The Battle of Lambusart (16 June 1794) saw a Republican French army led by Jean Baptiste Jourdan try to cross the Sambre River against a combined Dutch and Habsburg Austrian army under William VI, Hereditary Prince of Orange. This battle was the culmination of the fourth of five attempts to consolidate a foothold on the north side of the Sambre. The clash occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of a wider struggle known as the Wars of the French Revolution. In 1794, Lambusart was an independent village, but it is now part of the Fleurus municipality. Lambusart is located about northeast of Charleroi.
Three times during the spring of 1794, the French armies attempted to cross the Sambre in the face of resistance by First Coalition forces. After three defeats, they were reinforced by four divisions from the Army of the Moselle under General Jourdan on 4 June, who then took command and led the combined forces to cross the Sambre for the fourth time, and lay siege to Charleroi for the second time, on 12 June. On the 16th, the Prince of Orange counter-attacked and broke the French right flank, forcing Jourdan to lift the siege and withdraw south of the Sambre.
Background
Situation in the low countries During the 1794 campaign season of the War of the French Coalition, the focus of operations was in northeast France, as the French armies aimed to drive the Austrian, Dutch and British forces of the Allies, under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, out of Low Countries and push France's borders to the Rhine river.
The overall commander of the two main French armies on this front, the predominant Army of the North, and the Army of the Ardennes, was General Jean-Charles Pichegru. For the campaign season of 1794, Pichegru had planned to launch his main attacks against the main Allied army under Prince Coburg on both flanks.
While the attacks of the French left wing were largely successful in defeating or at least containing the Allies in the battles of Mouscron (26–30 April), Courtrai (10–12 May), Tourcoing (17–18 May), and Tournai (22 May), the attacks of the French right wing, which required it to cross the Sambre and capture a fortified city as a base that would allow it to remain on the north bank, were less so.
Past defeats on the Sambre To date, the French attack forces on the Sambre, comprising the right wing of the Army of the North and the entire Army of the Ardennes under the overall command of General Desjardins, had attacked across the river three times, and had been defeated and forced to retreat back to the south bank three times, at Grandreng (13 May), Erquelinnes (20–24 May) and Gosselies (3 June).
While the initial French objective on the right flank was Mons, after the first two defeats, the commanders of the French force decided to switch their objective to capturing Charleroi instead, as a potentially easier target that could serve as a fortified supply base. However, they were defeated and the siege lifted at the battle of Gosselies. Thankfully, at this time, they were reinforced by four divisions under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan from the Army of the Moselle, which enabled them to take the offensive again.
Jourdan's march to the Sambre
Whereas the Army of the North and Army of the Ardennes were in charge of operations in what is today western and central Belgium, the Army of the Moselle, based at the fortress of Longwy, was responsible for operations further east near the border with Luxembourg. The armies had different strategic objectives.
In the early months of 1794, there was not much action on the eastern part of the front, bordering the Rhine; neither the French nor the Allied armies made any major moves. On 30 April, the Committee of Public Safety that ruled France decided, in agreement with a plan that Jourdan had himself proposed, that the left wing of the Army of the Moselle should take the offensive against Liège to the north, to support Pichegru's offensive and help to expel the Allies from the Low Countries. However, it was meant to remain as part of the Army of the Moselle under Jourdan's command, without either coming under Pichegru's authority, or joining the forces on the Sambre. The centre and right were to maintain the defensive and divert the attention of the Allies from the left wing's offensive.
Jourdan's pursuit of Beaulieu: 19–24 May Source:
General Jourdan, commanding the Army of the Moselle, had planned to launch his offensive against Liège on 21 May after reinforcing his attack force by transferring some troops from his right. However, on 19 May, he received news that General Johann Beaulieu, leading a division of Austrians, had launched an attack on an exposed force of 4,000 French stationed between Belvaux and Noirfontaine, which had made a fighting withdrawal to Bouillon and called for help from him.
Deciding not to wait for his reinforcements to come up, Jourdan marched with the four divisions he had on hand, under Generals Lefebvre, Championnet, Hatry, and Morlot, against Beaulieu on 20 May. On the same day, Beaulieu, unable to make any headway against the defenders or force their surrender, withdrew towards Neufchateau.
Entering Arlon on 21 May, Jourdan decided to hunt down Beaulieu, whose defeat would leave Jourdan's main objective Liège unprotected, and attack him wherever he was. After leaving Hatry's division in Arlon to maintain communication with Longwy as ordered by the Committee of Public Safety, Jourdan set off with his remaining three divisions for Neufchateau, arriving in Habay-la-Neuve on 22 May
What followed was a pursuit northwards, as Beaulieu withdrew from contact and progressively withdrew from Neufchateau on 23 May to Marche-en-Famenne on 24 May, and eventually all the way back to the heights of Perche-Andoy, just across the Meuse from Namur, maintaining his distance from Jourdan.
The capture of Dinant: 25–29 May Chasing Beaulieu, Jourdan reached Saint-Hubert on 25 May, and Wavreille and Nassogne on 26 May, on which day he received new orders from the Committee of Public Safety:
Jourdan's objective was changed from capturing Liege to defeating Beaulieu's army and capturing Namur instead Jourdan was to keep General Charbonnier, the commander of the Army of the Ardennes prior to 31 May, informed of his operations in case there was an opportunity for both forces to cooperate against Beaulieu. The bulk of Hatry's division, which had been left to garrison Arlon, was permitted to rejoin and strengthen Jourdan, after considering his protests that the task of maintaining communication with Longwy did not require a full division to carry out.
Jourdan immediately ordered Hatry to leave 6,000 men in Arlon and march the rest to Lessive by 30 May.
Lefebvre, whose division led the way, then entered Marche on 27 May and Ciney on 28 May. On 29 May, Championnet and Morlot, following behind, entered Marche.
Of greater moment was Jourdan's capture of Dinant on the Meuse by his leading elements, also on 29 May. As his supply lines back to Longwy were getting far too long to keep his army supplied, it became imperative to establish a new, shorter supply line. The capture of Dinant would allow Jourdan to be supplied from Givet by the Meuse, instead of overland from Longwy.
During the capture of Longwy, Lefebvre's leading division also drove off Beaulieu's rearguard, which had been stationed on the opposite bank of the Meuse
Jourdan ordered to Charleroi: 30 May – 2 June Source:
On 30 May, the Committee of Public Safety for the first time ordered Jourdan to reinforce and help General Jacques Desjardin, the commander of the forces on the Sambre, to capture Charleroi, if he was not able to assault and capture Namur out of hand.
On the Allied side, meanwhile, Beaulieu had begun marching from Namur to Sombreffe to join in the eventual attack on Gosselies. All forces in the area were beginning to concentrate on Charleroi for the battle of Gosselies.
With major supply difficulties and the new supply line from Givet and Dinant not yet online, Jourdan's force deteriorated drastically in readiness during this period and only covered 55 km in four days. Indeed, Pierre-Mathurin Gillet, the Representative of the People attached to Jourdan, reported that five soldiers died of starvation during this period.
Advancing towards Charleroi, Lefebvre's vanguard arrived at Saint-Gerard on 31 May, where they made contact with an Allied entrenched camp and halted. On the same day to the rear, Morlot and Hatry crossed at Dinant in the day, while Championnet crossed at night.
Following the evacuation of the entrenched camp on 1 June, Jourdan occupied Saint-Gerard on 2 June, the day of the battle of Gosselies, setting up his headquarters at Stave further beyond. Despite the logistical difficulties, Jourdan was now within operational range of Desjardins' force on the Sambre, though he was too far away on this day to join in the battle of Gosselies.
Jourdan takes command
Following the battle at Gosselies, the demoralised French army under Desjardin had retreated back across the Sambre, where they were joined by Jourdan's forces in the subsequent days.
On 8 June, taking into account Desjardin's pending request to be relieved of command in favour of a more experienced commander, Jourdan was appointed by the Committee of Public Safety to overall command of the nearly 90,000 men now on the Sambre, the future Army of Sambre and Meuse (which was only formally constituted as such on 29 June).
While Jourdan took command, the Representatives of the People attached to these armies exerted themselves to improve supplies and morale by using their authority, which came from the ruling Committee of Public Safety, to denounce those responsible for poor logistics, and ordering the requisition, by force if necessary, of more transport capacity and supplies from the army's area of operations. This apparently resulted in a material improvement in the supply situation for the armies on the Sambre.
Jourdan planned a fourth crossing of the Sambre and second siege of Charleroi for 12 June.
The opposing forces
French units and their locations after 2 June Source:
Divisions of the Army of the North right wing (approximately 26,000 men) Duhesme (formerly Fromentin's division) Located between Marcinelle and Marchienne-au-Pont Muller Between Thuin and Peaumereille (between modern Valmont and Bois de Villers) Montaigu Between Peaumereille and Solre-sur-Sambre
Duhesme and Muller's divisions were placed under the overall command of General Kléber.
Divisions of the Army of the Ardennes (18,738 men) Marceau Between Marchienne and Landelies Mayer Between Landelies and Thuin
Divisions of the Army of the Moselle left wing (42,411 men) Lefebvre At Saint-Gerard Hatry At Saint-Gerard Morlot On the heights northeast of Stave Championnet On the heights northeast of Stave
Cavalry Reserve
Dubois' division Newly assembled from cavalry forces taken from the various divisions Soland's brigade
Allied units and their locations The Allies disposed of some 40,000 men, under the Prince of Orange. Orange had in fact sent 4 battalions of troops to reinforce Coburg at Tournai and help raise Pichegru's siege of Ypres, because he thought that the French on the Sambre were neutralised and unable to take the offensive again, while the Allied high command was preoccupied with Ypres and considered it a priority.
Larger attack columns were assembled ad hoc and placed under command of various senior generals as needed.
The main Allied force had withdrawn from Gosselies back to Rouveroy, Orange's main base, on 6 June, in accordance with orders from the Austrian emperor. A strong line of outposts was left running from Jeumont near Erquelinnes to Anderlues, the forest of Moncaux (now Monceau-sur-Sambre), Jumet, Ransart and Balatre, observing French movements against Charleroi.
From west to east, these were under: