during the Battle of Bergen) and the French division of General Dominique Vandamme between Alkmaar and the sea, around the village of Bergen. The attack was to be made on 30 September, but it turned out that the roads were still very bad: the soldiers sunk to their knees into the mud. The attack was then advanced to 1 October (Emperor Paul I of Russia's birthday), but again had to be postponed, now to 2 October. The battle The Anglo-Russian dispositions were as follows: on the right wing, advancing along the beach and sea dike near Petten with as objective the village of Egmond aan Zee, was a column of about 8,000 infantry under Abercromby. It consisted of the 1st Brigade of Guards, and the 4th and 6th brigades, augmented with 800 cavalry (11th and 15th Light Dragoons and horse and foot artillery); in the center two columns of about 8,000 Russian infantry and 600 cavalry (hussars and lancers) under the command of General Ivan Essen (who had succeeded the captured Ivan Ivanovich Hermann), one advancing along the subsidiary sea dike to Bergen, the other (under General Sedmoratzky) moving parallel; on the left a column of about 6,000 British troops under Sir Ralph Dundas, consisting of the 2nd (Burrard), 3rd (Coote) and 7th (Lord Chatham) infantry brigades, augmented with two troops of the 11th Light Dragoons and some Royal Artillery. Coote and Chatham were to support the Russians in their attack on Bergen and to maintain contact with Abercromby. The Foot Guards under Burrard were to attack the Batavians near Schoorldam along the Alkmaar canal, supported in this effort by a flotilla of seven gunboats, commanded by Sir Home Popham; finally, on the extreme left a column of about 7,000 British and Russian infantry and 250 cavalry under Sir James Pulteney. This column was to screen the exposed left flank of the army from an attack by Daendels' depleted division, to support the other columns and to exploit any opportunity that might present itself to turn the flank of the Franco-Batavian troops. These dispositions make clear that the main thrust of the attack again was towards the village of Bergen. Other than the first battle of Bergen this time the attack would be concentrated on a much narrower front, between Schoorl and the North Sea. As Abercromby was supposed to advance along the beach to a point beyond the left