LIGNY & QUTRE BRAS
Napoleon began his last campaign
with a brilliance not to be found later in the campaign. He shut
down the borders and stopped all mail, and replaced troops so
inconspicuously that no one noticed any change. Though the allied
commanders knew what he was likely to do, they were caught completely
by suprise. Large masses of campfires were reported by Prussian
patrols, but General Ziethen ordered only local precautions. Reaching
the border on June 14th, Napoleon gave command of the left wing
to Marshal Ney and the right wing to Marshal Grouchy. The next
day the campaign began with a series of blunders. The III and
VI Corps got entangled and lost five hours getting sorted out.
Division general Bourmont deserted to the Prussians, seriously
undermining the morale of his men. Napoleon himself took command
of the Imperial Guard and forced Ziethen to retreat. Tough fighting
throughout the day caused 600 French casualties and 2000 Prussian.
The emperor again had to go to the front to break the stalemate
at Gilly. By the end of the day Napoleon's right wing had barely
entered Fleurus, and his left stopped just short of Quatre Bras.
Wellington ordered his men to the south and west of Brussels (out
of Napoleon's way), and Blucher decided to concentrate all his
men at Sombreffe, just north of Ligny. Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar
disobeyed Wellington and kept his 4,000 Nassauers at Quatre Bras.
Napoleon had expected to defeat Wellington first, but news of
the entire Prussian army consolidating within reach excited him
more. He would destroy the Prussian army tomorrow. Ney, on the
other hand, had been defeated by Wellington in the Spanish campaign,
and thought Quatre Bras was full of troops ready to ambush him.
This mistake would keep the Prussians from being destroyed the
next day, and was the first of many major occurrences that would
cause Napoleon his last campaign. On the 16th began the first
two of four battles that would decide the fate of Europe. At 2
p.m. Ney finally attempted to take Quatre Bras, after receiving
a note from Napoleon expressing suprise that he had not taken
the hamlet as ordered. About 20,000 men and 60 guns attacked 8,000
men and 16 guns. Still afraid of an ambush, Ney waited for another
corps to arrive before pushing onward. While he was wasting his
opportunity, 13,000 allied troops reinforced Quatre Bras. Napoleon
started the battle of Ligny at 2:30 p.m. Grouchy's cavalry tried
to pin down Thielemann's III Corps, while Vandamme led 4 divisions
against St. Armand, and Gerard sent 2 divisions to pin down the
Prussians at Ligny and caused them to draw upon their reserve.
French artillery pounded the Prussian II Corps troops held in
reserve, and exposed on the facing hillsides. Fighting was extremely
heavy along the brook and many commanders were killed or wounded.
Napoleon requested D'Erlon's Corps from Ney, then remembered he
had left 10,000 men of the VI Corps at Charleroi, and ordered
them to Ligny as well. General Girard was killed at St. Armand
and a small foothold was gained at Ligny. At 4 p.m. Ney received
Napoleon's order to take Quatre Bras immediately. He decided to
send in D'Erlon's Corps. That Corps was right now about to take
Blucher in the flank, being ordered to Ligny by an aide to Napoleon,
without informing Ney. Ney did not know this, and after being
counterattacked by General Alten's 3rd Division, ordered the men
back to Quatre Bras. The Corps would have proven decisive at either
battlefield, but would not participate at all this day. So Napoleon
lost his chance to destroy Blucher's army (less the IV Corps).
At 6 p.m. Ney finally found out about Napoleon's request for D'Erlon
and threw himself into the front-line fighting in despair. This
achieved nothing, and Wellington counterattacked at 6:30 p.m.
Meanwhile Blucher had launched a counterattack at St. Armand and
recaptured part of it. Napoleon sent the Young Guard to throw
them out. At 7 p.m. 60 guns fired into the Prussians while the
Imperial Guard attacked Ligny. With Milhaud's cavalry to the guard's
left, the Guard heavy cavalry followed them through the resulting
gap. After 6 hours of fighting the Prussian lines broke, but Blucher
personally lead 32 squadrons of cavalry in a counterattack which
gave the infantry a few more minutes to retreat. By 9 p.m. both
battles were over. At Quatre Bras the Allies had regained almost
all the ground they had lost during the day, at the cost of 5,000
casualties and the Duke of Brunswick. Amazingly, the French lost
only 4,000 men in the same battle. At Ligny the Prussians left
16,000 casualties and 21 guns, as well as a stunned Blucher. Though
Blucher later escaped to his own troops, while he was away the
army would retreat in the wrong direction, away from Wellington,
and 10,000 men would desert. Napoleon lost 11,500 men in the battle,
the 7th Infantry Division so mauled it was left behind at Ligny
for the rest of the campaign. The third disaster of the campaign
was about to occur. With Blucher defeated Wellington had to retreat
to Waterloo. Had Ney attacked him before noon, he would have been
locked in battle for Napoleon to pounce on from the flank and
rear. Had Napoleon not waited until 11 a.m. to get moving he could
have enagaged Wellington in battle. But at 11 a.m. Napoleon had
finally ordered Grouchy to pursue Blucher, and finally headed
towards Wellington to cut him off. Wellington slipped away before
Napoleon arrived, but a chase could still have finished him. A
storm turned the roads into mud and cost Napoleon another chance
at victory. A smashing French victory at Ligny or Quatre Bras
would have changed the situation two days later when the Prussians
reinforced Wellington at Waterloo and changed the outcome of the
battle. A victory at both would have won the campaign!
