The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tourcoing, by Hilaire Belloc

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Title: Tourcoing

Author: Hilaire Belloc

Release Date: May 5, 2010 [EBook #32260]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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TOURCOING

[Illustration]

TOURCOING

BY
HILAIRE BELLOC

MCMXII
STEPHEN SWIFT AND CO., LTD.
16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
LONDON

CONTENTS

PART PAGE

I. THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE 9

II. THE GENERAL MILITARY SITUATION 17

III. THE PLAN OF THE ALLIES 28

IV. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE BATTLE 49

V. THE TERRAIN 57

VI. THE ACTION 67

TOURCOING

PART I

THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCE

The Battle of Tourcoing is one of those actions upon which European
history in general is somewhat confused, and English history, in
particular, ignorant.

That British troops formed part of those who suffered defeat, and that a
British commander, the Duke of York, was the chief figure in the reverse,
affords no explanation; for the almost exactly parallel case of
Fontenoy--in which another royal duke, also the son of the reigning King
of England, also very young, also an excellent general officer, and also
in command was defeated--is among the most familiar of actions in this
country. In both battles the posture of the British troops earned them as
great and as deserved a fame as they had acquired in victory; in both was
work done by the Guards in particular, which called forth the admiration
of the enemy. Yet Tourcoing remains unknown to the English general reader
of history, while Fontenoy is one of the few stock names of battles which
he can at once recall.

The reason that British historians neglect this action is not, then, as
foreign and r