Battle of Courtrai (1794)

The Battle of Courtrai (11 May 1794) saw a Republican French army under Jean-Charles Pichegru oppose Coalition forces commanded by François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt. The battle was fought as part of French efforts to defeat an Allied attempt to recapture Courtrai, which the French captured in the opening days of their 1794 offensive in the Low Countries. On 10 May, a French attempt to advance east toward Tournai was turned back by the Duke of York's troops in the Battle of Willems, but resulted in York himself retreating to Tournai once he realised he had underestimated the size of the French army. On the same day as Willems, Clerfayt attacked Courtrai (now Kortrijk) from the north but made little progress. On 11 May, with York's retreat, French forces turned on Clerfayt at Courtrai after York's retreat and forced him to retreat to the north. As a result of the battle, the French Army of the North maintained their grip on Courtrai and Menin (now Menen) which it had won in late April. The fighting occurred during the War of the First Coalition near Kortrijk, Belgium, located about 85 kilometres (53 mi) west of Brussels.

The battle of Courtrai refers specifically to the battle on 11 May, but the term is often also used to refer generally to both this battle and the battle of Willems together, as they were part of the same offensive.