The French Revoluntionary Wars (1793-1802)
Beaumont - Willems
(Honour awarded in 1909)
In July 1789 the Bastille in Paris was stormed by the mob. In 1791 King Louis fled, only to be recaptured and guillotined in 1793. The French revolutionaries declared war on all the monarchies of Europe, and invaded the Austrian Netherlands, declaring war on Britain on 1st February 1793. So started twenty-two years of conflict. Britain heavily subsided a series of alliances against the French. Partly as a result of this and partly from geographical difficulties, her land forces were only intermittently involved on the fighting on the Continent. The KDG and the Bays took part in the opening stages of the war. Having been rapidly reinforced, both regiments were sent out to the Low Countries with the Duke of York’s expeditionary force. The Queen’s Bays, together with the 3rd Dragoon Guards, marched to the vicinity of Tornai (also known as Beaumont), where with some Austrian and Prussian cavalry and infantry, they formed part of a corps of observation during the siege at Valenciennes, and were camped between Lille and Tornai. A squadron of Bays was detailed to accompany a Prussian and Austrian column, commanded by General Count Hohenzollern, in an attack on the French camp at Cassel, 15 miles south of Dunkirk. The Bays squadron was the only British troops with the column. The attack on the French carried out on 30 May, achieved surprise and the French infantry retreated to be pursued by the cavalry. As the French rallied in a field of corn, the Austrian cavalry with the Bays on the right charged and broke them.
The King’s Dragoon Guard’s embarked at Blackwall on 1 July 1793 and after a swift passage landed at Ostend. They then marched to he relief of Nieuport, but on then approach of the British troops the French raised the siege and the regiment camped near the town. After the fall of Valenciennes the Bays marched to take part in the operations covering the siege of Dunkirk. The Duke of York, commanding the army, divided his troops into two divisions, and the Queen’s Bays were allotted to the division of the Hanoverian General Freytag, the only British among the Hanoverians being ten cavalry squadrons, including two of the Bays. As the Allies laid siege to Dunkirk Feytag established his HQ at Hondschoote, but on the 6 September the French under General Houchard, advanced in five columns (two of them led by Vandamme and Jourdan) and after some hard fighting, drove in the Hanoverians and wounded Freytag. General Walmoden replaced Freytag and concentrated his troops around Hondschoote but was forced to retreat. The ground was so broken and mashy that the Bays along with the 3rd Dragoon Guards and the Royal and Inniskilling Dragoons, fought dismounted as infantry. On the evening of 8 September the Duke of York was forced to raise the siege of Dunkirk and the army retreated to Furnes. In October the Duke moved towards Tournai with 9,000, including the Bays amongst the cavalry, in order to strengthen the Allied forces watching Lille. On the 24th the Duke moved to drive in an advanced detachment which Vandamme had pushed out from Lille.
During February 1794 the King’s Dragoon Guards at Deynse had a number of false alarms. On The 16th April the Emperor of Austria on the heights of Cateau inspected the whole army. This was really a muster of all available troops, and the 28 squadrons of British cavalry were formed into four brigades. The King’s Dragoon Guards were in Harcourt’s brigade together with the 5th and 6th Dragoon Guards; the Bays were brigaded with the Scots Greys and Iniskillings under General Laurie; Mansels brigade consisted of the Blues, 3rd DG and the Royals; Dundas had the 7th, 11th, 15th and 16th Light Dragoons. The advance after the review was made in two columns, the KDG being in the column commanded by General Sir William Erskine, and the Bays in the one under the Duke of York. It was Erskine’s force, which attacked and captured Premont. Over the next few days the KDG and Bays manoeuvred around Cateau. The KDG formed part of a force, which made a successful attack on a body of Fench troops posted at Villers en Couche.
On the morning of 26 April General Chappuis led two strong French columns, totalling some 30,000 men, from Camrai to attack the Allied position at Cateau. Under cover of dense mist the French managed to drive in the Allied outpost line, capturing the villages of Inchy and Beaumont. The French then began to form up for the main assault on the ground below the ridge on which the villages stand. As the mist cleared the Duke of York brought up his artillery and made a great show of a feigned attack on the French front. The Duke then brought the cavalry to his right and formed them up, out of sight of the French, in a fold in the ground between the villages of Inchy and Bethencourt. His first line consisted of the 6 squadrons of the Austrian Zetchwitz Cuirassiers under Prince Schwarzenberg, the second was Mansel’s Brigade of the Blues, 3rd DG, and the Royals, and the third line was composed of the KDG, 5th DG, and the 16th Light Dragoons; the whole force being commanded by General Otto.
Otto advanced with caution to conceal his movements, then came face to face with a body of French cavalry, General Chappuis among them. The Fernch were immediately charged, overthrown and scattered; General Chappuis was taken prisoner. As the final ridge was cleared, the Allied force saw in front of them more than 20,000 French infantry drawn up in two lines with their guns all facing east, without any thought for an enemy approach from the north. Prince Schwarzenberg was an impetuous leader: the trumpets sounded and ‘the cavalry were not in the temper to conform too nicely to regulations; and with a British cheer, which had so disagreeably impressed the French at Dettingen, they swept down on the enemy’s left-flank totally regardless of the furious fire of grape and shot which was opened on them.
General Mansel, who had been suffering from depression as a result of an imputation of cowardice for his conduct at Villers-en-Cauchies, suddenly shouted out as he led the British at a trot, "I’ll not get back from this alive" spurring his horse he dashed into the French and was cut down at once. Colonel Vyse of the KDG immediately took over command, and led the thundering squadrons straight at the French. The KDG lost seven men and twenty nine horses killed, twenty three men and sixty four horses missing; and three more men later died of wounds. The Duke of York issued a general order which said, ‘ The Austrian Regiment of Cuirassiers of “ Zetchwitz”, the Blues, 1st, 3rd, and 5th Dragoon Guards, The Royal Archduke Ferdinands Hussars, and the 16th Light Dragoons, who attacked the enemy on the right, have all aquired immortal honour to themselves.
Papers found on General Chappuis gave the whole of the French plans. The Duke of York, taking advantage of this information, sent the Bays, together with the Greys and Iniskillings to operate towards St Armand. The duke followed with the rest of the army towards Landrecies, which surrendered 30 April. The Queen’s Bays and The King’s Dragoon Guards then marched with the rest of the army towards Tournai to threaten the flank of the new French armies which were now thrusting into Flanders. Tournai was reached on the 3 May., and on the 10th the French, under Pichegru, attacked the Duke’s entrenched positions between Hertain and Lamain, advancing with two columns. One column was checked, the other captured the advanced Allied posts, but in doing so opened up a gap in their line. The Duke of York at once ordered 16 squadrons including the Bays, to advance across low ground to the south of Lamain and to turn the French right flank. Lt. General Harcourt led the cavalry over some difficult going, whereupon the French infantry formed squares and were able to beat off the first charges, which were delivered with insufficient speed. As the French retired towards the village of Willems, the cavalry followed and reinforced by 6 squadrons, charged and routed the accompanying French cavalry; but were still unable to break into the infantry. At last however, a little to the south of Willems, the battalion guns of the infantry came up and opened fire, when then French, after receiving a few shots, began to waver, the squadrons again charged and this time gained access into the squares. The Bays casualties were two men killed and two missing, three horses killed, two wounded and two missing. The KDG in Vyse’s brigade had been kept in reserve. Early in May 1794 both the KDG and Bays marched with the army from the area around Le Cateau to Tornai. From June onwards the Allies were in retreat. Belguim was abandoned to the French, and as the army fell back to Holland, discipline deteriorated. No remounts had arrived, the men’s clothing and equipment were disintegrating, rations and forage failed, looting became commonplace. During the retreat The KDG in General Vyse’s brigade together with the 8th and 14th Light Dragoons, marched to Malines where they camped until June, they then moved on to Antwerp staying there until August, when they marched to Breda, eventually moving to Bois-le-Duc (the ‘boiled duck’ of Merlborough’s troops). The Queen’s Bays were brigaded with the 6th Dragoon Guards, the Scots Greys and the Iniskilling Dragoons in then Brigade of Mayor General Dundas, who had replaced General Lairie.
The Austrians were now retreating eastwards. The French having captured Antwerp, the Duke of York was forced to withdraw across the Dutch frontier. Then Valenciennes surrendered. The Dutch, by now disheartened, looked occupation by the French as inevitable, as winter drew on, the British and Hanoverians, having parted with the Dutch at Breda, continued their retreat towards Germany. The army crossed the Meuse at Grave, and the KDG camped near Nijmegen before going into quarters at Hensden. The Rhine was crossed on 13 November, and on the 21st the KDG were relieved by a detachment from the 3rd brigade, consisting of the Bays’. Eventually on the 18 May 1795 the KDG arrived in the vicinity of Bremen. The Bays were billeted along the river Elms, from Rhine to Emden, with regimental HQ at Osnabruck. In March it was decide to bring the troops back to England, but it was the 28 October before 6 troops of The King’s Dragoon Guards broke camp and marched to Schambeck, where they remained until the 5 November. They embarked on the 7th and 8th. The Queen’s Bays embarked at Bremen and landed at South Shields on 29 December 1795. There is no record of Casualties suffered by the Bays, but the King’s Dragoon Guards lost 59 dead from sickness, 3 from their wounds, 8 kiliied in action, 4 prisoners of war, and 2 missing a total of 76. Of the horses, 247 died of disease, 30 were killed in action, 52 were cast and 24 missing or captured, a total of 353 horses lost.
