On the 9th of June the besiegers made a desperate assault and
gained possession of a covered way, but at a cost of 2000 killed
and wounded. A week later the place capitulated after a siege which
had cost the allies 5000 men.
General Boufflers, with his army of 37,000 men, finding himself
unable to raise the siege, determined to make a dash against
Nimeguen, an important frontier fortress of Holland, but which the
supineness of the Dutch Government had allowed to fall into
disrepair. Not only was there no garrison there, but not a gun was
mounted on its walls. The expedition seemed certain of success, and
on the evening of the 9th of June Boufflers moved out from Xanten,
and marched all night. Next day Athlone obtained news of the
movement and started in the evening, his march being parallel with
the French, the hostile armies moving abreast, and at no great
distance from each other.
The cavalry covered the British march, and these were in the
morning attacked by the French horse under the Duke of Burgundy.
The British were outnumbered, but fought with great obstinacy, and
before they fell back, with a loss of 720 men and a convoy of 300
waggons, the infantry had pushed forward, and when the French army
reached Nimeguen its ramparts bristled with British bayonets.
Boufflers, disappointed in his aim, fell back upon the rich
district of Cleves, now open to him, and plundered and ravaged that
fertile country.
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