The men in front had no time to reload, those behind could not fire because their friends were before them.
It was a fierce hand-to-hand struggle, such as might have taken place on the same ground in the middle ages, before gunpowder was in use.

Bayonets and clubbed muskets, these were the weapons on both sides, while dismounted troopers--for horses were worse than useless here, mixed up with the infantry--fought with swords.

On the roads, on the sides of the slopes, waist deep in the water of the ditches, men fought hand-to-hand.

Schlangenberg commanded at the spot where the Dutchmen obstinately and stubbornly resisted the fury of the French onslaught, and even the chosen grenadiers of France failed to break down that desperate defence.
All day the battle raged.

Rupert having no fixed duty rode backwards and forwards along the roads, now watching how went the defence against the French attack, now how the Dutch in vain tried to press back the Spaniards and open a way of retreat.