Editing Battle of Aldenhoven (1794) (section)

== Battle ==
[[File:Battle of Aldenhoven.png|thumb|The battle of Aldenhoven, showing the approximate positions of the Coalition defence line and the main thrusts of the French assault. The Roer river is marked in blue. ]]
On 2 October, General Jourdan ordered the Army of Sambre-and-Meuse to force the line of the Roer river, and the 100,000 men of the army attacked on a front of nearly 60 miles from Roermond to Düren. The French were generally on the road through the morning of 2 October and only came into action near mid-day.<ref>Thiers (1854), p. 50</ref>

=== Attack by the French Left Wing ===
Kleber commenced his advance at 5am. Bernadotte’s regular infantry forced the light troops of Franz von Werneck defending the left bank to retire behind entrenchments and eventually withdraw across the Roer when Kleber's artillery came up, while his light troops reached the Roer amidst heavy artillery and musket fire. <ref name=Hayworthdissert></ref>{{rp|247}}

Bernadotte then swam the Roer south of Ratheim with the 71st Demi-Brigade and four companies of grenadiers, supported by artillery moved forward by Kleber. However, despite their success, Kleber’s other divisions were unable to cross until the following day, after the Austrian withdrawal. <ref name=Hayworthbook></ref>{{rp|138}}

During this attack, the future marshal Michel Ney led one cavalry regiment in a charge after crossing the river.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ney |first=Michel |title=Memoirs of Marshal Ney, Published By His Family |publisher=Carey |year=1834 |volume=1 |location=Philadelphia |pages=50–7}}</ref>

=== Attack by the French Centre ===
The French centre under Jourdan’s direct supervision also achieved success in their attack. 

On the left, Lefebvre’s division advanced in a line of battalion columns, captured Linnich, and drove the Austrians back to Genevich on the right bank. He then established a bridge and crossed the Roer the next morning.<ref name=Hayworthbook></ref>{{rp|139}} On the right, Hatry also captured Altorp.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Rickard |first=J |date=21 January 2009 |title=Battle of the Roer, 2 October 1794 |url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_roer.html |access-date=17 June 2022 |website=History of War}}</ref> 

Meanwhile, Championnet’s and Morlot’s divisions advanced towards Aldenhoven. Championnet reported being able to take advantage of the broken terrain in front of his position to rapidly approach and assault the enemy in his front with light artillery and columns of infantry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Championnet |first=Jean |title=Souvenirs du general Championnet |publisher=Flammarion |year=1904 |location=Paris |pages=79–81}}</ref> The divisions captured Aldenhoven and forced the Austrians to fall back to their prepared fortifications behind the town, where they held until they were threatened from the flanks by Lefebvre's and Hatry's successes. They then retreated back across the Roer to Julich.<ref name=":0" /> 

=== Attack by the French Right Wing ===
Scherer ordered his divisions to advance from their camps at Eschweiler and Gürzenich at 4am. He planned to outflank the Austrian left wing, under [[Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour|Count Latour]], with Mayer’s division, while Marceau’s and Hacquin’s divisions frontally assaulted the Austrian defence.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=Hayworthbook></ref>{{rp|137-8}}

Marceau’s division made considerable progress towards Düren, crossing the Roer by 3pm,<ref name=":0" /> but could not advance further without support from Mayer and Hacquin, both of which were delayed in their advances. Mayer’s outflanking move was delayed, but he eventually joined Marceau at 6pm. Together they captured and held Düren and advanced across the Düren plateau, although Mayer’s division was momentarily panicked by a terrible cannonade from a concealed artillery battery. Hacquin then joined them at 7pm from the direction of Eschweiler and the Bergheim forest, but arrived too late in the day to make any contribution to the main attack. Scherer then ordered his troops to bivouac in the field at the end of the day pending a resumption of the attack the next morning.<ref name=Hayworthbook></ref>{{rp|138-9}}

By the end of the day, Scherer's corps had completely crossed the Roer and captured Düren, outflanking and essentially compromising Clerfayt's entire river defence line.