years earlier at Malplaquet. He thus drew off and attempted to hinder Marlborough's siege of Bouchain which followed. The siege To defend the town Bouchain's governor, de Ravignan, had some 5,000 men against Marlborough's besieging army of 30,000, and the advantage of one of the strongest fortresses left to France, surrounded by the marshy land of the confluence of the rivers Scheldt and Sensée. In addition, Villars' strong army had taken up position to the west of the allied camp, and had managed to open a tenuous link to the besieged garrison. Fagel, the Dutch commander who Marlborough had put in charge of the siege, responded by using earthwork gun batteries to counter Villars, used a crack assault force managed by 18 August to once more cut the Marshal's communication with Bouchain, and established a fieldwork-protected corridor from the siege camp to his main supply port at Marchiennes on the Scarpe. Frequent raids by Villars on both the supply convoys on the Scarpe, and towards Douai, failed to interrupt the siege, and the garrison marched out to become prisoners of war on 13 September 1711. Aftermath Bouchain was Marlborough's last campaign. On the last day of the year he was stripped of his position as Captain-General, and of all his other offices. Command of the army on the continent for the campaign of 1712 was given to the Duke of Ormonde, and strict limitations were placed on his freedom of movement. Particularly he was prohibited from engaging the French in battle, as Anglo-French peace talks were well advanced, and the opportunity of seizing Cambrai and marching on Paris, opened by Marlborough's gains the year before, was abandoned. Before the year was out, the British Army would withdraw from the alliance, leaving the remaining allies, under Eugene of Savoy to be defeated at Denain. The following year, Bouchain was recaptured on 19 October 1712 by French forces under Marshal Villars, after an 18-day siege. Representation in art The Siege of Bouchain may be represented in a painting, of the Flemish school. Notes References Further reading Chandler, D. G.: Marlborough as Military Commander (1989 ed.), (Spellmount Publishers Ltd, 2003) Hussey, J.: Marlborough: Hero of Blenheim, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2004) Ostwald, J. Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession. (Brill publishers, 2006) Siege of Bouchain Sieges involving France Sieges involving Great Britain Battles of