It's two in the afternoon; the Dutch, fortunately, did not move, and the English column harassed by the French charges has, for a few moments, stopped its rapid progress.
"Hope changed sides..."
Around the king of France stands a council; the third phase - final and decisive - is taking place.
While the royal staff is finishing its consultation, the Duke of Richelieu, the sovereign's aide-de-camp, arrives from the front and, interrogated by Marshal de Noailles, replies:“The battle is won if we want it and my opinion is that four guns should be advanced immediately against the column. »
Louis XV, approving this thesis, immediately gave his agreement to the Duke of Richelieu's plan; thus, while a great mass of French infantry harassed the right of the English column and the cavalry charges continued, the general counter-offensive was being prepared.
Although the Marshal of Saxe could not yet be kept informed of the royal decision (he is constantly on the battlefield), the new system is in place. “The Duc de Péquigny, since called Duc de Chaulnes, will have these four coins pointed; they are placed opposite the English column. Each
member of the royal entourage set out to lead their troops and soon, gendarmes, riflemen, musketeers, horse grenadiers were preparing for the concerted assault.
On the French right, while the orders from Saxony, to prepare the French withdrawal by the troops posted at Antoing, could not yet be reversed, the Duke of Biron, seeing the new troop movements, decides to stop the retreat of his men:"I take disobedience upon me," he declares. I'm sure the king
will approve of it in a moment when everything will change; I reply that the Marshal of Saxe will find it good. »
The Marshal "finds it good" the choice made by the king and, despite his difficulties in moving, goes to the French left, while urging the armed detachments he meets to coordinate their efforts and not to disperse in punctual and disorderly harassments.
All the French troops are gathered in a vast maneuver tending to make a success of the final attack in the direction of an English army weakened, certainly, but always remaining invincible by its courage and its unfailing cohesion.
L offensive is not long in being launched.
“The Duke of Biron, the Count of Estrées, the Marquis de Croissi, the Count of Lovendhal, lieutenant generals, are leading this new attack. Five Penthièvre squadrons follow Monsieur de Croissi and his children. The regiments of Chabrillant, Brancas, Brionne, Aubeterre, Courten hastened up, guided by their colonels; the Normandy regiment, riflemen, enter the first ranks of the column and avenge their comrades killed in their first charge. The Irish second them. The column was attacked both from the front and from both flanks...”
The Duke of Richelieu, sword in hand, leads the assault:"It was true chivalry, the spectacle of a great lists in the time of Edward and Jean", wrote Count Pajol in 1884, historian of the wars of Louis XV.
Without sharing such a historical shortcut, it must be recognized that the maneuvering elegance of the French cavalry would have, had it not been a hecatomb — more reminiscent of a parade than a warlike charge.
The shock is frightening. In a few minutes the English column is overwhelmed, breaches are opened and hundreds of soldiers from both sides fall. Attacked from all sides, the men of Cumberland cannot resist for long; surprised by the cannonade and suffocated by the force of the French vice tightening on them, the Anglo-Hanoverians must very quickly consider retreating.
Leaving the field "without tumult, without confusion", they fell back without letting their flag be taken and descended in good order the small ditch which they had so painfully crossed shortly before. "Defeated with honour", said Voltaire, they left on the battlefield at least 7,000 dead and wounded and 2,000 prisoners.
On the French side, "there will only be... sixteen hundred and eighty-one soldiers or infantry sergeants killed on the spot, and three thousand two hundred and eighty-two wounded. Of the officers only fifty-three had died on the field of battle; three hundred and twenty three were in mortal danger from their wounds.
The cavalry lost about eighteen hundred men...” The estimate reported by Voltaire has never been strongly disputed.
The Battle of Fontenoy, on this spring afternoon of 1745, is over; it immediately became the great feat of arms of the reign of Louis le Bien-Aimé, whose decisions throughout that day showed a perfect knowledge of "the art of war".
While the French victory is all the more joyfully acclaimed as it has remained uncertain for a long time, the king, the dauphin and the entire staff, after the traditional congratulations, come to the aid of the wounded of the two fields.
The Marshal of Saxe, having had himself hoisted onto his horse, presented himself to Louis XV exclaiming:"Sire, I have lived enough, I did not wish to live today that to see Your Majesty victorious... you see what battles are about. Then he confesses to him the error which had been made in neglecting to place redoubts between the Bois de Barry and Fontenoy.
Truly, the Battle of Fontenoy appears as the archetype of total victory, although the French were unable to pursue the English in their retreat due to the Dutch presence on the enemy left. Both sides fought admirably but paid a heavy price in human lives and material.
Thus, the dolphin, going to see an officer with his face in gratitude of Louis XV, is answered that the graces of the monarch, "like those of the Gospel... fall on the one-eyed and the lame"!
Louis XV, transported with happiness by “his” victory, wrote the following note from the first moments of the enemy rout:“From the battlefield of Fontenoy, this May 11 at half past two, “The enemies attacked us this morning at five 'o' clock. They were well beaten. I am doing well and my son too. I don't have time to tell you more, being good, I believe, to reassure Versailles and Paris. As soon as I can, I will send you the details. "
... while the dolphin, for his part, addresses his mother the following word:
"My dear Mama, I cannot express my joy of the victory that the king has just won. He showed himself to be truly king there at all times, but especially when victory did not seem likely to lean on his side, or else, without shaking himself from the confusion in which he saw everyone, he himself gave the wisest orders with a presence of mind and a firmness that everyone could not help admiring, and he made himself known there more than anywhere else. »
Evening has now fallen on Fontenoy. The King of France and his son roam the battlefield.
“See, says the father, what it costs a good heart to win victories. The blood of our enemies is always the blood of men; the real glory is to spare it. »