The Battle of Waterloo: Europe in the Balance (7 page)

A few minutes later orderlies began to rush off, carrying messages to various regiments in their camps scattered across the countryside around Brussels. Some units were to march at once towards Nivelles, others were to come to Brussels, others were to be ready to march at dawn but to await further orders before moving.

When Wellington himself emerged he was approached by the elderly earl of Malmesbury, who asked what was happening. ‘Napoleon is at Charleroi,’ Wellington replied. ‘He has humbugged me, by God. He has gained twenty-four hours’ march on me.’

Next to talk to Wellington was the duchess of Richmond, who asked if she should stop the ball. Wellington appeared shocked. ‘No’, he replied. ‘All officers obliged to ladies will finish their dances. There is no cause for alarm.’

There was, in fact, very good reason for alarm. Napoleon had gained the first victory of the campaign by getting between Wellington and Blücher. Napoleon was in a position to turn on Blücher and defeat him before Wellington could intervene. Wellington now accepted that Napoleon was invading the Netherlands with his main army, but he was still unconvinced that an assault up the main road to Brussels was really what Napoleon was up to. Wellington suspected that this was merely a feint. He still wanted to hear from Grant. A little after midnight Wellington went to bed.

Müffling wrote a report to Blücher stating that Wellington was concentrating his army at Nivelles and gave an estimate of what time particular units were be arriving there.

At 2 am Wellington was woken by a knock at his bedroom door. De Lancey put his head around the door and announced the arrival of the Brunswick cavalry commander Dornberg with news. Dornberg had finally read the message issued that morning instructing him to be alert for news from Grant. Dornberg at once realized that he had passed on Grant’s message the day before without saying who it was from. He had leapt into the saddle and ridden as fast as he could to Brussels to report and apologize to Wellington.

Wellington leapt from his bed and dashed to his office, still in his night shirt. He studied the map, then told de Lancey to order the entire army to march on Quatre Bras as quickly as possible. Senior officers were to be roused from their sleep and dragged to Wellington’s office. The need for speed was now paramount.

In the early hours of 16 June, Wellington rushed from his bed in Brussels to order the entire arm to march on Quatre Bras.

Marshal Ney – and French movements

As Wellington realized what a mess he was in, events from the French point of view things looked very good indeed. The march north was going well, and if it was falling slightly behind schedule that did not seem to be very serious. Napoleon’s cavalry had reported at lunchtime that Wellington had not yet moved his army. Indications were, however, that Blücher was concentrating his forces somewhere beyond Fleurus.

That suited Napoleon very well. If Blücher’s army was gathered together it could be destroyed before Wellington’s had gathered and could march to help. About lunchtime on 14 June, there was a new arrival at Napoleon’s mobile headquarters, at that point situated just outside Charleroi. This was Marshal Michel Ney. As he rode into the camp there were shouts and cheers from the soldiers as they recognized one of their favourite and most respected commanders.

It had been Ney who had advised King Louis to imprison Napoleon in an iron cage, and before that it had been Ney who had persuaded Napoleon to abdicate in 1814. His subsequent decision to join Napoleon as the emperor marched on Paris had done nothing to disarm Napoleon’s apparent distrust. The highly talented Marshal of France had been given no job to do. It was not until Napoleon had been leaving Paris that he had sent Ney a message telling him to hurry up and join his emperor if he wanted to be present at the first battles.

The message had given Ney no clue as to what – if anything – Napoleon would want Ney to do. Ney had thought to bring with him his favourite staff officer, Colonel Heymes, but had not had time to get his proper campaign steeds and arrived to see Napoleon mounted on a borrowed horse.

Napoleon greeted Ney with the words. ‘Bonjour, Marshal Ney. I want you to take command of my I and II Corps. Then you must go to Quatre Bras, drive away any enemy troops you find there and open up the main road to Brussels.’ Ney was amazed, but delighted. Pausing only to get hold of a proper cavalry horse and to collect an escort of light cavalry to act as bodyguard and messengers, Ney rode off.

As Ney left he had little idea where d’Erlon’s I Corps or Reille’s II Corps actually were. His first job was to find out, then lead them to Quatre Bras. He soon found d’Erlon at Jumet but found that much of his corps was spread out on the march. Ney issued orders to close up the troops into a more compact body and march to Quatre Bras. He sent out numerous messengers to try to find Reille. Napoleon had also given Ney the III Cavalry Corps, but they would not join him until late the following day.

Ney himself reached Quatre Bras at almost 10 pm. It was getting dark and he could not see the enemy position clearly. The French officers already there told him that the enemy was present with about one division of infantry plus a few guns and a small number of cavalry. Realizing that he could do nothing until daylight and reinforcements arrived, Ney went to Gosselies to sleep and await news of Reille.

Napoleon had, meanwhile, put Marshal Grouchy in command of the right wing of the French Army. That meant Grouchy had the III Corps (Vandamme), IV Corps (Gérard), I Cavalry Corps and II Cavalry Corps. Napoleon kept under his own command, as a central reserve, VI Corps (Lobau), IV Cavalry Corps and the Imperial Guard. His orders to Grouchy were to drive back the Prussians of Zieten’s Corps – and any others they meet – as far as Sombreffe.

Grouchy’s advance proved to be slower than Napoleon wanted due to the larger than expected size of the Prussian rearguard. By nightfall, Grouchy had got only as far as halfway between Fleurus and Ligny. Napoleon was not too upset, however, for all the reports indicated that a large part of the Prussian army was at Ligny, where it was isolated from Wellington and ripe for destruction.

At midnight Ney, Grouchy and Napoleon dined together in Charleroi. It turned out to be an unfortunate event for the French. Napoleon chose to criticize Ney for some of the minor movements he had made with his advanced units. Grouchy came away with the impression that Napoleon had been angry because Ney had not done exactly as ordered. He decided that he would do as ordered in future.

Napoleon told Ney and Grouchy that he would decide what to do next day as soon as the situation became clear. The two marshals left for their own headquarters and got some sleep. There would be a battle next day and they needed to be fresh.

Marshal Ney, 1769 - 1815

Chapter 4
 
‘The Prussians were very roughly handled’
 

Wellington in a letter to Lady Frances Webster, 16 June 1815
 

Although the main focus of attention was in the Netherlands, the war had actually already started hundreds of kilometres away to the south. Acting without orders and entirely contrary to the agreed plan of campaign, the Austrian commander in northern Italy, General Frimont, had decided to invade France.

Frimont’s move was unexpected, but it did make sense. He was concerned that Napoleon might decide to open the war with a lightning strike into Italy, and with good reason. Frimont’s army had just fought the campaign against Murat in Naples. The men were tired, stocks of ammunition were low and units were scattered on garrison duty.

Frimont knew that secret pro-revolutionary societies were active in the large cities of northern Italy – Milan, Turin, Genoa, Venice and elsewhere. These societies had promised to rise in support of Murat when he arrived so long as he brought them weapons. Assuredly they would rise if Napoleon entered Italy. If the reformists of the big Italian cities rose with success it was likely that the revolutionaries of the larger German cities would do likewise. That would make the positions of the Austrian Schwarzenberg and the Russian Tolly difficult or even impossible if the armies of the smaller German states deserted the alliance.

A quick victory in northern Italy could be achieved and at little cost – and it might turn the entire tide of the war. Frimont was right to be worried.

Frimont had two objectives in moving forward. First he wanted to seize the mountain passes, which would be easier to defend than the open plains of northern Italy. Second, he determined to probe the French positions to get some idea of how strong the French armies in the area actually were.

Frimont split his army into two. The I Corps under Field Marshal Radivojevich was to advance into France over the mountains close to the Swiss frontier. The II Corps under Count Bubna was to advance over the Mount Cenis Pass further south. The advance began late on 14 June. At first the Austro-Italian army encountered no resistance at all. For the next five days, while the entire Waterloo Campaign was being fought, Frimont’s forces advanced slowly along the difficult roads to get into southern France.

News of Napoleon’s move into the Netherlands reached Engelhardt and the German Corps on 16 June. Engelhardt got his men moving that afternoon, marching towards Arlon in the southern Netherlands. He was intending to threaten the right flank and rear of Napoleon’s advancing army. This might disrupt the French supply lines, or might persuade Napoleon to detach units from his main army to block the German advance. In the event, Napoleon did not receive news of Engelhardt’s advance until after the Battle of Waterloo was over.

British army in confusion

Back in the Netherlands, Wellington’s army had been reduced to a state of utter confusion. Three sets of orders had been sent out between 5 pm and 2 am during the night. In most cases, units had received their first orders during the evening. These had instructed units to gather at a divisional meeting place over night and to be ready to move at dawn. The second set of orders had told units to concentrate at Nivelles, or in some cases nearby. Most units had received these orders by the early hours of the morning, but some had not – since they had moved from their original locations in accordance with the first orders. The third orders had told all units to go to Quatre Bras as quickly as possible. Only a few units had received these orders by dawn since in most cases the messengers could not find them – either because they had moved, or because the messengers got lost in the dark or simply due to the confusion caused by so many units being on the move at once.

The result was that by dawn many units were without orders, many had not reached where they thought they were meant to be and others had no idea what they were supposed to be doing.

For instance, Captain Mercer of the Royal Horse Artillery had as his second set of orders to go to Braine-le-Comte and there to await Major MacDonald of the RHA, who would give him further orders when and if necessary. Mercer got to the rendezvous, though not without having lost his ammunition wagons. They turned up three hours later having taken a different road, but there was no sign of MacDonald. By lunchtime Mercer was still without orders, though thousands of men were streaming past him heading east. When he spotted General Vandeleur of the Dutch dragoons, Mercer rode over to ask advice. ‘I know nothing about you, sir,’ came the brusque reply and Vandeleur rode on.