Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/214

200 Tallard saw the march of the allied army with great satisfaction. He thought it would now be easy for him to interpose a strong force betwixt Marlborough and the army of the prince of Baden before Ingoldstadt. But the allies did not mean to give him any time for that. They pushed briskly forward over very difficult ground, intersected by rivulets and ditches; and as they were seen at seven in the morning steadily advancing, the French and Bavarians hastily abandoned the new lines which they were forming, and retreated towards their old camp. On still went Marlborough and Eugene, accompanied in advance by a Prussian officer who had fought there the preceding year, and knew well the ground. They found the enemy posted along the rising ground from Blenheim to Lutzingen, with a gap between the villages which they had endeavoured to render secure by posting there a strong body of cavalry. At the same time, betwixt Blenheim and the Danube, was made a strong barricade of wagons, behind which were stationed a brigade of dismounted dragoons. Three brigades of cavalry took up their stand in the village, and barricaded all entrances or openings with wagons, felled trees, planks, or whatever could be found. Tallard was in command at Blenheim, the elector of Bavaria and general Marsin at Lutzingen. The castle and church tower at Blenheim were filled with soldiers, and the count Clerambault was ordered to defend the village of Blenheim by his artillery to the last.

Against this position, defended by fifty-seven thousand men, or about five thousand more than the allies, advanced the confederate army. In front of the enemy also ran the little river Nebel, which was deep, and the bottom muddy. Marlborough led on the left wing against Blenheim, and Eugene the right against Lutzingen. The first of the army to cross the Nebel and advance against Blenheim was a body of English and Hessians under major-general Wilkes and lord Cutts. Cutts, who was famous for a storm, was ordered to make an impetuous attack on the village; and, getting across the Nebel by means of fascines, he led his horse under a terrible fire of grape right against the palisadoes and barricades. The French poured into the assailants, however, such a storm of grape, as mowed down great numbers of officers and men, amongst whom was general Rowe, who had advanced to the very face of the palisadoes, with his lieutenant-colonel and major. The English in the van were thrown into confusion and assailed by three squadrons of gendarmes; but the Hessians advanced to their aid, and the French were driven back to their lines. Lord Cutts then led on his horse, and maintained a desperate fight under the fire of the protected French. Whilst they were engaged in this deadly melée, the brigades of Hudson and Ferguson had crossed the stream, and marched right up to the village, silencing some batteries which commanded the fords of the river. The fight was maintained hand to hand, the opponents thrusting at each other through the insterstices of the palisadoes; but the contest was too unequal betwixt the covered and uncovered, and with the soldiers from the old castle and the church tops pouring down showers of musket balls on the allies.

During this time Marlborough had been leading another body of troops along the banks of the Nebel, and joining them under a terrible fire of grape opposite to the gap betwixt the villages, and only waiting to bear on that point for the artillery, under the prince of Holstein-Beck, getting over the river. The prince no sooner had got partly across the stream, than his advance was furiously attacked by the Irish brigade, which was in the pay of Louis XIV. They cut the advance nearly to pieces, and would have effectually prevented the transit of artillery, had not Marlborough himself hastened to the spot and beaten them off, as well as heavy bodies of French and Bavarian cavalry. He then posted a body of horse along the river to protect the crossing of the forces.

Lord Cutts during this had fallen back from the entrenchments of the village, finding it impossible to clear a way into it without artillery. But the artillery over, Marlborough united his forces with those of Eugene, which were bearing on Lutzingen, and was preparing for his grand design of cutting the French and Bavarians asunder, by throwing his whole weight on the cavalry posted betwixt the villages. It was not, however, till five in the afternoon that he was able to lead on the attack, consisting of two columns of horse supported by infantry. He dashed rapidly up the hill towards the important point, on which was concentrated Tallard's cavalry and part of the infantry from the village. Marlborough gained the summit of the hill under heavy loss, but there the enemy stood in such solid force, that he was driven back for a hundred paces. The heat of the battle was at this point, and if Marlborough had been compelled to give way, there was little chance of succeeding against the enemy, but he returned with all his vigour to the charge; by this time his artillery had gained the summit, and after a desperate struggle the fire of the French began to slacken. So soon as he perceived that, he made a grand charge, broke the horse, and cut to pieces or made prisoners of seven regiments of infantry.

Tallard, seeing his cavalry in flight, and his infantry fast overpowering, despatched messengers to call the elector to his aid, and to order up the rest of the infantry from Blenheim. But the elector was in full engagement with Eugene, and found enough to do to maintain possession of Lutzingen. Nor did Marlborough allow time for the coming up of fresh enemies. He attacked Tallard with such impetuosity, and such an overwhelming force of cavalry, that he was completely disorganised, and, turning his horse, galloped off towards Sonderheim, another part of his cavalry making for Hochstadt. Marlborough pursued Tallard at full speed, slaughtering his men all down the declivity towards the Danube, where they had thrown over a bridge between Hochstadt and Blenheim; but being so pressed, and at the same time attacked in the flank, numbers were forced into the river and perished. Tallard, being surrounded, and his son killed, was compelled to surrender near a mill behind the village of Sonderheim, together with the marquis of Montperous, general of horse, the majors-general de Seppeville, de Silly, de la Valiere, and many other officers. Those who fled towards Hochstadt fared little better. They became entangled in a morass, where they were cut to pieces, drowned in the Danube, or made prisoners, except the celebrated brigade of Grignan and some of the gendarmes, who regained the heights of Hochstadt.