Page "Battle of Blenheim" Paragraph 12

On 26 May, Marlborough reached Coblenz, where the Moselle meets the Rhine.

If he intended an attack along the Moselle the Duke must now turn west, but, instead, the following day the army crossed to the right bank of the Rhine, ( pausing to add 5, 000 waiting Hanoverians and Prussians ).

" There will be no campaign on the Moselle ", wrote Villeroi who had taken up a defensive position on the river, " the English have all gone up into Germany.

" A second possible objective now occurred to the French – an Allied incursion into Alsace and an attack on the city of Strasbourg.

Marlborough skillfully encouraged this apprehension by constructing bridges across the Rhine at Philippsburg, a ruse that not only encouraged Villeroi to come to Tallard's aid in the defence of Alsace, but one that ensured the French plan to march on Vienna remained paralysed by uncertainty.