Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Fontenoy (War of the Austrian Succession).

Fought May 11, 1745, between 50,000 British, Dutch and Austrian troops, under the Duke of Cumberland, and the French, under Marshal Saxe. The Duke endeavoured to relieve Tournay, which the French were besieging, and the British troops captured the heights on which the French were posted. The Prince of Waldeck, however, who commanded the Dutch, failed to support the Duke, and the French being reinforced, the trenches were retaken, and the British beaten back. Tournay fell shortly afterwards.