Waterloo 1815: Quatre Bras & Ligny

WATERLOO

1815

QUATRE BRAS & LIGNY

Waterloo 1815

Qyatre Bras

& Ligny

by

Peter Hofschröer

PEN & SWORD

In memory of David Chandler (1934–2004),

to whom I owe so much.

First published in Great Britain in 2005 by

Pen & Sword Military

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright © Peter Hofschröer 2005

ISBN 1-84415-168-9

The right of Peter Hofschröer to be identified as Author of this Work has

been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents

Act 1988.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Brussels and the Garrison towns in 1815

2 Napoleon concentrates at the Front

3 The Outbreak of Hostilities

4 The Battle of Charleroi, 15 June 1815

5 The Calm before the Storm

6 The Preparations for Battle

7 The Battle of Quatre Bras, 16 June 1815

8 The Battle of Ligny, 16 June 1815

9 The Aftermath

10 Waterloo Controversies

11 The Three Armies

12 Tour Guide

Orders of Battle, 16 June 1815

Further Reading

Index

INTRODUCTION

The battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny have always been overshadowed by the great battle that took place two days later. Nevertheless, the events of 16 June 1815 were crucial, as Napoleon thereby missed his only real chance of achieving a decisive victory in this campaign. Had d’Erlon’s corps not meandered meaninglessly between the two battlefields that day, its involvement in either would surely have settled the issue for Napoleon.

Wellington, surely the greatest tactical general of the era, held his own at Quatre Bras against numerous assaults from Marshal Ney’s determined French veterans. For much of the day, Wellington’s force was outnumbered and hung on by the skin of its teeth. It should be added that the fact that this strategic crossroads had not fallen to the French earlier can be attributed to the much-maligned Prince of Orange and the Netherlands generals that disobeyed Wellington’s earlier order to abandon their posts here.

The fighting at Ligny was particularly bitter, with Blücher’s inexperienced Prussians giving little mercy and being shown even less during the murderous street fighting. Bruised and battered, the Prussian army fell back in a state of confusion on Wavre. Gneisenau and his staff officers then set about turning a tactical defeat into a strategic victory.

Chapter One

Brussels and the Garrison towns in 1815

The Preparations for War

What is now modern Belgium had been annexed by Revolutionary France in 1795. Until then, it had been an Austrian territory. The Allies occupied it again in 1814, once Napoleon had been expelled from Germany. During the course of the peace negotiations underway at the Congress of Vienna, it remained under foreign occupation, particularly by the Prussians. The victorious Allies had decided to join what are now Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg into a single Kingdom of the Netherlands under the rule of the House of Orange. This reorganisation of the map of Europe was underway when Napoleon escaped from his exile on the Mediterranean isle of Elba. Once Napoleon’s coup had toppled the recently re-established Bourbon monarchy in France, the Allies set about preparing to invade France to restore Louis XVIII. Two armies assembled in Belgium; one, under the Duke of Wellington, consisted of a mixture of roughly one-third Germans, one-third Netherlanders and one-third British. The other, under Field Marshal General Prince Blücher von Wahlstadt, consisted of Prussians. An Austrian army and further contingents formed up along the Upper Rhine, while an army of Russians marched westwards. Troops also gathered in Italy. The scene was set for a replay of the drawn-out campaign of France of 1814, which had ended in Napoleon’s First Abdication, but which many consider to have been the Emperor’s finest hour.

While the Congress of Vienna danced, Napoleon was hatching a plot to stage a come-back. By March 1815, much of the future shape of Europe had been decided, but the Allies were nevertheless suspicious of each other.

The strategic position of the two allied armies in the Netherlands was rather complicated. Firstly, they were not at a state of war with France but with Bonaparte in person, whose regime they did not recognise, and whose title as Emperor of France they did not accept. The King of France, Louis XVIII was an ally, under their protection in Ghent. This situation restricted what the Allies could undertake in France, as without an official state of war, they could not easily cross the frontier. Indeed, the traffic at the border was running as normal, with businessmen, travellers and the post crossing the frontier freely. Secondly, although Blücher chomped at the bit, the armies in the Netherlands could not undertake any offensive operations until the Austrians and Russians were ready and this was not likely to be the case until July. All that Wellington and Blücher could do was sit and wait, keeping a watchful eye on both Napoleon and the border. Having to cover the area from the Channel to the Moselle meant that their forces would be spread thinly on the ground, covering every possible line of approach that Napoleon might take. These lines included the highway from Lille to Brussels, that via Mons and that via Charleroi.

Louis XVIII was not the most popular of French kings. While for many, his reign was a welcome relief from years of war, ex-soldiers in particular yearned for a return to their days of glory.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (1769–1821)

The man that shaped this era was born in Ajaccio, on the island of Corsica. He spent his youth training to be an artilleryman in the French Army, in the country that had recently annexed this Italian-speaking island, until then part of the Republic of Genoa. His early career was nondescript, but in 1793, his handling of the artillery that broke the siege of the British-occupied French Mediterranean port of Toulon catapulted him into the limelight. His experience in the Italian campaign of 1794 stood him in good stead and the ‘whiff of grapeshot’ with which he broke the power of the Paris mob in 1795 opened the door for a career in politics. His successful campaign in Italy in 1796 laid the foundations of his powerbase in the army. Despite suffering a setback in his Egyptian adventure, Napoleon seized power in 1799 after his return to France as one of three consuls that swept away the corrupt and unpopular Directory. He was soon made into First Consul and became the supreme ruler of France.

Napoleon Bonaparte, the man who held Europe in thrall for a generation. The Allies declared him an outlaw on his return from exile in Elba, and declared war on him, not France.

Napoleon’s second campaign in Italy in 1800 did much to consolidate his power in France, and, in 1804, he crowned himself emperor. At this time, France was after Russia the second most populous state in Europe. Its colonial possessions and international trading network rivalled that of Britain. Napoleon massed a large army at Boulogne on the Channel and made as if he was going to invade Britain. Instead, Napoleon took this well-trained force into Central Europe in 1805, defeating the Austrians at Ulm, then a joint Austro-Russian force at Austerlitz. His crowning success came in the campaign of 1806 at Jena and Auerstedt against Prussia, in which he destroyed the military capabilities of this great power in a matter of days. He consolidated his hold on Central Europe with tile Peace of Tilsit, made with Russia in 1807.

Next, Napoleon turned his attention to the Iberian Peninsula, where he tried to install his brother Joseph as king. The popular uprising against foreign occupation turned into the ‘Spanish Ulcer’ and the war in the peninsula that was to wear down France’s military power. It also give Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, the platform from which he launched his rise to fame and power. Wellington would achieve in Spain and Portugal what Nelson had accomplished at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

The first serious attempt to shake off Napoleon’s hold of Central Europe came in 1809, with the War of the Fifth Coalition. Despite a setback at Aspern-Essling near Vienna at the hands of the Austrian Archduke Charles, Napoleon’s will eventually prevailed, his victory at Wagram just weeks later. He remained master of Central Europe.

The Continental System, Napoleon’s blockade in reverse, led to a conflict with Russia. He assembled the greatest army yet seen and invaded Russia in 1812. He reached Moscow, but the vastness of the country swallowed up much of his force and, unable to supply his army, he turned for home. Marshal Winter and the Cossacks dealt with most of what remained of this once proud army, creating a power vacuum in Central Europe.

A popular uprising in East Prussia precipitated what became known as the Wars of Liberation. First Prussia joined the Czar in the spring of 1813, followed by Austria in the summer. Britain doled out guineas and gunpowder to all that agreed to fight against Napoleon. For a while, Napoleon showed signs of regaining his hold over the continent, but weight of numbers eventually prevailed, and his defeat at the Battle of Nations in Leipzig that October sealed his fate. France fell in 1814, and Napoleon was sent into exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba.

Escaping from his captivity, Napoleon landed in the south of France at the beginning of March 1815, precipitating a series of events known as the ‘Hundred Days’, in xvhich the Battle of Waterloo was the most dramatic event. After this defeat, Napoleon returned to Paris, but lacking support, he surrendered to the British and was sent to the isolated island of St Helena in the southern Atlantic, where he saw out his remaining days.

Napoleon was one of the great captains of history and many feared him. At this time, his record on the field of battle was second-to-none.

What complicated the matter further was that political needs dictated the military strategy. Against a Napoleon adept at rapid manoeuvring and with the advantage of a central command, the wise decision would have been to fall back in the face of any French offensive into the Netherlands. This was all the more so, as Napoleon’s armée du nord (Army of the North) was capable of defeating each of the Allied armies alone, but would be appreciably outnumbered if they joined forces against him. What prevented the Allies from simply linking up well inside the Netherlands was the need to prevent Napoleon from seizing Brussels, as the loss of this city would have destabilised the fragile new Kingdom of the Netherlands, which in any case lasted only until the Revolution of 1830. What the Allies had to do was move to meet Napoleon as close to the frontier as possible, a highly risky manoeuvre in the face of such a skilled captain. The Allies covered the main routes to Brussels and selected various points of concentration and defence along these routes. The army attacked would delay Napoleon for as long as possible, allowing the other army to move to its support.

If there was any one person that symbolised incessant und uncompromising opposition to Napoleon, it was the Prussian Marshal Blücher.

Napoleon claimed to have surprised the Allies with his offensive on 15 June, but that was not the case. The Allies were well aware that an army was concentrating on France’s northern frontier and an examination of the reports Major-General von Dörnberg sent to Brussels from the listening post at Mons shows how well informed Wellington was. The Duke also had informants in the highest places in Paris, including in the office of General Bertrand in Paris, who was a close advisor to Napoleon, and Fouché, the Minister of Police. Both Wellington and Blücher also had spies operating behind enemy lines. All eyes were on Napoleon, because his arrival at the front would indicate an imminent offensive. As a precautionary measure, the troops close to the frontier were placed on alert from 9 June. Napoleon’s presence was established with certainty on 14 June and the assault on the Prussian positions the next morning was anticipated.

While the offensive did not surprise the Allies, Wellington was certainly humbugged into believing that what was about to come was a bluff either to cover a withdrawal of the armée du nord into the interior of France, or to divert attention away from the real line of attack, which the Duke believed was going to come via Mons. As such, when the attack came, he hesitated rather than moving immediately to support Blücher. Napoleon gained 24 hours.

Chapter Two

Napoleon Concentrates at the Front

Where were Napoleon’s Troops Positioned?

Napoleon’s armée du nord consisted of the Imperial Guard (21,000 men), whose commander Marshal