Raid on Lorient 1746
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Date | 20 September 1746 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1746 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | War of the Austrian Succession | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 47.7458, -3.3664 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The raid on Lorient was a British amphibious operation in the region around the town of Lorient from 29 September to 10 October 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession. It was planned as an attempt to force the French to withdraw their forces from Flanders to reinforce their own coast. At the same time, as Lorient was used by the French East India Company as a base and supply depot, its destruction would serve British objectives in the East Indies.
Around 4500 British soldiers were embarked, but the ships carrying them had to wait off the Lorient coast several days, allowing the town to organise its defences and call in reinforcements from other towns in the region. The British troops only arrived in the outskirts of the town on 3 October and negotiations for the town's surrender were ended by the bombardment of 5–7 October. On 7 October the British force was ordered to retreat. The British engineers' incompetence and losses to disease and fatigue forced the commander to stop his offensive. At the same time, the French commander originally planned to surrender, believing his enemy to have an overwhelming numerical superiority and knowing the weakness of his defences and the poor training and weaponry of his own troops.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Raid on Lorient (revision 1376296199), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Blavet 1625 · 4 km
- Siege of Hennebont 1342 · 9 km
- Battle of Groix 1795 · 24 km
- Battle of Auray 1364 · 30 km
- Invasion of France (1795) 1795 · 33 km
- Battle of Quiberon Bay 1759 · 37 km
Other battles of the War of the Austrian Succession
- Battle of Melle 1745
- Battle of Soor 1745
- Fall of Ghent 1745
- Siege of Louisbourg (1745) 1745
- Siege of Tournai (1745) 1745
- Action of 6 July 1746 1746
- Battle of Piacenza 1746
- Battle of Rocoux 1746
- Siege of Antibes 1746
- Siege of Brussels 1746
All 32 battles of the War of the Austrian Succession →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · Early modern battles