Battle of Fontenoy by E Detaille  Battle of Fontenoy during the war of Austrian Succession. French victory under Marshal Maurice De Saxe over the allies (British, Dutch and German under the Duke of Cumberland), 11th May 1745. Fontenoy, 5 miles south east of Tournai (Tolnay), the battle which started with a Dutch assault and British and Hanovarian infantry advance against the French centre during the battle a sudden attack by an Irish Brigade under French command, attacked the allied forces. The allied square was broken but the British, Hanovarian and Dutch forces retreated in good order. Battle of Fontenoy by H Vernet  Battle of Fontenoy during the war of Austrian Succession. French victory under Marshal Maurice De Saxe over the allies (British, Dutch and German under the Duke of Cumberland), 11th May 1745. Fontenoy, 5 miles south east of Tournai (Tolnay), the battle which started with a Dutch assault and British and Hanovarian infantry advance against the French centre during the battle a sudden attack by an Irish Brigade under French command, attacked the allied forces. The allied square was broken but the British, Hanovarian and Dutch forces retreated in good order. The Battle of Fontenoy by Felix Philippoteaux

The Grenadier Guards at the battle of Fontenoy  They played a glorious part in the lost battle of Fontenoy, two years later, where the Duke of Cumberland, their colonel, commanding the allied forces; measured his strength with Marshal Saxe, who was then besieging Tournay. The First Guards were on the right of the centre, in the first line, when the Duke, furious at the failure on both wings, ordered the masses of troops to attack. The infantry dashed forward between the village and the redoubt, and as the British Guards advanced over a low ridge, and saw the French Guards before them, a scene occurred which has become legendary in military history. "Messieurs les Anglais, tirez les premiers!" is a phrase that bespeaks the old fashioned chivalry with which foemen worthy of each other's steel loved to treat one another. The story of what occurred is variously given. " The officers of the English Guards," says Voltaire, "when in the  presence of the enemy, saluted the French by taking off their hats. The Comte de Chabannes, and the Duc de Biron, who were in advance returned the salute, as did all the officers of the French Guards. Lord Charles Hay, captain of the English Guards cried: 'Gentlemen of the French Guards, fire!' The Count D'Anteroche, lieutenant of grenadiers, replied in a loud voice:  'Gentlemen, we never fire first; we will follow you.' " Nineteen officers and many men of the French Guards are said to have fallen at the first discharge, while the losses on our side were very heavy; but, as the English pushed on, the enemy were borne back, and in the face of a terrific fire, the Guards drove them into their camp. Here, exposed to the tremendous reverse fire of the redoubt of Eu, the Guards according to Rousseau, formed themselves into a kind of square, and resisted repeated attacks of the cavalry of the French guard and Carabineers. But unsupported and decimated by the withering hail of iron that assailed them, attacked by fresh troops and the Irish brigades of Clare and Dillon, beset as in a fiery furnace, the Guards at length began to retire. They did so in perfect order; but the First Guards left 4 officers, 3 sergeants and 82 men dead on the field, besides having 149 wounded in all. It was a defeat due to bad generalship and want of cohesion among allies, but its sanguinary episodes added new lustre to the great fame of the Guards. " There are things, " says Marshal Saxe, - or some say his friend General D'Heronville, in his Trait des Legions - "which all of us have seen, but of which our pride makes us silent because we well know we cannot imitate them." (Excerpt from the Navy and Army Gazette November 20th 1896 by John Leyland)