Battle of Denain The Battle of Denain was fought on 24 July 1712 , as part of the War of the Spanish Succession . It resulted in a French victory under Marshal Villars against Austrian and Dutch forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy . Background . The War of Spanish Succession had raged since 1701 . After 11 years of war , France was in a dark period , both financially and militarily . The early victories of Marshal Villars at the Battle of Friedlingen and the Battle of Höchstadt were followed by numerous defeats to the Allied forces , most notably the armies under Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Duke of Marlborough . In 1708 , after the rout of Oudenaarde , nearly all the strongholds of northern France were under the control of the Austro - British coalition . There was also an economic crisis ( the winter of 1708 - 1709 is one of the most rigorous of the 18th century ) leading to famine and high mortality in the populace . The command of the French northern army went to Marshal Villars in 1709 , who wasted no time in seeing to its reorganization . When the Allied campaign led by Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough engaged the French at Malplaquet , Villars was wounded and the French retreated from the field , but the Allies suffered twice as many casualties and their campaign soon sputtered out . France ' s precarious position had been stabilized , the Allies were unable to achieve their goal of forcing harsh terms on the Bourbons , and the war continued . Prelude . In May 1712 , Villars prepared to take the offensive . The French gathered an army of 200 , 000 men on the northern border , stretching from Arras to Cambrai . The Allied northern army was positioned along the Scarpe between Douai and Marchiennes , occupying the communes of Denain and Landrecies . The successful but controversial Marlborough had recently been relieved of his command and the British forces were now under the leadership of the Duke of Ormonde , who was under secret orders not to fight alongside the Allies under the Prince of Savoy . In June , Prince Eugene besieged and captured Le Quesnoy . The Duke of Ormonde withdrew his forces during the siege , leading to a rift between the British and the rest of the Allies . The Battle . After a detailed examination of the enemy dispositions , Villars decided in the greatest secrecy to attack Denain . Elements of the French cavalry were sent to seize the various bridges crossing the river Selle which ran through le Cateau to join the Scheldt opposite Denain . During the evening a French detachment also took up positions around a mill at Haspres , blocking the river crossing there . That night the French infantry began to march towards Prince Eugene ’ s forces at Landrecies . In response to this threat , Prince Eugene reinforced Landrecies , weakening the Allied right wing ( under the Earl of Albemarle ) holding Denain . At dawn , however , Villars swung the line of advance of his army and aimed it ( behind the cover of the Selle ) in three columns at Denain . At five o ' clock in the morning , Villars and his principal lieutenants drew up their plan of attack at Avesnes - le - Sec ; they choose the windmill there as a vantage point for observation of the surrounding lowland . At seven o ’ clock the French infantrymen reached Neuville - sur - Escaut and were immediately ordered to seize the bridges across the Scheldt . At eight o ’ clock , the Allies were surprised to discover the large French presence in the area . The Earl of Albermarle , at the head of the Dutch garrison in and around Denain , warned Prince Eugene , but the Prince of Savoy was not greatly concerned at the time . By one in the afternoon the attack had developed to the point of an assault on the palisade at Denain . The French sappers led the infantry against heavy fire and took Denain at the point of the bayonet . Many defenders were killed and the remaining Dutch infantry attempted to escape across the mill bridge , but it collapsed during the retreat and hundreds of Allied troops drowned . Realizing the gravity of the situation , Prince Eugene attempted to force his way across the Scheldt at Prouvy to help Albemarle . Under the command of the Prince de Tingry , French regiments held the bridge at Prouvy against repeated Austrian attacks ; finally , as the day drew to a close , the French destroyed the bridge to prevent it falling into the hands of the enemy . This left the Prince of Savoy ' s army blocked on the left flank by the Scheldt and the Allies could not counterattack to retake Denain . There , Albemarle and his staff were taken prisoner , together with some 4 , 100 troops . Aftermath . The battle was not immediately recognised to be as decisive as it turned out to be ; most of Prince Eugene ' s army was relatively unscathed . However , with the loss of Denain the Allied position began to unravel , and over the next few months the French recovered most of the towns they had lost in the region in previous years .