 727 casualties and 10 artillery pieces. French losses were 500 men and 2 guns.

One source stated that the Austrians lost 3000 prisoners, 33 guns and 4 colors in the Battle of Mouscron. Another authority gave Coalition losses as 1760 men and 24 guns. The French suffered about 1500 casualties and lost 6 guns.