So much has been written on the Waterloo Campaign that, even in the smallest details, nothing new can be revealed; but the dazzling magnitude of the great battle itself has obscured a part of the campaign which is seldom studied—the battle against Thielemann, and Grouchy’s skilful retreat from Wavre. I have chosen this tail-end of the campaign because little is known about it; because it serves useful lessons even for to-day; because the operations leading up to the battle round Wavre are of gre

MAP ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATIONS OF JUNE 15 ṬḤ TO 20 ṬḤ 1815. William Stanford & Company, Ltd. , The Oxford Geographical Institute. John Murray, Albemarle St., W....

The Allied troops in the Netherlands had begun to concentrate as early as the 15th of March. They were cantoned from Trèves and Coblentz to Courtrai. But their commanders were away in Vienna—both Wellington and Blucher. The largest number that could be concentrated to meet a sudden attack on Belgium in April was 80,000 men. Of these, 23,000 were Anglo-Hanoverian troops, 30,000 were Prussians, 14,000 were Saxons, and the remainder Dutch-Belgians. The spirit of discipline was almost wholly wanting

Napoleon’s Grand army for the invasion of Belgium was made up of the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth Corps d’Armée; four Corps of Reserve Cavalry; and the Imperial Guard; a total of 116,124 men. The First Corps, under d’Erlon, consisted of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infantry Divisions, and the First Light Cavalry Division. In the early part of June, the Corps was stationed at Lille. The Second Corps, under Reille, consisted of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Infantry Divisi

Napoleon began his concentration early in June. He moved the First Corps from Lille to Avesnes; the Second from Valenciennes to Maubeuge; the Third from Mézières to Chimay; the Fourth from Thionville to Rocroi; the Sixth from Laon to Avesnes; and the Guard from Paris to Avesnes. The concentration was in full swing, with the exception of Grouchy’s Reserve Cavalry, when Napoleon left Paris on the night of 11th June. Grouchy had not received his orders for concentration from Soult, the Chief of the

Blucher had decided upon a concentration of his whole army at Sombreffe, in the event of Napoleon attacking by Charleroi. Therefore, on the evening of the 14th, he ordered the Second, Third, and Fourth Corps to concentrate on Sombreffe, while the First Corps was to make a stout resistance, and fall back slowly on Fleurus, which Zieten was to hold, in order to gain time for the concentration. These arrangements were made without any definite agreement between Wellington and Blucher, as to the Duk

Ney, on his return to Gosselies from his interview with Napoleon, ordered Reille to move Jerome’s and Foy’s Divisions, with his five batteries of artillery, to Frasnes, whither he himself went. Ney’s misgivings as to the wisdom of attacking Quatre-Bras were not unfounded. He feared a movement against his right flank by a strong force of Prussians whom he believed to be between Quatre-Bras and Ligny. He was anxious for his left flank, in case some of Wellington’s troops were moving against him fr

The Reserve Artillery of the Corps, under Colonel Mohnhaupt, numbered 964 men, with 48 guns. The guns were divided up into one 12 pr. foot battery (No. 7), two 6 pr. foot batteries (Nos. 18 and 35), and three batteries of horse artillery (Nos. 18, 19 and 20). Each battery, horse and foot, had 8 guns....

As regards organisation, the Corps was an early form of the modern Army Corps, although there were no “divisional” troops attached to the infantry divisions, and the “corps” troops consisted of the cavalry and artillery brought together as “reserves” under separate commanders, and the necessary engineers and train. It is curious to note that, in the actual fighting, the artillery and cavalry, more especially the former, were divided up, as soon as the battle began. The idea which prevailed in th

It will be seen that Grouchy was given a large proportion of cavalry, although the numbers composing the different units were in most cases very short. Thus the Second Cavalry Corps numbered only 2,817 men, whereas a modern cavalry corps, or rather, two cavalry divisions (as no modern army organises larger bodies of cavalry than divisions), would amount to 9,000 or 10,000 men. The Fourth Cavalry Division (commanded by Soult, brother of the Chief of the Staff, although under the immediate orders

General Gneisenau, who had taken Bluchers place in command during his temporary disablement (his horse had rolled on him during a close pursuit by French cavalry), gave orders at the close of the battle of Ligny for the First and Second Corps (Zieten’s and Pirch I.‘s) to retreat upon Tilly, and for Thielemann to cover the withdrawal until the centre and right were clear of the field. He was then to retire upon Tilly, or, should he not be able to make for that point, to retreat upon Gembloux, and

Grouchy had received orders from Napoleon at about 11 P.M. on the night of the 16th to send the two cavalry corps of Pajol and Excelmans at daybreak in pursuit of the Prussians. He was not told in which direction to pursue, or whether to pursue Thielemann only. Accordingly, when Pajol started off at 4 A.M. , there were no signs to show in which direction Thielemann had retired. Taking Soult’s Division of Light Cavalry, Pajol started off from Balâtre and made his way across to the Namur road, und

At nightfall on the 17th, while Grouchy was still at Gembloux, the whole of Blucher’s army (except two Divisions, the Ninth and Thirteenth, and the Reserve Cavalry of Thielemann’s Corps, which were posted as rear-guards to the Third and Fourth Corps) had reached Wavre and its neighbourhood. As explained in the third chapter, the Second and Third Corps bivouacked on the left bank of the Dyle, beyond Wavre, and the First and Fourth on the right bank. Pirch I. was between St Anne and Aisemont; Bulo

Thielemann had been ordered by Blucher to defend Wavre at all costs if the French appeared in force, but if there was no fear of a serious attack, to leave a small rear-guard there and follow the other three Corps. As Excelmans’ Cavalry had shown so little activity in their attack on the outposts, Thielemann, towards three o’clock, decided to move his Corps towards Ohain, leaving only a small detachment to defend Wavre. In his judgment, if the French had meant to hinder the march towards Welling

Vandamme’s advanced guard, between three and four o’clock, had driven Borcke’s Division back on Wavre, and Vandamme, eager to burst into activity after the irritable delays on the march, proceeded to attack without waiting for Gérard, or even for Grouchy’s orders. He was afraid that night would come on and allow the Prussians to escape, as they had done from Sombreffe. He only saw in front of him a force waiting to be attacked; he had no thoughts for the general situation. He was a rough-and-rea

Grouchy first heard the news of Napoleon’s defeat at half-past ten on the morning of the 19th, just as he was preparing to pursue Thielemann and push his infantry towards Brussels. The news was brought by a staff officer, riding up with the most dejected appearance. He could scarcely get his words out, and Grouchy seemed at first to believe that the fellow was mad. But at last there was no doubt about it: the French had been severely beaten. What was Grouchy to do? Should he continue his own ope