DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE WORLD

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 73, 15 November 1940, Page 2

DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE WORLD

(8) The Battle Of Waterloo

N March 11, 1915, a most curious thing happened in Vienna. The Austrian capital was then still a place for gaiety and laughter, and would remain so for another 100 years. Many things died in Vienna with Metternich, but Vienna could still laugh in 1815. But it was a different sort of laughter that Vienna heard in 1815, on March 11, The diplomats of Europe were assembled recarve the frontiers thrown into such a-tangle by the marchings and counter-marching of an insatiable French Emperor. Napoleon was in Elba, the diplomats could settle down to govern once again with diplomacy, the guns were temPporarily silent, and for a while the warweary peoples could see no figure looming over them to persuade them into battle. The diplomats settled down to it. Why They Laughed And then, surprisingly, cynically, shockingly, on March 11, they laughed. It was not the sort of laughter Vienna usually heard. Rather was it the sort of laugh the men of Versailles (excepting, of course, Woodrow Wilson) might have laughed if 1919 had found the Kaiser escaped from Doorn and rallying another group of armies. Everything was being managed most excellently. There had been some trouble among the rabble since the mad French had set a fashion in revolutions. Now it was possible to show the people that these departures from the ordinary only brought with them such calamities as Napoleon. But on March 1, when they were all assembled for the deliberations which would set this people against that, this nation over that one, this policy beside that policy, this plot against that intrigue, Talleyrand rose among them and announced that Napoleon had escaped from Elba. And they laughed. This exquisite humour, with which the men of diplomacy saw their diplomacy so humorously compared with reality, did not last long. The projected Treaty had to be held in abeyance. Napoleon must be stopped before the fun could begin again. They went into Ways and means. The Armies Compared As a result of their more practical deliberations two armies faced the army of Napoleon at Waterloo on the morning of June 18, 1815. In those short

monthes Napoleon had assembled a veteran force of 48,950 infantry, 15,765 cavalry, and 7,232 artillerymen with 246 guns. We who know the uses of newspaper, and telephone, and radio, and railways, might do well in these days to consider the implications of that feat, performed as it was while the Rothschilds were still secret with their idea that pigeons could be used for posting. No less busy, but with greater resources to call upon, had been the allies. From Vienna the Duke of Wellington travelled into the Netherlands to survey the forces he might be able to use in what was to be his first personal encounter with the rival general. When he finally drew up his forces opposite those of Napoleon, he had under him 49,608 infantry, 12,402 cavalry, and 5,645 artillerymen with 156 guns. He therefore had 67,655 men to Napoleon’s 71,974, and fewer guns. Although contemporary historians were careful to point out that only 24,000 men under . Wellington were British, another great was in the field under Marshal Blucher, who began the battle with 83,417 meh and 224 guns, while General von Bulow held 25,000 men ready to join him, Napoleon’s Strategy It is not possible in a few words to give a detailed account of the geography and strategy of a battle in which three able generals for several days performed an intensely intricate series of mancuvres. Briefly, the campaign resolved itself into the attempt of Napoleon to keep the allies separated, and the attempt of the allies at once to cover Brussels, smother Napoleon whichever way he turned, and still effect the necessary conjunction when the main battle should be joined.

Ligny and Quatre Bras Before Blucher and Wellington could decide on their plan of battle they had to wait and see what Napoleon’s intentions were. He was in a position to force this method upon them. He assembled his army behind a triple chain of strong fortresses on the Belgian frontier, and they knew him well enough to believe that this army would be organised to a pitch which would enable him to throw it out from any point in this chain in whatever direction he might choose. Wellington accordingly disposed his troops to screen Brussels, which was considered a strategic focal point from which Napoleon must be kept at all costs. Blucher occupied the banks of the Sambre and the Meuse from Liege to Charleroi. On Blucher, at Ligny, Napoleon pushed his centre and right, while Marshal Ney, with the left of the French

army, advanced on Wellington’s outposts at Quatre Bras. Here Wellington held 40,000 of the French army, just close enough to Blucher’s right flank to protect it from encirclement. Blucher faced the fiercest onslaught of the main French forces. Napoleon’s military skill won the day, but technically only. Blucher’s centre was pierced and he had to retire. However, the operation was performed successfully, and he fell back moving

slightly westwards to keep as close as possible to Wellington’s flank. Revelry by Night Meanwhile the other preliminary battle, at Quatre Bras, had gone against Ney. Ney had made his dispositions for the following day by June 15. On that night Wellington arranged the famous ball in Brussels. His cool head could see that it was no use to become excited until the allies knew exactly what technique their adversary would employ. Wellington had taken all precautions, and he thought they might as well enjoy the dancing. He remained at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball until 3 a.m. on June 16, and then rode out to Quatre Bras. With 16,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 28 guns, Ney began the battle at 2 p.m. Added to his forces later in the day were 5,000 splendid heavy cavalry under Kellerman, but one of the major errorg

of Napoleon’s strategy deprived him of the men who would have made his force up to 40,000 and possibly won the day before Wellington could concentrate a sufficient force to oppose him. Half of his nominal command of 40,000 men was under the Count d’Erlon, who received instructions to march to the aid of the Emperor in the engagement with the Prussians. The Count spent most of his time during these engagements marching to and fro well behind the lines in answer to contradictory orders. So Ney failed, and the British infrantrymen held the day. Although Blucher had retreated on this flank the French had also failed there. Blucher retired in good order and used the direction of his retreat to improve his communications with Wellington. On June 17 Wellington had word of this movement by Blucher, and himself began a retreat, abandoning the position at Quatre Bras. He retired on the village of Mont St. Jean, twelve miles from where Blucher had re assembled his army at Wavre. Napoleon’s Plan Develops Napoleon now switched the direction of his advance westwards, effected a junction with Ney, who had been enabled by Wellington’s retirement to pass (Continued on next page)

IARY

(Continued from previous page) through Quatre Bras, and sent Marshal Grouchy, with 32,000 men and 96 guns, to cut off the Prussians, whom he wrongly imagined to be in flight. Napoleon’s plan was now coming to a head, but Wellington still foresaw ail contingencies, and still refused to retreat further towards Blucher and leave open the road to Brussels. The initiative was still with Napoleon. Grouchy, he considered, would put the Prussians finally to flight while he himself made a frontal attack to annihilate Wellington in direct combat. But he reckoned without Blucher and without the discipline of the British forces under Wellington. Napoleon himself had never previously met the English in battle. He had heard of them from his Marshals, who discovered tl:eir mettle when Wellington led them through the Peninsula campaign in Spain. But Napoleon could not believe that there was anything to equal the magnificent fighting spirit of his veteran French soldier. He was wrong, and it cost him his Empire for the second time. Poor Grouchy! By June 18 Blucher at Wavre had been reinforced by the army under Bulow. This fact still further discounted Napoleon’s estimate of the state of the Prussian army. Blucher led the. Prussians; hate for the French who had ravaged Europe spurred them on;- and Bulow reinforced them. Poor Grouchy! At all costs he must keep Blucher and Wellington separated. But Blucher and Wellington knew that at all costs they must come together. Communications were by no means efficient, but Blucher well knew what was required of him. Under Thielman he left behind him at Wavre a detachment which would have to sacrifice itself to keep Grouchy out of the main battle. The main body of his army, with Bulow’s, he started out on the twelvemile march towards the field’ of Waterloo, near Mont St. Jean. Thielman was left with about 17,000 men when the morning of June 18 saw Blucher set out to join Wellington. Thielman held his ground during the day and Grouchy made the final mistake of the battle. On the 17th he had the impréssion, which he communicated to Napoleon, that Blucher had been retreating in a more easterly direction towards Maestricht. On the eighteenth he attacked at Wavre, quite unaware of Blucher’s flanking movement westwards towards Mont St. Jean. Early on that day Napoleon learned independently of the presence of Prussians at Wavre and ordered Grouchy to engage them without delay. Grouchy was to hinder Blucher from moving westwards, but was to work westwards himself so that Napoleon could bring his whole army to bear in the main battle while Blucher was still recovering, or so Napoleon thought, from the "defeat" at Ligny and the second blow which Grouchy was to strike. Blucher Struggles On Grouchy ignored these instructions and allowed himself to be taken eastwards, away from the main battle. Thielman held him thus, while Blucher

struggled with his army through rains and mud to help Wellington. Contemporary’ military opinion, viewing the magnificent defensive stand of Wellington’s troops at Waterloo, had it that Napoleon would have done no better if Grouchy’s men had been available to him. To this extent Grouchy is absolved from responsibility for loss of the battle; but the fact remains that he quite failed to hinder Blucher,; when Blucher’s army in the mud, with its heavy transport, could easily have been hindered; and instead allowed himself to be occupied in the wrong place, moving in the wrong direction, by Thielman’s inferior force. On the field of Waterloo itself, while Grouchy was attacking Thielman and Blucher was marching westwards, a most bloody battle was being fought. The Field of Waterloo The field of Waterloo is a valley between rolling hills. Napoleon drew up his army on one side and spent the day charging them across to the other and up at Wellington’s lines on the rising ground opposite. This was the method dear to his heart. He inspired his troops to a state of courage in which they would throw themselves for his sake against any obstacle. Thus inspired, he used them as machines. He knew the strength of his enemy, calculated the probable loss on each side in each engagement, and when battle was finally joined he decided its result in advance by a _ callously efficient process of military arithmetic. He believed he had enough men to throw Wellington back off the hills. Minute after minute, hour after hour, on that long day he threw his troops across the valley to charge the British positions. Each time they charged, and made some ground, and each time what was left of them was thrown back into the valley to be decimated once again by the British artillery. Charging the Squares When the French horse charged the British formed squares against which horse and man threw themselves with

impotent courage. When the cavalry wheeled to retreat the British horse cut into them, and when they rode back the British artillery, posted well forward, and abandoned temporarily at each charge, was manned again to mow down the French before they could gather themselves for another onslaught. When the French infantry attempted to follow the cavalry the British squares became lines of battle; even the veteran French soldier could not stand when his charge was met by a charge of bayonets used expertly by soldiers handling their favourite weapon. It is a moot point which side displayed the greater courage. For the French there was the reckless, planned, self-slaughter against the cold steel of the defence. For the British there was the strain of holding formation all the day long and waiting with closed ranks for

the charges they could see coming at them. Battered by each successive. charge, mown down by artillery fire, they held formation in perfect discipline, with Wellington confidently waiting for these blood spilling French attacks to lose their force. The Prussians Arrive Near the end of the day, Napoleon was forced at last to realise that a strong body of Prussians was coming up to reinforce Wellington. Between seven and eight o'clock, dissuaded from leading them himself, he placed Ney at the head of the Old Guard, held in reserve for just such a moment, and ordered them to make a final desperate charge. The British lines were thin now. They held only because Wellington had ordered them to hold at all costs. Waiting was his indispensable method. He could do nothing else. But now the Prussians had come up close enough to demand battle of Napoleon’s flank. The Young Guard was despatched to hold them while the French attacked the British centre. Here a detachment of Germans, drawn up in squares in anticipation of a cavalry charge, was cut to pieces by grape-shot from French guns posted hardly one hundred paces away. Here Wellington saved the day by rallying Brunswick troops to their aid before the centre position could be forced by the now desperate French. Meanwhile, the French Imperial Guard had attacked Wellington’s right flank. The pressure on the centre remained fearfully intense. The fight here might go any way. If the Imperial Guard succeeded on the flank it was certain that the centre would also succumb. "Up Guards and At ‘Em! " The Imperial Guard advanced on a position which, it so happened, was held by troops of British Guard regiments. Here the pick of the two armies wes meeting, the one under Ney himself, the other under Wellington, who had ridden round to this post after rallying the troops at the centre.

The Imperial Guard advanced in columns, steady under the fire from the British artillery. They came pace by pace up the hill in front of the British position, overtopped it, and at a range of fifty paces were met by a fierce volley from troops roused by Wellington’s now legendary cry. Their officers endeavoured to deploy the French, but it was too late. The British Guards had been lying down and sufprised the French as they topped the rise. The British bayonet charge broke the Imperial Guard into disorder, and the first column streamed back into the valley. The second column marched into heavy frontal artillery fire with rifle fire from British infantry flanking it, and it could not stand. It broke in disorder, and its retreat carried it back among the troops who were still assailing the British centre. Seeing these veterans in flight, these other Frenchmen also began to waver. The British Line Advances Napoleon saw the danger of the situation, and prepared to throw into the battle some reserve battalions. But Wellington had made his men wait long enough. Now he saw his opportunity. The approach of the Prussians had covered his left flank. He was able to withdraw reserves of horse, fresh and untired, from that quarter. This cavalry succeeded against the French horse and the way was cleared for the infantry to advance. The French army was now driven entirely into disorder. The British troops completed the victory on their front. The Young Guard was forced to give ground to the advancing Prussians and the whole array became a rout. The British were in no mood to pursue, but the Prussians gave the French no chance of rallying. When they at last ceased their pursuit the French were frantically attempting to cross the Sambre, which they had bridged with such high hopes not one hundred hours before. The Reckoning The battle was over and those who remained on the field were at last able to give way to their emotions, forgotten during a battle which had raged intensely throughout the day. Of Wellington’s army 15,000 men were killed and wounded. Seven thousand Prussians fell at Waterloo. No returns were ever made of the extent of the French losses. But France had been following her Napoleon to the wars ever since he had assumed command of the French armies in Italy in 1796. In Austria, in Egypt, in the Netherlands, in Spain, in Russia, the flower of French manhood had spilled its blood for him. At Waterloo, the last of them, all veterans of 20 years of fierce warfare, assembled for a final throw in the game which Napoleon played. And at Waterloo those that were left of them were sent running. The peace of Europe had been secured for a generation, but the price was high, and there were still to come on the European scene a Bismarck, a Wilhelm, and a Hitler. : (Series concluded)