| Protestant Army Commander: Louis of Nassau Infantry ~ 10 000 men Cavalery ~ 2 000 men Losses: 7000 men |
Spanish Army
Commander: Duke of Alba Infantry ~ 12 000 men (Spanish Tercios ~ 6 000 men) Cavalry ~ 3 000 men Artillery: ? Losses: around 300 men |
Strategic situation: In August 1567 the Tercios, under the command of Duke of Alba, arrived in Bruxelle to suddue the protestant uprising. In spring 1568 the Protestant leaders William of Orange and Louis of Nassau decided to invade the Flanders with mercenary armies. In front of superior forces, Alba decided to avoid a pitchbattle and to harass first Louis's army. Louis of Nassau made the mistake of tramping himself in a peninsula in Frisia borded by the river Ems and the golf of Dollard (Norh west of Germany). The 21/07/1568, the Duke of Alba's army arrived took the contro of the sluice and bloqued the rebel army.Louis of Nassau had positioned his infantry in two squadrons of 5 000 men behind a trench. They were supported by light guns. The 2 000 cavalrymen were in the rearguard close to the river.
The Duke of Alba organised his infantry in 3 squadrons, one Spanish with the 4 Tercios Napoles (15 co), Sicilia (10 co), Lombardia (10 co) and Flandes (12 co), Walloon and German, with the cavalery on the wings to block the peninsula. Alba sent a vanguard of 3 Harquebusiers's detachments and 300 cavalerymen in support.
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A: Alba's plan was to attract the dutch out of
their trench and not a frontal attack. He sent a vanguard of 1 500 harquebusiers
and 300 cavalrymen to skirmish the protestant positions.
B: The rest of the Spanish army had difficulty to deploy and stayed behind, bloquing the peninsula. C: During 3 hours the Spanish vanguard launched weak partial attacks on the dutch position. The protestant replyed by sending small counter-attack with their infantry. D: At the same time Louis of Nassau had sent a small party of scouts on the river Ems to find if there were Spanish reinforcement. The scouts reported that they were no more Spanish troops. E: Louis of Nassau decided to launch a full scale attack to destroy this miserable Spanih force in front of him. The dutch had not advanced 250 - 300 m when they were stopped by musket and harquebuse fire. At the same time Alba squadron made its appearance on the battlefield. F: Seeing the trap too late Louis of Nassau ordened a general retreat to the trenches, but the troops fled in panic followed by the victorious Spanish gunmen, sword in hand, of the vanguard. The Spanish vanguard stromed the dutch position taking the gun battery position. G: All the dutch army fled in great disorder to
the rear where few of them found a boat to cross the river Ems. Thousand
were cut down by the Spanish or drowned in the river. Only horsemen and strong
swimmers survived the defeat. The protestant had lost around 7 000 men.
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Balance: Thanks to an old trick Alba had destroyed an army of 12 000 men for the losses of 80 men killed. The victory was due to the ability of the duke of Alba and the skills of ther Spanish soldiers as well as the poor moral and training of the protestant.
Retour