Battle of Ekeren The Battle of Ekeren , June 30 , 1703 was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession . The French surrounded a Dutch force , which barely avoided destruction . This battle ended hope of a decisive allied victory in the Spanish Netherlands in 1703 . Prelude . After taking Bonn on May 15 , Marlborough now wanted to conquer Ostend , Antwerp , or force the French to an open battle . He ordered the Dutch General Coehoorn to march to Ostend and lay siege to it . Dutch general Van Sparre would march south west of Antwerp , Dutch General Obdam would march south from Bergen op Zoom , and Marlborough himself would march on Lier . The United Provinces however were not keen to open the ports of Antwerp and Ostend to English commerce and thus to their competition with the Dutch . Therefore , Coehoorn did not besiege Ostend , but plundered the countryside between Ostend and Antwerp . Obdam marched on June 28 from Bergen op Zoom to Antwerp , arriving the next day at Ekeren , seven kilometres from Antwerp . Villeroi was not misled by Marlborough ' s diversionary manoeuver , and sent all his troops from Diest to Antwerp to protect it . After hearing of this Marlborough tried to warn Obdam , ordering a withdrawal to Lillo , but he was too late . The battle . Early in the morning of June 30 , French dragoon s marched from Merksem and Ekeren in the direction of Kapellen to cut off the escape route near Hoevenen for the Dutch to return to Breda and Bergen - op - Zoom . The Marquis of Bedmar and his Spanish troops were positioned near Wilmarsdonk . This ensured that the Dutch forces were surrounded on all sides by a superior force . Soon Dutch reconnaissance discovered the French dragoons and Obdam immediately sent his cavalry to Hoevenen , but it was too late , the village was packed with French troops . An attempt to conquer neighboring Muisbroek also failed . Then the French attacked , and Obdam tried to take Oorderen , an attack which was briefly successful before the French retook the village . The fighting went on for the entire day . By eight o ' clock there was no more sign of Obdam , and Slangenburg decided to attempt an attack on Oorderen , this time by a surprise bayonet charge led by Friesheim . Friesheim sent his men wading through the water , appearing where the French had not expected them to . This action enabled the remaining Dutch troops to break through and retreat in the darkness towards the Netherlands . Aftermath . The battle was a victory for the French , but Boufflers wasn ' t congratulated at all , he was blamed for letting the chance of a total victory slip through his fingers . Obdam survived and escaped south in the afternoon with thirty horsemen , disguising themselves as Frenchmen . His behaviour was not forgiven by the Dutch military , and his military career was destroyed . Slangenburg , for his part , was acclaimed as a Dutch hero . He was also furious at Marlborough , who had been outmanoeuvered by the French and had not come to the aid of the Dutch . The Dutch lost 1 , 717 killed , 1 , 003 wounded , and 694 who were prisoners of war or were missing . < br > The French and Spaniards lost 1 , 750 men . Modern Location . A large part of the battlefield , including the villages of Oorderen , Wilmarsdonk and Lillo , has disappeared under the Port of Antwerp expansion in the 1960s .