Battle of Lens

Background

By 1648 the Thirty Years' War in Germany was ending at Westphalia, but France and Spain were still fighting in the Low Countries. After the French victory at Rocroi in 1643, the French had taken many towns in northern France and the Spanish Netherlands. In 1647 Archduke Leopold Wilhelm became governor of the Spanish Netherlands and began a counter-offensive that retook Armentieres, Comines and Landrecies.

The Prince de Condé, recalled from a failed campaign in Catalonia, took command in Flanders. He captured Ypres, but a Spanish and German force under Jean de Beck besieged Lens, and Leopold Wilhelm took the town on 17 August 1648. Condé advanced to meet them, and the two armies, each roughly 16,000 to 20,000 strong, came face to face in the open country west of the town. The battle that followed was the last major one of the Thirty Years' War, and it is listed under the longer Franco-Spanish War that began in 1635.

The ground is open and gently rolling, and both armies deployed on it on 20 August. Leopold Wilhelm held high ground and had not planned a battle that day: four of his cavalry regiments were out foraging. Condé judged the position too strong to attack and began to withdraw towards Neus, hoping to draw supplies from Bethune. That decision, and what the Spaniards made of it, set the battle in motion.

The armies

Condé commanded about 16,000 men, of whom 9,000 were cavalry, with 18 guns under the Comte de Cosse. His order of battle was: his own right wing of some 3,400; Gramont's left wing of about 3,200; Chatillon commanding a centre of about 8,200; and a small reserve of 1,200 under Erlach. Cavalry made up more than half of his army and decided the day. The French infantry numbered only about 7,000, in twelve battalions, including the French and Scots Guards and the Picardie regiment.

Leopold Wilhelm had perhaps 18,000 to 20,000 men with 38 guns. Jean de Beck, governor of Luxembourg, led the centre with about 11,000 men, mostly infantry. The right wing was 27 Walloon squadrons under Bucquoy, some 4,000 men, and the left was 20 Lorraine squadrons under Ligniville, about 3,000. Beck put too much cavalry in the centre and too little on the right. The army also included Lorraine and German troops, and the Archduke was to leave the field in the middle of the fighting.

The battle

CDB90 records a single engagement, number 19 (LENS), from 05:00 to 11:00; CDB90 gives the date as 10 August, but every source I read gives 20 August. Times below are those in the English Wikipedia article and are approximate.

Deployment (dawn). Both armies formed west of Lens, the Spaniards on the higher ground. Condé had his own wing on the right and Gramont's on the left, with Chatillon's infantry between them and Erlach in reserve. Leopold Wilhelm had Bucquoy's Walloon squadrons on his right, Beck's mass of infantry in the middle and Ligniville's Lorrainers on his left. Condé declined to attack and ordered a withdrawal.

The French withdrawal (about 05:00). Condé's army began to fall back in good order with its right wing as rearguard, while Cosse's guns fired on the Spaniards. Beck's Lorrainers fell on the isolated French rearguard under Villequier and Noirmoutier and routed it. Condé's page was captured, and Condé himself narrowly escaped. The Picardie regiment rallied the rearguard. Some officers later called the whole retreat a feint, though the sources I used disagree.

The Spanish decision (about 06:30). Beck urged the Archduke to attack. Leopold Wilhelm first refused, then gave permission, and then left the field, leaving the army to its fate.

The French turn (by 08:00). Condé faced about and formed for battle. His guns fired on the advancing Spaniards.

The Spanish right (about 08:30). Bucquoy's Walloons fired a carbine volley at 20 paces. Gramont's cavalry charged through the smoke, broke them, and then routed the second echelon behind them. Gramont's Guards squadron took heavy losses.

The Spanish left. Ligniville's Lorrainers and Condé's cavalry stopped at pistol range, and the Lorrainers fired first. Condé charged with the Gassion squadron and six more squadrons followed. Erlach's reserve enveloped the Lorrainers' flank.

The centre (about 09:00). The Spanish infantry broke four of the twelve French battalions. The French Guards fired first and the Scots Guard was surrounded. But both Spanish cavalry wings had fled. The French regrouped around the Picardie regiment and encircled the Spanish foot, which capitulated rather than fight to the end. Beck was captured and died of his wounds at Arras ten days later. The French Wikipedia article, relying on Gramont's own telling, has Gramont cutting down Spaniards before he rejoined Condé, and says the Spanish infantry gave in without a final fight. Escorts then took 5,000 to 6,000 prisoners away to Arras and La Bassee.

Aftermath

The Spaniards lost about 8,000 to 10,000 men, most of them prisoners, along with all 38 guns, about 100 flags, their pontoon bridges and their baggage. French losses are put between 1,500 and 4,000. Condé sent escorts to take 5,000 to 6,000 prisoners to Arras and La Bassee, which kept the army near the field for eight more days. It then joined Josias von Rantzau at the siege of Furnes.

The victory is often said to have helped bring about the Peace of Westphalia, signed on 24 October 1648, which ended the Thirty Years' War. But France's war with Spain continued until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, which gave France Lens and most of Artois.

Within France the victory was overshadowed by the Fronde. A Te Deum at Notre-Dame for Lens ended in a riot, and in January 1649 Louis XIV and his ministers fled Paris. Lens also lives in fiction: Alexandre Dumas stages it in Vingt ans apres, and the Scudery novel Le Grand Cyrus draws on it.

Wargaming it

Lens is a good cavalry game at about 16,000 against 18,000 men, which suits a regiment-per-base grand-tactical scale, roughly 100 bases in all. The ground is open, so there is no key position to hold; the interest is in the opening.

The central puzzle is that the French start by retreating. A scenario can begin at 05:00 with Condé in march order and the Spanish player free to decide whether to pursue, which brings in the real problem on the Spanish side: Leopold Wilhelm was reluctant to fight and Beck wanted to, and the army needs a command-and-control rule that lets the player feel that. The French player should have to turn an army round under pressure, with Cosse's guns and the Picardie rallying point holding the rearguard together.

The decisive moment is the cavalry clash on the wings: carbine volley at 20 paces against a French charge, and fire at pistol range against a stronger charge. A game should reward a charge that arrives after the opponent has fired. The Spanish centre, with too much cavalry and its infantry left alone when the horse flees, is the obvious test of morale and surrender rules. What ifs: Leopold Wilhelm stays on the field, the four foraging regiments are present, or Condé is captured in the rearguard action.

Maps and pictures