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Waterloo campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo
After the fighting at Quatre Bras (16 June 1815) the two opposing commanders Marshal Ney and the Duke of Wellington initially held their ground while they obtained information about what had happened at the larger Battle of Ligny. They received intelligence that the Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher had been defeated by the French Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Upon receiving this news Wellington organised the retreat of the Anglo-allied army to a place he had identified a year before as the best place in Belgium for him to be able to employ his reverse slope tactics when fighting a major battle: the escarpment close to the village of Waterloo.
On the 17th, aided by thunderstorms and torrential rain and before the arrival of Napoleon, Wellington's army successfully extricated itself from Quatre Bras and passed through the defile of Genappe. The infantry marched ahead and were screened by a large cavalry rearguard. The French harried Wellington's army, but were unable to inflict any substantial casualties before night fell and Wellington's men were ensconced in bivouacs on the plain of Mont-Saint-Jean.
After the fighting at Quatre Bras, the two armies settled down for the night. The Anglo-allied army on the field of battle and the French just to the south. The bivouac on the battle field of Quatre Bras, during the night of 16 June, continued undisturbed until about an hour before daylight, when a cavalry patrol having accidentally got between the adverse pickets near Piermont, caused an alarm in that quarter that was quickly communicated to both armies by a rattling fire of musketry, which, rapidly augmenting, extended itself along the line of the advanced posts. Among the first who hastened to ascertain the origin and nature of the engagement was Picton, who, together with other staff officers, as they arrived in succession, on discovering that no advance had been attempted or intended on either side, soon succeeded in restoring confidence. Similar exertions were successfully made on the part of the French officers, and as day began to break upon the scene, both parties resumed their previous tranquillity. In this untoward affair, the pickets furnished by the 1st Hanoverian Brigade (Kielmansegg's), and by the 3rd Brunswick Light Battalion (Ebeling's) were sharply engaged, and a pickets of the Field Battalion Bremen (Langrehre's) suffered considerably.
It was not long before Wellington, who had slept at Genappe, arrived at Quatre Bras, where he found Major General Sir Hussey Vivian, whose Brigade of Light Cavalry, consisting of the British 10th Hussars (Quentin's), of the British 18th Hussars (Murray's), and of the 1st Hussars of the King's German Legion (KLG, Wissell's), was posted on the left of that point with two strong pickets thrown out; one, of the 18th Hussars (under Captain Croker) on the Namur road, and the other, of the 10th Hussars, under Major Frederick Howard, in front — with a picket from the latter, under Lieutenant Arnold, on the right of the Namur road.
Vivian, on being asked what account he could give of the French, communicated to Wellington the result of his observations, which were necessarily very limited, as, with the exception of the firing that had taken place, as before mentioned, along the line of pickets, the French had continued perfectly quiet, and had as yet given no indication of any offensive movement.
Wellington then took a general survey of the battle field, and while sweeping the horizon with his telescope, he discovered a French vedette on some rising ground, in the direction of Fleurus, and a little to the right of the high road leading to Namur, apparently belonging to some picket thrown out from Marshal Ney's extreme right on the previous night, after the battle had ceased; or to some detached Corps placed in that quarter for the purpose of observation, and for the maintenance of the communication between Napoleon and Ney. Wellington had received no intelligence of Blücher; and, probably, judging from the advanced position of the vedette in question that whatever might have been the result of the Battle of Ligny, the Prussians could not have made any forward movement likely to endanger Ney's right, he came to the conclusion that it was quite possible that, on the other hand, Napoleon might have crossed the Namur road, and cut off his communication with Blücher, with the design of manoeuvring upon his left and rear, and causing him to be simultaneously attacked by Ney. Wellington therefore desired Vivian to send a strong patrol along the Namur road to gain intelligence respecting the Prussian Army.
A troop of the 10th Hussars, under Captain Grey, was accordingly despatched on this duty, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel the Hon. Sir Alexander Gordon, one of Wellington's aides de camp. As the patrol advanced along the road, the French vedette began to circle, evidently to give notice of the approach of an enemy, and then retired. This induced the patrol to move forward with great caution, so as to guard against the possibility of being cut off.
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Waterloo campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo AI simulator
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Waterloo campaign: Quatre Bras to Waterloo
After the fighting at Quatre Bras (16 June 1815) the two opposing commanders Marshal Ney and the Duke of Wellington initially held their ground while they obtained information about what had happened at the larger Battle of Ligny. They received intelligence that the Prussian army under the command of Prince Blücher had been defeated by the French Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Upon receiving this news Wellington organised the retreat of the Anglo-allied army to a place he had identified a year before as the best place in Belgium for him to be able to employ his reverse slope tactics when fighting a major battle: the escarpment close to the village of Waterloo.
On the 17th, aided by thunderstorms and torrential rain and before the arrival of Napoleon, Wellington's army successfully extricated itself from Quatre Bras and passed through the defile of Genappe. The infantry marched ahead and were screened by a large cavalry rearguard. The French harried Wellington's army, but were unable to inflict any substantial casualties before night fell and Wellington's men were ensconced in bivouacs on the plain of Mont-Saint-Jean.
After the fighting at Quatre Bras, the two armies settled down for the night. The Anglo-allied army on the field of battle and the French just to the south. The bivouac on the battle field of Quatre Bras, during the night of 16 June, continued undisturbed until about an hour before daylight, when a cavalry patrol having accidentally got between the adverse pickets near Piermont, caused an alarm in that quarter that was quickly communicated to both armies by a rattling fire of musketry, which, rapidly augmenting, extended itself along the line of the advanced posts. Among the first who hastened to ascertain the origin and nature of the engagement was Picton, who, together with other staff officers, as they arrived in succession, on discovering that no advance had been attempted or intended on either side, soon succeeded in restoring confidence. Similar exertions were successfully made on the part of the French officers, and as day began to break upon the scene, both parties resumed their previous tranquillity. In this untoward affair, the pickets furnished by the 1st Hanoverian Brigade (Kielmansegg's), and by the 3rd Brunswick Light Battalion (Ebeling's) were sharply engaged, and a pickets of the Field Battalion Bremen (Langrehre's) suffered considerably.
It was not long before Wellington, who had slept at Genappe, arrived at Quatre Bras, where he found Major General Sir Hussey Vivian, whose Brigade of Light Cavalry, consisting of the British 10th Hussars (Quentin's), of the British 18th Hussars (Murray's), and of the 1st Hussars of the King's German Legion (KLG, Wissell's), was posted on the left of that point with two strong pickets thrown out; one, of the 18th Hussars (under Captain Croker) on the Namur road, and the other, of the 10th Hussars, under Major Frederick Howard, in front — with a picket from the latter, under Lieutenant Arnold, on the right of the Namur road.
Vivian, on being asked what account he could give of the French, communicated to Wellington the result of his observations, which were necessarily very limited, as, with the exception of the firing that had taken place, as before mentioned, along the line of pickets, the French had continued perfectly quiet, and had as yet given no indication of any offensive movement.
Wellington then took a general survey of the battle field, and while sweeping the horizon with his telescope, he discovered a French vedette on some rising ground, in the direction of Fleurus, and a little to the right of the high road leading to Namur, apparently belonging to some picket thrown out from Marshal Ney's extreme right on the previous night, after the battle had ceased; or to some detached Corps placed in that quarter for the purpose of observation, and for the maintenance of the communication between Napoleon and Ney. Wellington had received no intelligence of Blücher; and, probably, judging from the advanced position of the vedette in question that whatever might have been the result of the Battle of Ligny, the Prussians could not have made any forward movement likely to endanger Ney's right, he came to the conclusion that it was quite possible that, on the other hand, Napoleon might have crossed the Namur road, and cut off his communication with Blücher, with the design of manoeuvring upon his left and rear, and causing him to be simultaneously attacked by Ney. Wellington therefore desired Vivian to send a strong patrol along the Namur road to gain intelligence respecting the Prussian Army.
A troop of the 10th Hussars, under Captain Grey, was accordingly despatched on this duty, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel the Hon. Sir Alexander Gordon, one of Wellington's aides de camp. As the patrol advanced along the road, the French vedette began to circle, evidently to give notice of the approach of an enemy, and then retired. This induced the patrol to move forward with great caution, so as to guard against the possibility of being cut off.