User:Weymar Horren/sandbox

The Battle of Gennep was a cavalry action fought on 30 October, 1599, betweem elements of the cavalry of the Spanish Army of Flanders and the Dutch States Army during the Eighty Years' War. The Dutch force, numerically superior and led by Louis Gunther of Nassau, cousin to the Dutch stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, aimed at surprising the Spanish field cavalry, weakened by the hardships of the siege of Zaltbommel and the departure of a large portion of it to escort Cardinal Andrew of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, on its way from 's-Hertogenbosch to Brussels. To prevent the Dutch army from crossing the Meuse to attack the Spanish positions in the island of Bommel, shaped by the former river and the Waal, the commander of the Spanish army, Francisco de Mendoza, Admiral of Aragon, had deployed part of his cavalry in four quarters along the southern bank of the Meuse. By the time the operation was launched, the Cardinal's escort had returned. Nevertheless, no more than 500 soldiers were availeable to the Lieutenant General of the Spanish cavalry, Ambrogio Landriano. The Dutch force, numbering likely 800 men or perhaps as much as 1,200, forded the Meuse between Batenburg and Ravenstein eraly on the morning of 30 October to surprise the Spanish quarter in charge of Juan Contreras Gamarra, Comissar General (second-in-command) of the Spanish cavalry.

The Dutch attack botched from the beginning, as Nassau's force was discovered by the Spanish centinels around the riverside, who put on alert Contreras. A messenger was promptly dispatched to Landriano, who ordered his second-in-command to closely follow the Dutch force while he gathered a relief from the other quarters. The Dutch learned from a Spanish prisoner that their intentions were known, so Nassau, unwilling to fall in an ambush, called off the attack and withdraw to the opposite bank of the Meuse several kilometers east, across Gennep, then belonging to the Duchy of Cleves. Contreras followed the trail of Nassau's men and, on approaching to the fortress of Grave, requested the assistance of some infantry. The Spanish cavalry finally made contact with the Dutch one before a village close to Gennep. As the Dutch were crossing a narrow path in a wooded ground, Contreras threw his men –just three companies of harquebusiers− against Nassau's rearguard and defeated the three companies that closed the march, one of which consisted of Scottish mercenaries. Landriano arrived then with reinforcements, and the Dutch were routed. However, on emerging from the wood, Nassau managed to put some order among his ranks and dispatched a company of cuirassiers against the Spanish pursuers. Many of them had lagged behind to sack the spoils of the dead Dutch and Scottish, but soon Landriano charged ahead his company of lances.