| Dutch Army Commander: Maurice of Nassau* Infantry : 9 500 men Cavalry: 1 400 men |
Army of Flanders (Spanish) Commander: Archiduc Alberto Infantry: 6 000 - 7000 men ** ( Spanish Tercios ~ 3000 men) Cavalry : 1200 men Artillery : 9 guns Losses: 4 000 - 4 500 men |
* The 2000 men of the vanguard beaten at Leffinghe and the 900 men sent to reinforce the garrison of Ostende are not counted.
** In this number we do not count 4 000 Germans infantry who did not participate to the battle
Strategic situation:
Thanks to the superiority of his Navy and the poor financial situation of the Spanish governor, the Archiduck Alberto de Austria, the war council of the General State decided to send his main field army commanded by Maurice of Nassau. Nassau disembarked in Flanders the 22 of may with two mains objectives, to reduce the Spanish bases of Nieuport and Dunkirk and to promote an support an insurrection. The Spanish reacted quickly collecting and sending an army of 12 000 men to counter the Dutch. The Spanish force destroyed quickly the first Dutch advanced position and in the early morning (8:00 am)of the 2 of July the Spanish attacked the strong vanguard (1700 foots, 350 horses and 2 guns) of Ernest of Nassau guarding the bridge of leffinghe. In less than one hour the Dutch force is destroyed losing more than 1000 men. Encourage by the mutineer, the archduke took the decision to march towards the bulk of the enemy force. At 1:00 pm the two armies were deploy along a narrow beach at the north east of Nieuport..Dutch Army: the infantry was deployed in 3 lines: a vanguard ( Francis Vere ) of 4600 men with 2 English regiment (Francis de Vere and Horacio de Vere) a Frisian regiment (Hertinga) and 4 companies of the Dutch guards supported by two guns. The bataille (Wilhelm van Solms) had some 2400 men divided in a French regiment (Domerville), a wallon regiment (Marquette) and a small Swiss regiment. In third line (Oliver van Tympel) we had the rest of the infantry in 2 Dutch regiment (Hurchtenburch and Ghistelles) and 1 German regiment (Nassau). 4 squadrons (12 companies) of cavalry, under Louis of Nassau were positioned on the right flank while Maurice of Nassau kept a small reserve of less than 300 horses (1 squadron of 3 companies) under van Balen. At last 4 to 5 guns were positioned in the left flank on the beach.
Spanish army: the army was deployed in three lines; a vanguard (Bernadino Mendoza) with 2 squadrons of mutineers, one with 500 horses and the other with 800 – 900 foots; a strong bataille with 3 Spanish Tercios (Zapena, Monroy and Villar) and 1 Italian Tercio (Avalos d'Aquino), some 3 000 infantrymen and a rearguard with 2 Walloon regiments (La Barlotte and Bucquoy), 1 Irish Tercio (Bostock) and some German companies from the regiment of Barbaçon, 2500 - 3 000 men. The rest of the cavalry was positioned of the left flank and had some 700 horses (~ 8 horse companies + 2 guards companies).
* The 2000 men lost during previous days are not counted.
** In this number we do not count 4 000 Germans infantry who did not participate to the battle.
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A: At first the two armies were deployed
on the beach with their artilleries near the dunes. But the Dutch warship
started to bombard the Spanish position and the Archduke decided to re-deploy
his infantry in the dune and the main part of his cavalry on his left flanks.
B: The first attack came from the mutineers companies, it is not clear if they attacked with the orders or not of the Archduke. The result was that the English regiments of the Dutch army were able to repulse this attack. C: On the right Dutch flank, the Spanish cavalry is routed by the horsemen of Luis de Nassau. Their dispersion after the fight prevent an exploitation of this success. D: A second attack was launched by the Spanish and Italian Tercios of the battle line. Again the Dutch vanguard, with the help of French and Walloon regiments, were able to resist and inflict serious losses to the Spanish. E: Meantime the Dutch cavalry of Luis of Nassau opened with a right flank cavalry charge, routing the Spanish cavalry to their front. The Dutch cavalry continued to advanced and charged the infantry posted in the dune. This assault was repulsed and the Dutch were forced to retire. F: A third assault was launched by the Spanish, this time the Dutch vanguard could not resist and started to retire behind the guns on the beach. The Spanish thought to be victorious but their infantry squadrons were completely disorganised and the troops were exhausted. G: It was when Maurice of Nassau decided to launch his cavalry reserve. The 300 horsemen charge the disorganised Spanish infantry and stop the advance. The attack give tine to reform the Dutch army. H: The Dutch cavalry of the right flanks charged, again the Spanish were beaten and run away I: The Spanish infantry is attack by the cavalry and by the Dutch infantry. After fierce fighting the exhausted Spanish were forced to retire slowly before to retreat in disorder abandoning the artillery and 90 flags. |
Balance: The Spaniards losses (3000 dead and wounded and 600 prisoners) were very important, the lack of a proper reserve and the bad actuation of the cavalry had ruined the Spanish attack. On the other side, Maurice of Nassau was able to contain the Spanish attack and launched his counter-attack at the right moment when the attackers were disorganised. Maurice of Nassau had won the day and save his army, but he had also suffered severe losses and in front of the hostilities of the catholic population decided to re-embark his troops 3 weeks later.
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