Prussian General Gneisenau's Account of the Waterloo Campaign

It was on the 15th of the month, that Napoleon, after having collected, on the 14th, five corps of his army, and the several corps of the guard, between Maubeuge and Beaumont, commenced hostilities. The points of concentration of the four Prussian corps, were Fleurus, Namur, Ciney, and Hannut; the situation of which made it possible to unite the army in one of these points, in twenty-four hours.

On the 15th, Napoleon advanced by Thuin, upon the two banks of the Sambre, against Charleroi. General Ziethen had collected the first corps near Fleurus, and had, on that day, a very warm action with the enemy, who, after having taken Charleroi, directed his march upon Fleurus. General Ziethen maintained himself in his position near that place.

Field-marshal Blucher intending to fight a great battle with the enemy as soon as possible, the other three corps of the Prussian army were consequently directed upon Sombref, a league and a half from Fleurus, where the second and third corps were to arrive on the 15th, and the fourth corps on the 16th.

Lord Wellington had united his army between Ath and Nivelles, which enabled him to assist Field- marshal Blucher, in case the battle should be fought on the 15th.

16 June 1815

The Prussian army was posted on the heights between Brie and Sombref, and beyond the last place, and occupied with a large force the villages of St. Amand and Ligny, situated in its front. Meantime only three corps of the army had jointed; the fourth, which was stationed between Liege and Hannut, had been delayed in its march by several circumstances, and was not yet come up. Nevertheless, Field-marshal Blucher resolved to give battle, Lord Wellington having already put in motion to support him a strong division of his army, as well as his whole reserve stationed in the environs of Brussels, and the fourth corps of the Prussian army being also on the point of arriving.

The battle began at three o'clock in the afternoon. the enemy brought up above one hundred and thirty thousand men. The Prussian army was eighty thousand strong. The village of St. Amand was the first point attacked by the enemy, who carried it, after a vigorous resistance.

He then directed his efforts against Ligny. This is a large village, solidly built, situated on a rivulet of the same name. It was there that a contest began which may be considered as one of the most obstinate recorded in history. Villages have often been taken and retaken: but here the combat continued for five hours in the villages themselves; and the movements forwards or backwards were confined to a very narrow space. On both sides fresh troops continually came up. Each army had behind the part of the village which it occupied great masses of infantry, which maintained the combat, and were continually renewed by reinforcements which they received from their rear, as well as from the heights on the right and left. About two hundred cannon were directed from both sides against the village, which was on fire in several places at once. From time to time, the combat extended through the line, the enemy having also directed numerous troops against the third corps; however, the main contest was near Ligny. Things seemed to take a favorable turn for the Prussian troops, a part of the village of St. Amand having been retaken by a battalion commanded by the Field-marshal himself; in consequence of which advantage we had regained a height, which had been abandoned after the loss of St. Amand. Nevertheless, the battle continued about Ligny with the same fury. The issue seemed to depend on the arrival of the English troops, or on that of the fourth corps of the Prussian army; in fact, the arrival of this last division would have afforded the Field-marshal the means of making, immediately, with the right wing, an attack, from which great success might be expected: but news arrived that the English division destined to support us, was violently attached by a corps of the French army, and that it was with great difficulty it had maintained itself in its position at Quatre Bras. The fourth corps of the army did not appear, so that we were forced to maintain alone the contest with an army greatly superior in numbers. The evening was already much advanced, and the combat about Ligny continued with unremitting fury, and the same equality of success; we invoked, but in vain, the arrival of those succors which were so necessary; the danger became every hour more urgent; all the divisions were engaged, or had already been so, and there was not any corps at hand able to support them. Suddenly a division of the enemy's infantry, which, by favor of the night, had made a circuit round the village without being observed, at the same time that some regiments of cuirassiers had forced the passage on the other side, took in the rear the main body of our army, which was posted behind the houses. This surprise, on the part of the enemy, was decisive, especially at the moment when our cavalry, also posted on a height behind the village, was repulsed by the enemy's cavalry in repeated attacks.

Our infantry posted near Ligny, though forced to retreat, did not suffer itself to be discouraged, either by being surprised by the enemy in the darkness, a circumstance which exaggerates in the mind of man the dangers to which he finds himself exposed, or, by the idea of seeing itself surrounded on all sides. Formed in masses, it coolly repulsed all the attacks of the cavalry, and retreated in good order upon the heights, whence it continued its retrograde movement upon Tilly. In consequence of the sudden irruption of the enemy's cavalry, several of our cannon, in their precipitate retreat, had taken directions which led them to defiles, in which they necessarily fell into disorder; in this manner, fifteen pieces fell into the hands of the enemy. At the distance of a quarter of a league from the field of battle, the army formed again. The enemy did not venture to pursue it. The village of Brie remained in our possession during the night, as well as Sombref, where General Thelma had fought with the third corps, and whence he, at day-break, slowly began to retreat towards Gambles, where the fourth corps, under General Bulow, had at length arrived during the night. The first and second corps proceeded in the morning behind the defile of Mount St. Guibert. Our loss in killed and wounded was great; the enemy, however, took from us no prisoners, except a part of our wounded. The battle was lost, but not our honour. Our soldiers fought with a bravery which equalled every expectation; their fortitude remained unshaken, because every one retained his confidence in his own strength. On this day Field-marshal Blucher had encountered the greatest dangers. A charge of cavalry, led on by himself, had failed. While that of the enemy was vigorously pursuing, a musket-shot struck the field-marshal's horse; the animal, far from being stopped in his career by this wound, began to gallop more furiously till it dropped down dead. The field-marshal, stunned by the violent fall, lay entangled under the horse. The enemy's cuirassiers, following up their advantage, advanced: our last horseman had already passed by the field-marshal, an adjutant alone remained with him, and had just alighted, resolved to share his fate. The danger was great, but Heaven watched over us. The enemy, pursuing their charge, passed rapidly by the field-marshal without seeing him: the next moment, a second charge of our cavalry having repulsed them, they again passed by him with the same precipitation, not perceiving him, any more than they had done the first time. Then, but not without difficulty, the field-marshal was disengaged from under the dead horse, and he immediately mounted a dragoon-horse.

On the 17th, in the evening, the Prussian army concentrated itself in the environs of Wavre. Napoleon put himself in motion against Lord Wellington upon the great road leading from Charleroi to Brussels. An English division maintained, on the same day, near Quatre Bras, a very severe contest with the enemy. Lord Wellington had taken a position on the road to Brussels, having his right wing leaning upon Braine-la-Leud, the centre near Mont St. Jean, and the left wing against La Haye. Lord Wellington wrote to the Field-marshal, that he was resolved to accept the battle in this position, if the Field-marshal would support him with two corps of his army. The Field-marshal promised to come with his whole army: he even proposed, in case Napoleon should not attack, that the allies themselves, with their whole united force, should attack him the next day. This may serve to show how little the battle of the 16th had disorganized the Prussian army, or weakened its moral strength. Thus ended the day of the 17th.

18 June 1815

At break of day, the Prussian army again began to move. The fourth and second corps marched by St. Lambert, where they were to take a position, covered by the forest, near Frichermont, to take the enemy in the rear when the moment should appear favorable. The first corps was to operate by Ohain, on the right flank of the enemy. The third corps was to follow slowly, in order to afford succour in case of need. The battle began about ten o'clock in the morning. The English army occupied the heights of Mont St. Jean; that of the French was on the heights before Plancehnoit; the former was about eighty thousand strong; the enemy had above one hundred and thirty thousand. In a short time, the battle became general along the whole line. It seems that Napoleon had the design to throw the left wing upon the centre, and thus to effect the separation of the English army from the Prussian, which he believed to be retreating upon Maestricht. For this purpose he had placed the greatest part of his reserve in the centre, against his right wing and upon this point he attacked with fury. The English army fought with a valour which it is impossible to surpass. The repeated charges of the old guard were baffled by the intrepidity of the Scotch regiments; and at every charge the French cavalry were overthrown by the English cavalry. But the superiority of the enemy in numbers was too great; Napoleon continually brought forward considerable masses, and with whatever firmness the English troops maintained themselves in their position, it was not possible but that such heroic exertions must have a limit.

It was half-past four o'clock. The excessive difficulties of the passage by the defile of St. Lambert had considerably retarded the march of the Prussian columns, so that only two brigades of the fourth corps had arrived at the covered position which was assigned to them. The decisive moment was come; there was not an instant to be lost. The generals did not suffer it to escape. The resolved immediately to begin the attack with the troops which they had at hand. General Bulow, therefore, with two brigades and a corps of cavalry, advanced rapidly upon the rear of the enemy's right wing. The enemy did not lose his presence of mind; he instantly turned his reserve against us, and a murderous conflict began on that side. The combat remained long uncertain, while the battle with the English army still continued with the same violence.

Towards six o'clock in the evening, we received the news that General Thelma, with the third corps, was attached near Wavre by a very considerable corps of the enemy, and that they were already disputing the possession of the town. The Field-marshal, however, did not suffer himself to be disturbed by this news: it was on the spot where he was, and no where else, that the affair was to be decided. A conflict, continually supported by the same obstinacy, and dept up by fresh troops, could alone ensure the victory, and if it were obtained here, any reverse sustained near Wavre was of little consequence. The columns, therefore, continued their movements. It was half an hour past seven, and the issue of the battle was still uncertain. The whole of the fourth corps, and a part of the second, under General Pirch had successively come up. The French troops fought with desperate fury: however, some uncertainty was perceived in their movements, and it was observed that some pieces of cannon were retreating. At this moment the first columns of the corps of General Ziethen arrived on the points of attack, near the village of Smouhen, on the enemy's right flank, and instantly charged. This moment decided the defeat of the enemy. His right wing was broken in three places; he abandoned his positions. Our troops rushed forward at the pas de charge, and attacked him on all sides, while, at the same time, the whole English line advanced.

Circumstances were extremely favorable to the attack formed by the Prussian army; the ground rose in an amphitheatre, so that our artillery could freely open its fire from the summit of a great many heights which rose gradually above each other, and, in the intervals of which the troops descended into the plain, formed into brigades, and in the greatest order; while fresh corps continually unfolded themselves, issuing from the forest on the height behind us. The enemy, however, still preserved means to retreat, till the village of Planchenoit, which he had on his rear, and which was defended by the guard, was, after several sanguinary attacks, carried by storm. From that time the retreat became a rout, which soon spread through the whole French army, and, in its dreadful confusion, hurrying away every thing that attempted to stop it, soon assumed the appearance of the flight of an army of barbarians. It was half-past nine. The Field-marshal assembled all the superior officers, and gave orders to send the last horse and the last man in pursuit of the enemy. The van of the army accelerated its march. The French being pursued without intermission, were absolutely disorganized. The causeway presented the appearance of an immense shipwreck; it was covered with an innumerable quantity of cannon, caissons, carriages, baggage, arms, and wrecks of every kind. Those of the enemy who had attempted to repose for a time, and had not expected to be so quickly pursued, were driven from more than none bivouacs. In some villages they attempted to maintain themselves; but, as soon as they heard the beating of our drums, or the sound of the trumpet, they either fled or threw themselves into the houses, where they were cut down or made prisoners. It was moonlight, which greatly favoured the pursuit; for the whole march was but a continued chase, either in the corn-fields or the houses.

At Gemappe, the enemy had intrenched himself with cannon and overturned-carriages; at our approach, we suddenly heard in the town a great noise and a motion of carriages; at the entrance we were exposed to a brisk fire of musketry; we replied by some cannon-shot, followed by a hurrah, and, in an instant after, the town was ours. It was here that, among many other equipages, the carriage of Napoleon was taken; he had just left it to mount on horseback, and, in his hurry, had forgotten his sword and hat. Thus the affairs continued till break of day. About forty thousand men, in the most complete disorder, the remains of a whole army, have saved themselves, retreating through Charleroi, partly without arms, and carrying with them only twenty-seven pieces of their numerous artillery.

The enemy, in his flight, has passed all his fortresses, the only defense of his frontiers, which are now passed by our armies.

At three o'clock, Napoleon had despatched from the field of battle a courier to Paris, with the news that victory was no longer doubtful: a few hours after, he had no longer any army left. We have not yet an exact account of the enemy's loss; it is enough to know that two-thirds of the whole were killed, wounded, or prisoners: among the latter are Generals Monton, Duhesme, and Compans. Up to this time, about three hundred cannon, and above five hundred caissons, are in our hands.

Few victories have been so complete; and there is certainly no example that an army, two days after losing a battle, engaged in such an action, and so gloriously maintained it. Honour be to troops capable of so much firmness and valour! In the middle of the position occupied by the French army, and exactly upon the height, is a farm, called La Belle Alliance. The march of all the Prussian columns was directed towards this farm, which was visible from every side. It was there that Napoleon was during the battle; it was thence that he gave his orders, that he flattered himself with the hopes of victory; and it was there that his ruin was decided. There, too, it was, that, by a happy chance, Field-marshal Blucher and Lord Wellington met in the dark, and mutually saluted each other as victors.

In commemoration of the alliance which now subsists between the English and Prussian nations, of the union of the two armies, and their reciprocal confidence, the Field-marshal desired, that this battle should bear the name of La Belle Alliance.

Christopher Kelly. A Full And Circumstantial Account Of The Memorable Battle of Waterloo. (London: 1836).