Battle of Pontvallain.The Battle of Pontvallain, part of the Hundred Years' War, took place in north-west France on 4 December 1370. A French army under Bertrand du Guesclin heavily defeated an English force which had broken away from an army commanded by Robert Knolles. The French numbered 5,200 men, and the English force was approximately the same size. The English had plundered and burnt their way across northern France from Calais to Paris. With winter coming, the English commanders fell out and divided their army. The battle consisted of two separate engagements: one at Pontvallain where, after a forced march which continued overnight, Guesclin surprised a major part of the English force, and wiped it out. In a coordinated attack, Guesclin's subordinate, Louis de Sancerre, caught a smaller English force the same day, at the nearby town of Vaas, also wiping it out. The French harried the surviving Englishmen into the following year, recapturing much lost territory.
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