288 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period hi. 



the attack. They were at once thrown into confusion, 

 and very severely handled. In this action Luxembourg, 

 with twenty-eight squadrons, almost all composed of the 

 guards of the King of France, defeated the seventy-five 

 squadrons of the allied troops and captured forty 

 standards. The fame of the victory resounded through- 

 out Europe, and was considered worthy of being 

 commemorated by a special medal, which Louis XIV. 

 caused to be struck for the purpose.^ 



The cavalry did good service at Neerwinden in 1693, 

 where Marshal Luxembourg defeated the Prince of 

 Orange. The attacks made by the French along the 

 front of the enemy's position had failed three times, 

 when on the fourth attempt the cavalry charged t. fough 

 or over the field entrenchments, and taking Neerwinden 

 in reverse, so assisted the infantry as to decide the fate 

 of the day. It is strange that upon this very same 

 ground, a few years later, the famous Duke of Marl- 

 borough carried the lines of the Mehaigne by his 

 cavalry, who, filling the ditch with their trusses of hay, 

 rode across the entrenchments and carried the position 

 by a coup de main. 



^ D'Aldegmer, 53. 



lit I 



