The Battle of Erquelinnes or Battle of Péchant (20–24 May 1794) was part of the Flanders Campaign during the War of the First Coalition, and saw a Republican French army jointly led by Jacques Desjardin and Louis Charbonnier try to defend a bridgehead on the north bank of the Sambre River against a combined Habsburg Austrian and Dutch army led by Franz Wenzel, Graf von Kaunitz-Rietberg. The French crossed the Sambre on the 20th and held their positions for a few days. On the 24th Kaunitz launched an early-morning surprise attack that routed the French. The War of the First Coalition combat represented the second of five French attempts to gain a foothold on the north bank of the Sambre. Erquelinnes is a village in Belgium directly on the border with France. It is situated about 30 kilometr