Siege of Tournai (1745)

Siege of Tournai
Part of the War of the Austrian Succession
Siège de Tournai par Louis XV by Louis Nicolas Van Blarenberghe
Date 28 April – 19 June 1745 Location Tournai, Austrian Netherlands Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
Marshal Saxe Marquis de Brézé	Baron van Dorth (city) Baron van Brackel (citadel)
Strength
72,000 (at peak)	9,000

The siege of Tournai was a two-month siege of the citadel and city of Tournai, then part of the Austrian Netherlands, in 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession. The allied Pragmatic Army's attempt to relieve the siege resulted in the decisive French victory at the Battle of Fontenoy on 11 May. The largely Dutch garrison of the town subsequently surrendered to French forces on 22 May, while the garrison of the citadel surrendered on 19 June 1745. It was one of the longest sieges of the war.

Background

In early 1745, the French commander Marshal Saxe conceived a plan to attack Tournai, a strategically important city close to the French border which controlled access to the upper Scheldt basin. The city was a vital link in northern Europe's trading network. The city, whose population then amounted to 21,400 inhabitants, was part of the Dutch Barrier Forts, established since 1714 as a defensive line against France. With a garrison of approximately 9,000 Dutch, Swiss and Scottish soldiers in April 1745, it was the strongest of the Dutch forts in the Austrian Netherlands, a factor Saxe hoped would force the Allies to fight for it.

Siege

The first French elements closed on the city on 25 April. After a series of diversionary moves, Saxe laid siege to Tournai on 28 April with his main force of 72,000 soldiers. He moved his men into the siege lines, crossing to the left bank of the Scheldt in order to surround the Vauban-designed citadel. The defences had been poorly maintained and sectors were in disrepair; Saxe planned to make these sections his primary effort, directing his artillery against the same sector of walls breached by the Duke of Marlborough in the siege of 1709. French engineers constructed pontoon bridges at Calonne and Constantin to enable communication and movement between Saxe's forces on both banks of the river. The Dutch garrison was commanded by Governor Baron Johan Adolf Van Dorth.

Having confirmed the Allies were approaching from the south-east to relieve the siege, on 7 May Saxe left 22,000 men under the Marquis de Brézé to continue the siege, and placed his main force of 50,000 around the villages of Fontenoy and Antoing, eight kilometres (5 mi) from Tournai. Brézé was to prosecute the siege with 25 12lb and 20 8lb 3oz mortars, together with 90 heavy cannon with calibres ranging from 12lb to 33lb. On 7 May, the citadel's powder magazine was exploded by artillery fire.

With the Allied defeat at the Fontenoy on 11 May, Saxe successfully removed the threat of his opponents relieving the siege. Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and other Dutch commanders were reluctant to abandon their garrison at Tournai, but were forced to comply with the decision of Prince William, Duke of Cumberland to retreat. The city surrendered to French forces on 22 May. The Dutch garrison in the citadel continued to hold out until 19 June 1745, when they also capitulated.

References

Sources

• Browning, Reed (1975). The War of the Austrian Succession (1995 ed.). Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-12561-5.
• McNally, Michael (2017). Fontenoy 1745: Cumberland's bloody defeat. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-4728-1625-2.
• Skrine, Francis Henry (1906). Fontenoy and Great Britain's Share in the War of the Austrian Succession 1741–48 (2018 ed.). Forgotten Books. ISBN 978-0-260-41355-0.
• Starkey, Armstrong (2003). War in the Age of Enlightenment 1700–1789. Praeger. ISBN 0-275-97240-2.
• White, J. E. M. (1962). Marshal of France: the Life and Times of Maurice, Comte De Saxe (1696–1750). Hmish Hamilton. OCLC 460730933.