retreating French and advancing English men-at-arms, making space for the English longbowmen to gain the riverbank. The longbowmen were themselves being forced forward by more English cavalry advancing behind them. More and more English were fed into the bridgehead and after a short, sharp struggle, the French broke, fleeing for Abbeville, away. It seems that most of the knightly and noble French participants, being mounted, successfully escaped. The French infantry were unable to outrun the pursuing English cavalry and suffered heavy casualties. As was usual, no quarter was offered to the common soldiers. Du Fay was seriously wounded, but escaped. An hour and a half after the French lines had broken, the entire English army was across the ford. The main French army was close enough behind them to capture a number of English stragglers and the slower of their wagons. However, the tide was turning, and the French halted, facing the English across the river for the rest of the 24th, debating whether to attempt to force the crossing at the evening low tide. They decided not to and on the morning of the 25th backtracked to the bridge at Abbeville, a 12-mile diversion. Casualties in the action are not clear, but it is claimed by a contemporary chronicler that as many as 2,000 French soldiers were killed in the battle or the rout which followed it. English losses are not known but were probably light. Aftermath Once the French withdrew, Edward marched the to Crécy-en-Ponthieu where he prepared a defensive position. The French had been so confident that the English could not breach the Somme line that they had not denuded the area, and the countryside was rich in food and loot. So the English were able to resupply, Noyelles-sur-Mer and Le Crotoy in particular yielding large stores of food, which were looted and the towns then burnt. On 26 August the main French army under Philip was crushingly defeated here at the Battle of Crécy with heavy loss of life. Edward ended the campaign by laying siege to Calais, which fell after twelve months, securing an English entrepôt into northern France which was held for two hundred years. References Citations Sources Blanchetaque Blanchetaque History of Somme (department) 1346 in England 1346 in France Conflicts in 1346 Edward III of England