place where they were
concealed, and fell upon them with great impetuosity: the artillery
opened, and the cavalry charged them in flank. In a word, of twelve
hundred who marched from Wesel on this expedition, scarcely two hundred
escaped.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

ADVANTAGES GAINED by M. DE STAINVILLE.

The duke de Broglio endeavoured, by sundry means, to take advantage of
the allied army on the other side of the Weser, thus weakened by the
absence of the troops under the hereditary prince; but he found prince
Ferdinand too vigilant to be surprised, and too strongly situated to be
attacked with any prospect of success. He therefore contented himself
with ravaging the country by detachments: he sent M. de Stainville, with
a considerable body of forces, to penetrate into the heart of Hanover;
and on the fifteenth day of September, that officer, falling in with a
detachment of the allies, commanded by major Bulow, attacked them near
the abbey of Schaken. After a warm and obstinate engagement, they
were defeated, and driven to Bulemont, with the loss of their cannon,
baggage, and a good number of men, who fell into the hands of the
victors. After this exploit, M. de Stainville advanced to Halberstadt,
and demanded of that capital a contribution of one million five
hundred thousand livres; but the citizens had been so drained by former
exactions, that they could not raise above thirty thousand: for the
remainder the French partisan took hostages, with whom he returned to
the grand army encamped at Cassel, from whence they in a little time
fell back as far as Gottengen.

THE ALLIES AND FRENCH GO INTO WINTER QUARTERS.

As the enemy retreated, prince Ferdinand advanced as far as Hurste,
where he established his head-quarters about the latter end of November.
While he remained in this position, divers skirmishes happened in the
neighbourhood of Gottengen. Major-general Briedenbach, at the head of
two regiments of Hanoverian and Brunswick guards, with a detachment of
cavalry, attacked, on the twenty-ninth day of November, the French
post at Heydemunden, upon the river Worrau. This he carried, and took
possession of the town, which the enemy hastily abandoned. Part of their
detachment crossed the river in boats; the rest threw themselves into an
intrenchment that covered the passage, which the allies endeavoured to
force in several unsuccessful attempts, galled as they were by the fire
of the enemy's redoubts on