Soldiers of the Minor German States - Seven Years' War
Period.
Bataille de Willinghausen, print, Frankfurt 1789
The Battle of Vellinghausen was fought on July 16, 1761 in
Western Germany between the French armies of Soubise and Broglie and Prince
Ferdinand's Allied army. You can find more by going to www.britishbattles.com
or Wikipedia. Savory has a more detailed account of this battle.
Vellinghausen, had the potential to be the decisive battle
of the war. Had things gone to plan, the French would have destroyed
Ferdinand's Anglo-Hanoverian army so leaving Frederick's Western flank wide
open.
In a nutshell, the armies of Broglie and Soubise, managed to
outmanoeuvre Ferdinand and bring him to battle at a disadvantage [92,000 French
against 65,000 allies]. Ferdinand took up a defensive position behind a stream
in generally enclosed terrain [woods hedges etc] completely unsuitable for
cavalry. The French plan called for a frontal attack by Broglie and Soubise to
pin the Aliied army while detached corps performed a flank and rear attack,
cutting off any possible retreat.
The battle was hard fought over two days of confusion and at
close range. On the first night Ferdinand gambled everything by switching the
bulk of his army to attack Broglie, leaving 23,000 men to face the 68,000 under
Soubise. Broglie attacked the following morning, expecting to break through the
weakened line of the day before, only to find himself outnumbered and being
counter-attacked. He sent messages to Soubise for help, but Soubise failed to
press home his attack despite having a local 3:1 superiority. The Flank and
rear attacks encountered Allied light troops and inexplicably withdrew,
apparently under the impression they were being engaged by superior forces.
Broglie's force of 32,000 suffered almost 5,000 casualties,
against 300 suffered by Soubise' 60,000. The allies lost 1,400 against Broglie,
and 62 against Soubise. After the Battle Broglie was understandably upset with
Soubise performance and their subsequent relationship was strained, to say the
least.
During the course of the battle, Sandford's British brigade
and Mannsberg's Brunswick brigade attacked in what can only be described as
dispersed, irregular order, "in groups and batches, rather than in
lines" to quote Savory.
