page_title: Battle of Entzheim
section_title: The battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Entzheim / The battle
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kürassiere des de:Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, auch "Pappenheim-Kürassiere", feuern aus ihren Reiterpistolen zu Beginn einer Attacke. English: Cuirassiers giving fire with their pistols (cuirassiers of en:Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim).
context_page_description: The Battle of Entzheim, also called Enzheim, or Ensheim, took place on 4 October 1674, during the 1672 to 1678 Franco-Dutch War. It was fought near the town of Entzheim, south of Strasbourg in Alsace, between a French army under Turenne, and an Imperial force commanded by Alexander von Bournonville.
  In this campaign, Turenne was able to compensate for being outnumbered by his aggression, which kept his opponents off-balance, and vastly superior logistics, which allowed him to move fast. Despite a strong defensive position and vastly superior numbers, Bournonville decided to retreat after a series of French assaults.
  Although Turenne lost the same number of men as Bournonville, and a much higher proportion of his total force, it is generally considered a French strategic victory, since he prevented the Imperial army invading Eastern France. He also established a psychological advantage, setting the scene for the subsequent Winter Campaign.
context_section_description: Bournonville significantly outnumbered his opponent, with 35,000 men, half of which were cavalry, and 50 guns. Despite this, he decided to fight a defensive battle; Turenne had to attack immediately, or risk being caught between the Imperialists and Fredrick William, while rain and mist meant conditions favoured the defenders. Most of his infantry was in the centre, anchored on Entzheim, supported by cavalry under Charles of Lorraine. On the right, his troops were hidden from view by meadows and vineyards, leading into the Foret de Bruche. His left was protected by a ditch, running from the village to the 'Little Wood', slightly in front of his position (see Map). 
  The cavalry was split evenly between the two wings; the right included the elite Imperial Cuirassiers under Caprara, with the German states units commanded by the Prince de Holstein-Ploen on the left. The 'Little Wood' was key to the Imperial position, since it had to be taken in order to attack Entzheim; aware of this, Holstein-Ploen placed eight guns and six battalions of infantry in the wood itself, with another eight in reserve immediately behind. 
  Turenne formed his army into two lines, infantry in the centre, and cavalry on the wings, the right commanded by the Marquis de Vaubrun, the left by his nephew, Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges. He stationed the grenadier companies of his infantry regiments in the gaps between his cavalry squadrons, a tactic copied from Gustavus Adolphus. His artillery was placed in front of the infantry, in four batteries of eight guns.
  The second line and reserve included four English regiments, known as the British Brigade, commanded by Irish Catholic George Hamilton; one of its regiments was led by John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough. Although England had left the war, they had been encouraged to remain in French service to ensure Charles II would still be paid for them, as agreed in the 1670 Secret Treaty of Dover with Louis. 
  Around 10:00 am, the French attacked the Little Wood with eight battalions of infantry, and dragoons under Louis Francois de Boufflers, a future Marshall of France. After the first assault was repulsed, they tried again, supported by four battalions from the second line, including the one commanded by Churchill. Holstein-Ploen responded by sending reinforcements from the reserve behind the wood, while heavy rain and mud impeded the French artillery as it tried to move forward; after two hours of back and forth combat, the French pulled back with heavy losses. 
  Of the two English units involved, one lost 11 of 22 officers, the other all its officers and over half their men; Churchill later criticised Turenne's deployment. Rather than another frontal attack, Vaubrun's cavalry tried to move around the Little Wood and take the defenders in the rear, but were repulsed by Holstein-Ploen. Simultaneously, the heavily-armed cuirassiers over-ran the French left, and the battle hung in the balance; however, the wet ground blunted the Austrian charge, and they quickly lost formation, allowing de Lorges to rally his troops, and force them back to the starting line.
  Meanwhile, a third assault by the rest of Hamilton's British brigade, plus those of Puisieux and Réveillon, finally captured the Little Wood, threatening the Imperial left. After an unsuccessful attack by Vaubrun on the troops entrenched around Entzheim, Turenne ended the assaults, instead bombarding them with his artillery. By now, it was getting dark, and both sides were exhausted; having lost between 3,000 - 4,000 men, Bournonville ordered a retreat. The French had been marching or fighting for 40 hours non-stop, and their losses were about the same; aware they were incapable of making another attack, Turenne withdrew, leaving a small force of cavalry behind so that he could claim victory.
caption: Austrian Cuirassiers ca 1660; armour gave an advantage over standard cavalry, but they were extremely expensive and relatively immobile
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