From Wikipedia:
The Battle of St. Jakob an
der Birs was fought between Basel and Münchenstein, Switzerland,
on the banks of the river Birs. The battle was on 26 August 1444
and was a battle within the Old Zürich War.
In 1443, the seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy invaded
the canton of Zürich and besieged the city. Zürich had made an
alliance with Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, who now
appealed to Charles VII of France to send an army to relieve the
siege.
Charles, seeking to send away troublesome troops made idle by
the truce with Henry VI of England in the Hundred Years' War,
sent his son the Dauphin (later Louis XI of France) with an army
of about 20,000 mercenaries into Switzerland, most Armagnac
mercenaries. They were halted at Basel by a small force of 1,500
Swiss pikemen from Berne, but instead took the defensive and let
the Swiss forces take the offensive and cross a local stream. It
would be the first engagement in which the Swiss troops
primarily used pikes rather than halberds, as in the battle of
Morgarten and Sempach.
The commander of the 1,500 knew well that the crossing of the
stream would be suicidal, but under complaints of the fellow
pikemen the commander was forced to cross the stream.
Immediately the Swiss forces formed three pike squares of five
hundred men each, and they fought well when Armagnac cavalry
charged again and again and were repulsed. However the fighting
lasted around five hours, and all three pike squares were
weakening, so the commander ordered his men to retreat into a
small hospital in St. Jakob. A reinforcement force from Basel
was repulsed, and the Armagnac troops set their own artillery
into bombarding the small hospital. The Swiss pikemen suffered
heavy casualties. When the Armagnac forces moved in, the Swiss
fought to the last men in a fierce hand-to-hand battle that
would last just under half an hour.
It was a major blow to Berne, the canton which contributed the
force, but the French forces suffered around four thousand
death, and were forced to retreat. The bravery of the Swiss
pikemen at St. Jakob an der Birs was remembered, but this battle
also showed the weakness of Swiss pikemen to artillery fire;
more Swiss pikemen were killed by artillery fire than in the
battle or the final engagement.
