The Battle of Ekeren was fought on 30 June 1703 between the Dutch Republic and a French-Spanish-Cologner army amid the War of the Spanish Succession. A Dutch army sent to capture Antwerp was encircled by French and Spanish forces, but it was able to break out of its encirclement and force the French to retreat.
Background[]
In 1702, the Dutch had assisted in the capture of Kaiserswerth from the French and repelled a French assault on Nijmegen. John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Godert de Ginkel would lead a joint Anglo-Dutch army of 60,000 troops into the Spanish Netherlands in July, taking the Meuse fortresses of Venlo, Stevensweert, Roermond, and Liège. The French and Spanish sat by idly throughout 1702, and the Dutch and English captured Bonn in May 1703 before moving on Antwerp. While Marlborough pinned down the French main force near Liege, Dutch forces would enclose Antwerp from multiple sides and besiege the city. However, the two Dutch divisions sent to take Antwerp were isolated from each other by the Scheldt and were unable to quickly come to each other's aid. On 27 June, the Dutch captured the Spanish lines at Stekene, but the French Duke of Boufflers moved to link up with the Marquis of Bedmar's Spanish army at Antwerp.
Battle[]
On 30 June, French dragoons moved to cut off the Dutch army's escape route to Breda and Bergen-op-Zoom while Bedmar's Spanish troops were positioned near Wilmarsdonk, encircling the Dutch army. Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam attacked the village of Oorderen, seizing control of it from the French before Claude Frederic t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly and Frederick Johan van Baer engaged the Franco-Spanish force in a rearguard action. The bulk of the Franco-Spanish infantry were then deployed to battle, storming the Dutch positions. They found their cohesion broken among the ditches and hedges of the Dutch countryside, while their cavalry was rendered useless by the terrain. The Dutch repulsed Franco-Spanish attacks on Oorderen, but the Dutch were ultimately forged to abandon the village. Francois Nicolas Fagel, who assumed command despite a head injury, ordered his soldiers to use their coat buttons as bullets once they ran out of ammunition, and the Dutch fought to break out of the Franco-Spanish encirclement. They broke through the Franco-Spanish cavalry and repulsed four fresh Spanish battalions from Antwerp. The Dutch army was able to break through at Oorderen, where they spent the night before being reinforced.
Both sides claimed victory in the battle, as the Dutch had forced the French to retreat, while the French and Spanish claimed victory because they had won the field. Boufflers was relieved of command for six years as a result of his failure to destroy the encircled Dutch army, while Obdam's military career was likewise ruined.