Napoleon victorious, p.27
Napoleon Victorious!, page 27
Wellington now faced a painful dilemma. The Prussians were arriving in strength to take Napoleon in the flank. Pointedly, they had not linked up with his left where they would have been of immediate utility. At the same time, his own position was deteriorating. The Guard in large numbers – horse, foot, and artillery – was marching in great strength against his centre, as was a major cavalry force on his right. The centre could collapse before the Prussians could shift the course of the battle. He could order the withdrawal of his army through the forest now and ensure the survival of a major part of it. That would be his first defeat in open battle and on a scale that would shake Europe to its foundations. It would also entail leaving the Prussians in the lurch, an act which would both tarnish his reputation and poison British–Prussian relations. But if he held on long enough for the Prussians to throw Napoleon’s plans awry, he could pull off, if not a victory of sorts, at least a draw. That would be a strategic defeat for Napoleon, the ultimate goal in war. He decided to wait.
5:30 p.m. – The Inn at La Belle Alliance
The scout came tearing into the headquarters just as the rider with Bertrand’s message arrived. The scout was yelling, ‘Les Prussiens! Les Prussiens! ’ It was as if a shell burst among the staff, but the Emperor’s immediate escort of chasseurs à cheval moved to surround him. Someone had the presence of mind to alert Captain Dyonnet, commanding the Gendarmes d’Elite of the Guard, who were posted nearby to protect the Imperial headquarters. Monthion ran out and stopped the scout and was able to calm the man down and get his report. He ran to Dyonnet and pointed to a road leading east. ‘Large numbers of Prussian cavalry are only minutes away. You must hold them up to save the Emperor.’ He then grabbed a courier and sent him to the 1st Grenadiers à Pied on the other side of the road. Their commander had already seen the chaos surrounding headquarters, the dashing off of the Gendarmes and the concentration of the Emperor’s immediate escort. He alerted his regiment to move immediately, and personally led the first battalion forward.
Dyonnet led his 104 Gendarmes in the direction the scout pointed. Almost immediately the Prussian 6th Hussars, almost 600 men, appeared, went into line, and charged. Behind them the lance pennants of uhlans could be seen. Although outnumbered six to one, Dyonnet did not hesitate to draw sabre and charge the oncoming Prussians. His Gendarmes had no other reason to exist than to protect the headquarters and the Emperor. They were big men on impressive horses and crashed through the Prussian hussars only to be met by the lances of the following uhlans. Half his men were down, but he turned the remainder to cut their way out again, only to be swarmed by the hussars. The Gendarmes sold themselves dearly. The young Prussian officers vied to kill Dyonnet. He was above middle age, an old infantryman of the Royal Army who had become a gunner under the Revolution, yet retained the strength of a younger man combined with the experience of an old soldier. Two Prussian subalterns fell to his sabre before a lance jabbed through his back and out of his stomach.
The Gendarmes were dead or wounded to a man but had bought vital time. When the Prussians charged on the Imperial headquarters they were met by a battalion of the grenadiers à pied. Their volley slammed into the onrushing cavalry. The entire front rank went down. A second battalion marched up to fill in next to the first and added another volley. Against the urgings of Berthier and his aides, Napoleon rode behind his grenadiers only twenty yards from the Prussians. Monthion hurriedly rushed Bertrand’s report to him. He summarized it to the Emperor, who immediately called Gen. Count Philibert Duhesme to him. Duhesme commanded the eight battalions of the Young Guard waiting anxiously in reserve on the other side of the Brussels road opposite Rossomme Hill. They were former soldiers or young men recently recruited from Paris and Lyons, whipped into shape by officers and NCOs who had served in the Old Guard. They thirsted for glory as an eventual entrance ticket to the Old Guard. Duhesme was just the right commander – a brutal fighting man brought home from Spain on accusations of torture. The Emperor said to him, ‘Take one brigade and hold Plancenoit and keep the enemy off the Brussels road. It is our line of communications. Use the bayonet!’
The Young Guard had just entered the town when Col. Hiller von Gartringen’s Prussian 16th Brigade marched quickly down the road from the north-east. ‘Having [been] given orders [by Bülow] to seize Plancenoit, Hiller formed six battalions into three columns, and having nearly demolished the village by a fire of musketry and howitzers, sought to force it at the point of the bayonet.’2
Two battalions of the 15th Infantry Regiment rushed into the town just north of the woods on the outskirts of the town. South of the woods two battalions of the 1st Silesian Landwehr attacked. To the south along the Lasne the two battalions of the 2nd Silesian Landwehr also advanced. The Young Guard’s artillery lined the high ground south of the town and pounded the columns. The 15th Regiment was severely punished as it reached the church on the northern edge of the town, there to be counterattacked by the Young Guard who drove them back in disorder. The other columns were similarly driven back. Bülow sent them right back in, this time reinforced with eight more battalions.
The Prussians entered the village, which contained 520 inhabitants, and began to bash in the doors to evict the French. Each house was fought through with musket and bayonet and swung rifle butt. The Prussians battered their way through the outlying farm buildings and into the maze of village streets, until the Silesian Landwehr came up against the high walls of the church. ‘The open square around the churchyard was surrounded by houses,’ Hiller recalled, ‘from which the enemy could not be dislodged in spite of our brave attempt … a firefight continued at 15 to 30 paces,’ in the narrow streets, Hiller remembered, ‘which ultimately decimated the Prussian battalions.’3
At La Belle Alliance the Prussian cavalry withdrew to be replaced by the 6,500 men of the 15th Infantry Brigade of Maj. Gen. Heinrich von Losthin. Behind them the roads darkened with Lt. Gen. Georg von Hake’s 13th Infantry Brigade, 7,200 men strong. They were ordered to attack north through Frichermont and Papellote to link up with the British left flank. In reserve was Bülow’s reserve, his 14th Infantry Brigade, almost 5,900 men under Maj. Gen. Gustav von Ryssel. The Prussian IV Corps commander had brilliantly put 30,000 fresh troops on Napoleon’s rear. Crossing the bridge at Aywiers were some of the brigades of Zieten’s and Pirch’s corps in decent shape that Gneisenau had pulled together. Facing them were barely 6,000 men of the Old and Young Guard.
The sight of the black masses erupting onto the field gave an enormous boost to the morale of the hard-pressed British and Hanoverians on the left. Standing amid his smoking guns of E Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, Captain Thomas Dyneley remembered that the Prussians ‘advanced with a very heavy body of cavalry in front, with which they charged the moment they came on the ground … This was a remarkably fine sight and our army gave them three cheers.’4
From his position by the great elm, Wellington had a good view of the heavy black-clad Prussian columns falling on the French. His staff was greatly cheered. He realized, however, that the Prussians were not going to stop the massed attack of the Guard that was drawing closer.
Beyond his vision, Exelmans’ cavalry came charging down the Lasne road straight into one of Zieten’s brigades at Aywiers just as it crossed the bridge. Exelmans had acted on his own as soon as his scout reported the Prussians crossing at Aywiers. Davout immediately ordered Lobau and the Saxons south, leaving only one regiment to guard the bridges at Lasne and St Lambert.
5:30 p.m. – The Guard Attacks
There is a saying that time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted. Soult’s staff officers had carefully examined the British centre for the best approach for an attacking force. The marshal was meticulous in planning, and as soon as La Haye Sainte had fallen, they were looking over the ground. They concluded that an approach ‘straight up to the plateau from the lowlands of La Haye Sainte by the Brussels–Charleroi road, over which the column had barely 400 yards to traverse and where the embankments sheltered it from the slanting fire of the artillery, was the best possible way’. It was a superb piece of staff work. And now the Guards marched down the Brussels road straight into the deep space.5
The Beautiful Daughters sent their fire straight at the British guns that lined the centre of the ridge as their attached howitzers dropped their shells on the reverse slope. The Allies had seven batteries on the centre of the ridge – five British, one KGL, and one Belgian – thirty 9-pounders, three 6-pouners, and five 5.5-inch howitzers. The dry ground aided the strike of the rounds as it had on the eastern flank. Napoleon had given specific instructions that the Guard’s 12-pounders were to target the enemy guns. These guns could only fire perhaps one round a minute because of the need for the entire gun crew to pull it back to its firing position after the recoil drove it back. Despite the slow fire, these master gunners were particularly accurate at this close range. Those guns of the Grand Battery that could be brought to bear added their fire to the barrage. British gun after gun was silenced and gun crews decimated.
The butcher’s bill that the attacking Guard would pay was much reduced by this effective fire and by the protected approach. Further to the Guard’s advantage was that there was no damaging fire from Hougoumont or La Haye Sainte. It was only when the head of the Guard columns marched to within 400 yards that the surviving British guns could find a target. The gunners stood to their pieces, firing as fast they could, their faces grimed with powder. Balls cut through the Guard and here and there a bearskin was propelled into the air. Case shot riddled a dozen men at a time. It was within range for canister, and the surviving guns that could bear spewed clouds of musket balls into the Guard. Still, it was nothing like the defensive fire the Duke had hoped for due to the partially sheltered approach and to the Guard’s effective counter-battery fire.
Still they came on in two columns, the grenadiers and chasseurs, closing up their ranks smoothly whenever a man fell. A hundred yards before they crested the ridge, the lead battalions formed on line. Directly over the crest on the reverse slope was Col. Hugh Halkett’s Hanoverians. Wellington now took a serious risk and rushed over to Maitland’s Guards Brigade from the right to reinforce the point of impact. The 1st Foot Guards was the senior infantry regiment in the British army, and its 2nd and 3rd Battalions were larger formations. Unfortunately, it was the absent 1st Battalion that was most experienced from the Peninsula. He calculated that there appeared to be no French threat coming from their front, which faced the burning, corpse-strewn Hougoumont.
The Duke dared not take the only other brigade on his right, Maj. Gen. Frederick Adams’ strong 3rd British Brigade. The massing of French cavalry and infantry there was all too obvious. Adams had almost 3,000 men, in the 1/52nd and 71st Light with about 1,000 men each. The companies of the two 95th Rifles Battalions added another 600 men – all of Adams’ men were tough Peninsular veterans. Backing the infantry up was the sole cavalry reserve – Maj. Gen. Sir Colquhoun Grant’s 5th British Cavalry Brigade of almost 1,300 sabres. Already the mass of French cavalry was moving forward.
Wellington had more to worry about than the shifting of battalions. The morale of his army was becoming as fragile as a crystal glass. The word had spread of the fighting in their rear on the Brussels road and of the disaster on the left. Casualties had already been more than heavy, especially among his Allied battalions. The Netherlands forces had largely ceased to exist. He knew he could rely on the British and KGL battalions and to a lesser extent the Hanoverian Landwehr, but he also knew that trapped men have already given up the hope of victory and think only of flight.
D’Erlon now saw victory within his grasp. He had ruptured the Allied left and was pressing the surviving British and Hanoverian battalions hard. His numbers were proving decisive. Vivian’s hussars had fallen back from their failed counterattack as the French battalions began to encircle the mass of the enemy infantry from the left as Jacquinot’s cavalry closed in from the right. Vivian’s hussars were caught in the middle. Again, the French lance, in the hands of the 3rd and 4th Lancers, proved lethal. Caught between the volleys of the French infantry and the lances of the French cavalry, the surviving British hussars could only seek refuge within the Hanoverians or through flight. The only hope for the trapped force was to fight its way to the north-east along a road that led towards Ohain and the Forest of Soignes.
Durutte’s brigade and the cuirassier division was moving to close off that retreat. But it never happened. Prussians began emerging from the string of hamlets in their rear, the division-sized Prussian 13th Brigade. The French had to turn about to face them.
Amid the fighting a French officer waving a white flag approached the Highlanders. The firing subsided as the French pulled back as he was admitted to enemy lines. He bore a message from d’Erlon to Pack asking him to surrender as his position was hopeless. The Frenchman was asking the wrong man. Maj. Gen. Sir Dennis Pack had been taken prisoner in the ill-fated British occupation of Buenos Aires in 1806 and did not intend to go through that experience again. He had fought in almost every battle in the Peninsula, and it galled him no end to be on the receiving end of a French demand for surrender. It did convince him, though, that d’Erlon had a point – his position had indeed been hopeless, with French infantry and cuirassiers closing the trap on him. But now, just before the French officer had delivered the demand, an excited Hanoverian lieutenant had delivered a message from Col. Vincke that the age of miracles had not yet passed. The large French force closing the trap on them from the east had turned about and marched back the way it had come. To the outrage of the French officer, Pack detained him to prolong the pause. In that time, he gathered Best and Vincke: ‘We are leaving this death trap.’ His shrunken battalions would form a rearguard while the Hanoverians broke through Jacquinot’s cavalry marching in squares. It was desperate, but they had no choice.
5:30 p.m. – La Belle Alliance and Plancenoit
The 1st Grenadiers à Pied were also in a desperate situation. There were only 1,280 of them assailed by 6,500 Prussians, among whom the news flew that the hated Napoleon himself was before them, doubling their ardour. The fire of the grenadiers piled up the bodies of the Silesian Landwehr who did not flinch, so eager were they.
Only the arrival of the 2nd Brigade of the Young Guard saved the grenadiers from being overwhelmed as the Prussian 18th Regiment tried to turn their flank. Napoleon rode up to the Young Guard as they were rushing up. ‘With the bayonet!’ he commanded. Brig. Baron Nicholas Guye saluted with his sword as his men surged by. Another son of the Revolution, he had been serving with distinction since 1792, and was now repaying Napoleon for all the honours he had showered upon him. His men cheered at the command of bayonets and charged. The Prussians were struck as they were manoeuvring to swing around the grenadiers. Eager for glory, these inexperienced new soldiers broke up the Prussian regiment with the impetuousness of their attack.
Their sister brigade was not doing as well. Bülow committed another brigade to the slaughter pen of Plancenoit. Outnumbered four to one, the Young Guard was being driven out of the village. Gen. Duhesme was everywhere keeping his young men fighting, but Prussian numbers forced them to abandon the village. Now the Prussians could see the Brussels road. And Napoleon had not a single man in reserve.
5:30 p.m. – Between Genappe and La Belle Alliance
Monthion’s last courier had found Vandamme three miles north of Genappe. The sound of the guns had grown much louder and closer when the Prussians attacked. Vandamme realized that it did not bode well that the battle was approaching rather than receding. He had immediately increased the pace of his corps. He alerted Gérard to speed up his following corps as well. He ordered Gen. Habert, commanding the lead 10th Infantry Division, to hurry men on as fast as they could march: ‘Increase the pace. Tell the men they are marching to the sound of the guns. We must save the Emperor!’ Then he spurred forward with his only remaining cavalry, the 12th Chasseurs, de Ghigny’s old regiment.
5:45 p.m. – Aywiers
Zieten had been sitting on his horse at the crossroads of the Lasne and Plancenoit roads watching his column march past from the bridge nearby. There was a shout, and suddenly he had to defend himself from two French dragoons. His staff was cut down trying to defend him. His sword was beaten down, and a stab to his shoulder disarmed him. He waited for the killing stroke, but the dragoon merely laughed and said, ‘Tu es mon prisonnier, mon général! ’ Within twenty minutes Davout arrived with the head of Lobau’s 19th Infantry Division at the developing battle over the bridge at this little village. The dragoons had done their job of delivering a shock to the Prussians that the infantry could now exploit. French infantry cut the Prussian column in two; the bridge was now blocked.
6:00 p.m. – Centre of the Mont St Jean Ridge
The surviving gunners fired one last round of canister and fled back down the reverse slope to take refuge behind the British and German infantry. The Guard shook off the losses, closed ranks, and reached the crest of the ridge. The grenadiers and chasseurs then crossed over the side, their lead battalions on line. Just behind them came two horse artillery batteries. On the infantry left flank rode squadrons of the Guard Grenadiers à Cheval.
On the reverse slope Wellington had placed himself with the Guards brigade and had ordered them to lie down in the rye. He would never forget the sight of the bearskins of the Imperial Guard appearing on the crest and growing into the most magnificent military spectacle he had ever seen. He was disconcerted at what he saw as they began to descend the slope. He had thought, as they had done consistently in the Peninsula, that the French would attack in column, but here they were on line, the 1st Battalions of the 2nd Grenadiers à Pied and the 1st Chasseurs à Pied, each in three ranks on a front of almost 400 men. It was the first time since Fontenoy in 1745 that the Guards of France and England had met. It would be far less polite this time. When they were within twenty yards of the Foot Guards, Wellington shouted, ‘Now Maitland! Now is your time!’
