WATERLOO, WAVRE & PLACENOIT
Napoleon began his last campaign
with a brilliance not to be found later on 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 5 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 went 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 recieving
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 cause 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.\par 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. While the 3 armies spent the 17th avoiding each other,
Grouchy informed Napoleon that Blucher wasn't retreating away
from Wellington, and that he could head the Prussians off from
joining Wellington. Napoleon received this note at 4 a.m., but
did not respond until 10 a.m., and Grouchy did nothing in the
interim. By 6 a.m. Wellington received word that Blucher was coming
to support him. Grouchy sent Vandamme after the Prussians at 8
a.m., and Gerard got going at 9 a.m. By 10 a.m. Grouchy realized
most of the Prussian army was around Wavre. By 11 a.m. Blucher
was leading Bulow's IV Corps towards Waterloo. By noon the Prussian
I and II Corps were also sent towards Waterloo. A major fire in
Wavre delayed the two corps. Only Thielemann's III Corps, which
had suffered only 764 casualties at Ligny, was left to stop Grouchy
from intercepting the Prussian army.\par At Waterloo the grand
battery opened up at 11:25 a.m., but the main attack would not
occur until 1 p.m., to allow the ground to dry out enough for
the cannon to do damage. Grouchy could hear the firing at his
HQ near Wavre, and left his breakfast because of it. General Gerard
demanded that Grouchy head towards Waterloo and join Napoleon.
Since Napoleon's last received order was for the capture of Wavre,
Grouchy decided that that was what was most important. Napoleon's
first big attack at Waterloo was of 4 infantry divisions. Unfortunately,
2 were formed in revolutionary type columns instead of the checker-board
type. Artillery damaged them considerably, then a cavalry charge
routed them with great loss of life. Napoleon's first big attack
was a shambles, with perhaps 5,000 casualties. Wellington pulled
his infantry back over the ridges to avoid cannon fire, and Ney,
thinking they were retreating charged with 5,000 French Cavalry.
Again and again they achieved nothing but the destruction of the
cavalry. Napoleon, appalled, was forced to throw in the other
5,000 cavalry to extract them. At 4 p.m. Grouchy finally launched
his attacks against Wavre, and Bulow finally arrived at the Waterloo
battlefield. Napoleon sent Domont's cavalry and Lobau's VI Corps
to attack. Bulow tried to outflank Lobau by heading towards the
village of Plancenoit. The French had to fall back, and by 5 p.m.
the Prussian II Corps was supporting Bulow in a three-sided assualt
on Plancenoit. Napoleon sent the Young Guard division to recapture
parts of Plancenoit, but fresh troops pushed them back. Two Old
Guard battalions were then sent into Plancenoit while 11 other
guard battalions were facing east to stop a breakthrough. This
was Napoleon's last chance for victory. At the very moment his
guard were waiting Ney had finally broken part of Wellington's
line and had asked for reinforcements from the guard. "Troops?
Where do you expect me to get them from? Do you expect me to make
some?" The two old guard battalions pushed 14 Prussian battalions
out of Plancenoit, stabilizing the line. By the time the guard
were back in reserve Wellington had filled the gap in his line
and the moment was lost. Napoleon would not have his victory.
Meanwhile, Grouchy was trying to take Wavre. He sent Gerard's
and Hulot's Divisions to affect a passage across the River Dyle.
Skirmishers and heavy artillery fire prevented any success. Learning
of Bulow's advance on Plancenoit, Grouchy sent Gerard's corps
towards Limale in the hopes of outflanking Wavre, knowing he could
not reach Waterloo in time to help Napoleon. He then lead a new
onslaught against Wavre, where Gerard was severely wounded. Grouchy
left Vandamme and Exelman's cavalry to pin down the Prussians.
Taking Pajol's newly arrived cavaly, Grouchy took over at Limale
personally, and Pajol was soon across the river. With Stengel
retreating from Limale, and Wavre holding nicely, Thielemann sent
Stupnagel's brigade to Limale, where a badly confused night attack
did nothing to budge the French. Thielemann sent an urgent plea
for reinforce- ments. "It doesn't matter if he is crushed,
providing we gain the victory here" was the response. At
Waterloo Ziethen's Corps was now arriving, and at 7 p.m. Napoleon
sent 6 middle guard battalions, with support from Reille and D'Erlon,
to attack Wellington. The guards could not withstand the firepower
of the British and were eventually routed. By 8 p.m. Prussians
took La Haie and Papelotte and occupied parts of Plancenoit again.
Most of the army broke, and Wellington charged after them. Only
the guard rallied, holding parts of Plancenoit until 9 p.m., and
blocking allied pursuit of the army. Even Napoleon could not rally
the army. The French lost 25,000 casualties and 8,000 prisoners
at Waterloo, as well as 200 cannon. The Allies lost 15,000 and
the Prussians 7,000. At Wavre the fighting continued through the
night. Pajol and the IV Corps expanded their bridgehead around
Limale. The French learned nothing of Waterloo though the Prussians
did. At dawn Thielemann launched a probing attack that got a strong
French response. With Stengel marching off to Waterloo without
orders, Thielemann ordered a retreat at 10 a.m. Having been reinforced
by Teste's Division during the night, Grouchy was in a position
to claim victory, but at 10:30 a.m. he finally learned about Waterloo.
He therefore retreated his 30,000 men, eventually entering Paris
with 50,000. Grouchy lost 2,600 men, Thielemann 2,500. There would
be battles on other frontiers and several sieges, but the campaign
was over. Had Napoleon not abdicated there could have been one
more battle outside Paris, as the allies were left with only 118,000
men, while Soult had 120,000 men in Paris. But Soult would have
no more bloodshed, and the Provisional Government would not give
Napoleon a temporary command, for there were too many other armies
to defeat. Napoleon surrendered to the British, was sent to St.
Helena, and died 6 years later of arsenic poisoning, from a man
employed by his father-in-law!
