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.