Battle
On 26 June, Feldmarschall Coburg manœuvred around Charleroi with 52,000 Austrians and Netherlanders. Too late to save the city, which had surrendered, the Austrian commander split his army into five columns and attacked the French. A French reconnaissance balloon, l'Entreprenant, operated by the Aerostatic Corps, continuously informed General of Division (MG) Jean-Baptiste Jourdan about Austrian movements. The Austrians managed to break through both French wings, pushing back MG François Marceau on the right wing and MG Montaigu on the left wing. But the French center under MG François Lefebvre held and then counterattacked, and the Austrian assault petered out. Colonel Nicolas Soult, then serving as Lefebvre's Chief of staff, wrote that it was, "fifteen hours of the most desperate fighting I ever saw in my life."
Coburg neglected to press on and, uncertain of the outcome, the Austrian commander lost his nerve and fell back to Braine-l'Alleud and Waterloo, granting the French an unexpected victory. This was the final straw that caused the allies to retire back over the Rhine, leaving the French free rein in Belgium and the Netherlands. Smith writes that,
"By this stage of the war the court in Vienna was convinced that it was no longer worth the effort to try to keep their Netherlands provinces and it is suspected that Coburg gave up the chance of a victory here so as to be able to pull out eastwards."
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Fleurus (1794)
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