Capture of Dixmuide en Deinze 1695, pt. II

This blog reported earlier on the capture of Dixmuide and Deinze by the French in July 1695. In July 1695, in order to divert the Confederates from their siege of Namur, the French undertook operations against the towns of Dixmuide and Deinze. They did not succeed in raising the siege, but captured both towns nevertheless. With the capture of these town, the complete garrisons of 10 battalions (regiments) of infantry and one regiment of dragoons went into captivity.

The identity of most of these eleven regiments can be established without too much effort: the English and Scots regiments, and one Dutch at Deinze, are mentioned as such in several sources. The problem lies with the other regiments at Dixmuide. Besides the two English and two Scots regiments, there were four more regiments. Some sources make reference to two each of Dutch and German regiments, others mention Dutch and Danish. Two of these four can be found without too much work as well: one Dutch regiment in English pay, and a Danish regiment in English pay. The colonel of this last regiment, Elnberger, was also governor of Dixmuide and was beheaded for surrendering to the French without any serious attempt to defend the town.

Of the remaining two regiments, the previous blog report makes mention of one Dutch regiment and a regiment from Wolfenbüttel. Though the latter is correct, the former was actually a Brandenburg regiment in Dutch service. We are talking here about the regiment Jung-Holstein. The Wolfenbüttel regiment, in the previous blog said to be Regiment Holle. Holle died in 1693, however, and contemporary sources referred to the regiment as Regiment Schack; Schack may have been the successor.

This missing piece of information comes from a letter from the Duke of Württemberg to Antonie Heinsius, the Dutch Raadspensionaris, dated 17 August 1695. This letter details the 'l'infame reduction' of Deinze and Dixmuide, and loss of ten battalions and one regiment of dragoons. It also informs us on the French bombardment of Brussels: 4000 bombs in 36 hours.
The letter can be found in the second part of Het Archief van den Raadspensionaris Antonie Heinsius, page 101, found in full on Google Books.

So, taken into captivity were two English regiments of foot, three Scots regiments, two Dutch regiments, one Danish, one Brandenburg, and one Wolfenbüttel, and one English regiment of dragoons.

Danish Troops in the Williamite Army in Ireland, 1689-91 ~~ by Klejd Hald Galster

There is not much literature on the Nine Years War, there seems to be even less on the Williamite War in Ireland between 1689 and 1691. A couple of years ago John Childs wrote The Williamite Wars in Ireland. This was a welcome scholarly piece of work on this episode during the Nine Years War, and may be considered a standard work. Furthermore, there are monographs on particular battles. such are Mike McNally's books on the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim.

Recently another book was published, namely Danish troops in the Williamite army in Ireland, 1689-91 by Kjeld Hald Galster. Apart for providing a narrative of the war in Ireland during 1689-91, this book gives also a first hand account of subsidy troops and fills in an important gap in the literature. In 17th and 18th century warfare subsidy troops (hilfstruppen) played an important role, even made up a substantial part of the Williamite, and later Marlburian, armies in Flanders. However, there is no single monograph on any of these subsidy troops, as far as I am aware, and this on the Danish contingent is very welcome. 

The author, Kjeld Hald Galster, did a very good job here to clarify the genesis and role of these Danish troops as part of the Williamite forces in Ireland. Gold played, obviously, an important role for Christian V of Denmark when he hired out 7,000 of his troops to William III of England. However, Galster makes clear other, politically motivated, factors played an equally important role. Hiring out troops was also an opportunity for the army to gain experience.

Galster provides the reader with a theoretical framework for warfare, considerations that needed to be taken by commanders, etc. In particular coalition warfare, and the role of the Danish contingent, is given much attention. Regarding the latter, the author frequently reference to modern day wars where so-called coalitions of the willing are important for an international community to achieve certain goals (cf. peace-keeping operations or operations in Iraq and Afghanistan).

On a more detailed level, this book narrates on the operations in Ireland between, roughly speaking, the arrival of the Danish troops in early 1690 until the signing of the Treaty of Limerick in late 1691. Here, Galster makes ample use of documents from the Danish State Archives (Rigsarkivet), hitherto unpublished material. This all should appeal to anyone interested in the conduct of operations during the Williamite Wars. Problems related to reinforcements and payments seem an almost continuous theme.

For a work of such a scope, or actually such a detailed and well-defined topics, it is almost unavoidable that some loose ends and minor issues remain.
 
First there is the role Denmark would have played as part of the coalition against France that may have needed some more explanation. Though Denmark supplied of course some 7,000 men, Denmark was, as far as I know, not a member of the League of Augsburg or Grand Alliance against France.

Secondly, as the story of the Danish troops is set against that of the Glorious Revolution, the latter is detailed a bit as well. However, here there seems a preference for the 'invitation/conspiracy' theory, neglecting other theories stating that William of Orange's invasion of England was more a pre-emptive strike.

Looking at the welcome tables and illustrations, a few remarks may be made. On page 60 a chart is given on the organization of the Williamite forces.
Here the presence of a Brandenburg regiment is bit odd. Of course, this refers to the Regiment Brandenburg, a regiment of the Dutch standing army. It was not, for example, a (subsidy) regiment from the Brandenburg army. Hence, it should be be listed as part of the 'regiments of Dutch infantry'. The Brandenburg regiment is listed separately in the appendix as well. Looking at the other regiments of cavalry, Schomberg's regiment was a Huguenot regiment but is not listed as such (the Huguenot foot is).

The appendix with Danish regiments is particular nice. I was pleased to find the names of various French officers, Huguenots refugees. As a lineage aficionado I regret there is not more regimental detail on the nine Danish regiments of foot that each supplied one battalion. But something needs to be wished for of course!

But that is all minor compared to the rest of this work. The addition of a book on the Williamite War in Ireland is always welcome.  Though the book's main character, the Danish contingent, may be a bit esoteric, it provides a very nice perspective on the operations and conduct of warfare in Ireland between 1690 and 1691. The discussion of topics such as coalition warfare, and the role of the Danes, as an abstraction makes this book stand out as being more than a, for example, regimental history.

This book is therefor highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this period. The book can easily be obtained via the published: the Four Courts Press.

Dixmuide and Deinze 1695

In early July 1695 the (2nd) siege of Namur started. This time the confederate forces under William III were the besiegers, and the French under the Duc de Boufflers were those under siege.

When all this took place, a French army under the Duc de Villeroi proceeded to Flanders with some 80,000 men. The capture of Nieuport failed, but Villeroi was successful in capturing the towns of Dixmuide and Deinze. Both within a few days, and without much resistance from the side of the garrisons. After this Villeroi proceeded towards Brussels, which he subjected to a destructive, and senseless, bombardment.

Despite agreements regarding the exchange of prisoners of war (or a subjective interpretation of them), the prisoners from Dixmuide and Deinze were moved to France. In reaction to this, the Duc de Boufflers was kept as prisoner (hostage) by William when the fortress of Namur surrendered late August 1695. He was exchanged later that year for the Dixmuide and Deinze prisoners.

As expected, William III was 'not amused' by the quick and easy surrender of the garrisons. The commander of the Dixmuide garrison, Johan Anton Ellenberg (also spelled as Ellenberger or Elnberger), who served in the Danish army and commanded a Danish regiments in English pay, was therefor sentenced to death in November. Other regimental commanders were cashiered or temporarily suspended for their part in the quick surrender.

The garrisons consisted of British, Dutch, Danish and German regiments. Literature is, however, a bit unclear on the non-British components; d'Auvergne seems to be most clear and informative. This resulted in the following overview of regiments.

Dixmuide:
William Lloyd's Regiment of Dragoons; Lloyd was no in Dixmuide
Richard Brewer's Foot (future 12th Foot); Brewer was suspended
Sir James Leslie's Foot (future 15th Foot); Leslie was cashiered
Lord Lorne's Foot (disbanded 1698); Lord Lorne was not present in Dixmuide
Sir Charles Graham's Foot (Of the Scots Brigade); Graham was cashiered
Regiment Auer (Dutch regiment in English pay); Auer was cashiered
Regiment Soutelande or Regiment Saint Amant (Dutch regiment; at present unknown which one was part of the garrison)
Regiment Ellenberg (a battalion detached from the Danish Prinds Christians (later Carls) Regiment, in English pay); Ellenberg was executed
Regiment Holle (a regiment from Brunswick in Dutch pay)

Deinze:
Francis Fergus O'Farrell's Foot (future 21st Foot); O'Farrell was cashiered
Regiment Scheltinga (Dutch regiment); Scheltinga was suspended

The battle of Aughrim

This battle was fought on July 12th, 1691 and marked the end of Jacobite resistance in Ireland. Which, eventually, led to the Treaty of Limerick of September 3rd, 1691.

This order of battle is found in the Digitales Archiv Marburg, and shows neatly the English, Dutch and Danish regiments. The author thought the infantry and cavalry were usually separated, and it is interesting to see several battalions of foot in between the cavalry squadrons.



Looking carefully at the bottom row, and the second infantry unit from the left, one will find it is identified as Finlandois. This is one of the mistakes often made with respect to the Danish regiments in English pay, namely suggesting that the Danish contingent contained a Finnish unit! This battalion was actually drawn from the Fynske Regiment, from the island of Funen and had nothing to do with Finland.

Danish Auxiliary Corps in English service

On 30 September 1689 a treaty was signed between London and Copenhagen. This resulted in the employment of part of the Danish Army in English service. The Danish contingent would consist of three regiments of horse, drawn from the regular Danish cavalry regiments. Furthermore, nine regular Danish infantry regiments would each contribute a battalion.

The Danish Corps arrived in England in November 1689 where it took up quarters. In 1690 the corps proceeded to Ireland. En route to England several transports were captured by French privateers. This resulted in the merger of two battalions later, making a total of eight infantry battalions.

After the Treaty of Limerick the Danish Corps went over to the Flanders theater of operations, and had its share in the battles fought there. This included the Battle of Steenkirk in 1692. In 1697, when the Treaty of Rijswijk was signed, the corps was discarded from English service and returned to Denmark, much depleted.

In following posts the various regiments and battalions will be discussed. The author wants to thank Daniel Schorr of Northern Wars for his help.