Battle of Wavre

“ So much has been written on the Waterloo Campaign that, even in the smallest details, nothing new can be revealed; but the dazzling magnitude of the great battle itself has obscured a part of the campaign which is seldom studied—the battle against Thielemann, and Grouchy’s skilful retreat from Wavre. ”

“ Stulpnagel perceived that little good could come of an attack the successive steps of which had merged into a confused line, and resolved to withdraw to the shelter of the wood behind Point-du-Jour, leaving a line of outposts to watch the front edge. The cavalry took post behind the 122 infantry; and the French fearing to venture through the uncertainties of the night, the fighting on this side ceased.
Meanwhile, on the Prussian left, before Wavre and the Mill of Bierges, the fighting went on most vigorously. The darkness did not prevent the fury of the fight ”

“ I have chosen this tail-end of the campaign because little is known about it; because it serves useful lessons even for to-day; because the operations leading up to the battle round Wavre are of great interest; and because a campaign full of mistakes should be studied as carefully as a campaign free from error. From history we obtain experience, and experience teaches us how to act for the future. We learn how great men of old time fought their battles and managed their retreats ”

“ A timid pursuit is almost worse than none. Every nerve must be strained to make the most of the situation.
Yet, in history, how many instances are there in which pursuits have been carried out? What are the reasons which 155 account for so many battles ending without a pursuit? There are few instances, indeed, where it has been possible for the victor to follow up his victory as is advised in the books. To mention the most noted cases:—The pursuit of the French after Waterloo; the pursuit after Jena; the cavalry advance on Cairo after Tel-el-Kebir ”

“ Grouchy conducted a leisurely pursuit and engaged an insignificant part of the Prussian Army (The Battle of Wavre, June 18-19, 1815) , while the main body of the Prussians moved westwards and assisted in the overthrow of Napoleon at Waterloo.
(x) There should be favourable ground and a good line of advance for the Decisive Counter-Attack. In order, therefore, to overthrow the enemy, a position should not be chosen behind an impassable feature which neither side can cross. ”

“ Bulow commenced his march from Dion-le-Mont at daybreak, with Losthin’s Fifteenth Division as advanced guard. At 7 A.M. the Division reached Wavre, but the crossing of the bridges over the Dyle occupied a long time, and the passage through the town was hindered by a disastrous fire which broke out in the main street, through which the troops were marching. Great excitement prevailed, as it was feared that all the reserve ammunition waggons, parked in the town, were in danger. But the troops of the 14th Regiment of the line made great exertions, and were able to overcome the flames. ”

“ But the Allies, operating on six different lines, would be obliged to detach large forces to watch Suchet and Lecourbe, and to mask the great strongholds in their way. When they had approached Paris, their great armies would have been thus reduced to 400,000 men, far from their bases, and faced by the greatest soldier of modern time. The 6 campaign of 1814 would be repeated, but Napoleon would have 200,000 men at his back, and a powerful entrenched camp at Paris. Thus the Allies would in all probability be crushed in detail ”

“ But he stopped at Wavre, to fight, as he supposed, the whole Prussian army, thinking to do good service by keeping it from the main battle. Blücher outwitted him, and, leaving ten thousand men to deceive and keep him in check, hurried on to turn the scale. The fate of both contending hosts rested on the cloud of dust that arose on the eastern horizon, and the eyes of Napoleon and Wellington watched its approach, knowing that it brought victory or defeat. ”

“ Should the enemy have evacuated Namur, write to the general in command of the Second Military Division at Charlemont, to occupy this town with a few battalions of National Guards. It is important to discover what Wellington and Blucher mean to do, and whether they meditate uniting their armies to cover Brussels and Liège by risking the fate of a battle. At all events, keep your two Infantry Corps continually together, within a mile of each other, reserving several ways of retreat ”

“ To follow up his victory, to pursue the retreating force, and to leave no vestige of fighting power 73 in the vanquished, is the aim and object of every general who wins a battle. When the Prussians were defeated at Ligny, the advantage of vigorous pursuit with all the available cavalry and Lobau’s Corps would have been enormous. The whole aim of Napoleon’s strategy had been to crush the Prussians, and to prevent them from interfering with his attack on Wellington. He had found Blucher ready to fight at Ligny, and he had beaten him. ”

“ The French columns were too heavy for the Prussians, who were hopelessly outnumbered. The Twelfth Division gave way, and the French took the wood of Rixensart. 128 Stulpnagel fell back on his supports—the three battalions of the Eleventh Division and two batteries—and took up a new position behind the wood. Teste’s attack on Bierges was stoutly opposed by the two battalions posted there, and four battalions of the Tenth Division were brought up in support. On the Prussian extreme right, the cavalry brigades of Marwitz and Lottum—in all, twelve squadrons—occupied Chambre and secured the flank. ”

“ He had a great idea of the importance of winning Brussels: and defensive warfare was unworthy of his genius. He resolved to attack before the Allies should be concentrated. By the middle of June his available forces on the Northern frontier would amount to 125,000 men.
“He would enter Belgium: he would beat in turn, or separately, the English and the Prussians; then, as soon as new reinforcements had arrived from the depôts, he would effect a junction with the 23,000 men under Rapp, and would bear down upon the Austro-Russians.”1 ”

“ He brought me up the road north-east from Wavre. We left the car under dark trees; and he directed me to a hillock on the right. After an age of waiting, little dispersed flashes and reports came from the hollow in the dark in front. The Germans were getting into touch. It was the first time I had heard the mitrailleuse, like the ripping of rough canvas.
Answering flash and snarl came from a rough semicircle of shadow in front and on the south side of them. Larger guns came into action on the north, muffled behind slopes. There is little to see by day in a modern battle unless one takes part. ”

“ As a rule, a flank march, being away from the general line of advance or retreat, has necessarily to be made on lesser roads, and the difficulty of ample movement from one to another, or of rapid deployment or change of front, becomes prodigious. Blucher, if attacked during this march, would most probably have left one corps to detain the enemy, while he, with the other three corps, resumed his march towards Wellington; for to turn back would have been as dangerous as to advance. ”

“ But at three o’clock in the afternoon, the Prince of Orange, coming from the outposts near Mons, where he had seen Van Merlen, and obtained information of the attack on the Prussians and of their retreat, reported his intelligence to the Duke. Wellington was now satisfied of the true direction of the French attack, but he sent orders to General Dornberg at Mons to report at once any movement of the French in that direction. He then ordered his troops to concentrate at their respective headquarters. On the left, Perponcher’s and Chassé’s Divisions were to assemble at Nivelles ”

“ Cavalry alone, however, will effect little, if the enemy takes to rear-guard positions; it must be supported or accompanied by artillery and infantry. It must be remembered that, of the two sides, the vanquished are the more exhausted, and the greater the enemy’s anxiety to draw his troops clear of pursuit, the closer that pursuit must be. The French cavalry at Ligny, except Milhaud’s Cuirassiers, had had little to do.
The proportion of cavalry to infantry in an army cannot be laid down by any hard-and-fast rule. ”

“ After a long and fiercely-contested battle, both sides are exhausted; and there may be no fresh troops at hand to carry out the pursuit. There may be heavy rains, making the road impassable; there may be a lack of mounted troops. Most of Wellington’s victories in the Peninsular War were so dearly bought that his troops were far too exhausted themselves to think of pursuing the enemy. ”

“ At Gembloux, he might expect to meet Bulow’s Corps; and if so, the two could unite and use any of the four roads from thence towards Wavre. It would save a great deal of time if he could employ more than one road for his march, but he would have to make ample provision for guarding the rear of his columns, and it would be more difficult to protect three columns than one. He expected to be closely pursued the moment he began to retreat, but he would leave a strong rear-guard to cover him. ”

“ The two Corps retreated by the roads Tilly-Mont St 68 Guibert and Gentinnes-Mont St Guibert. Pirch’s Corps, arriving second, remained at Mont St Guibert for a time as rear-guard, to protect the cross-roads, and still further to steady the men; for the best troops are unsteadied by retreat. Zieten pushed on to Wavre, arriving at noon, and took his troops across the Dyle, halting at Bierges, about a mile south-west of the town. ”

“ The Prussian right wing had not been crushed; it retreated because its position was dangerous as soon as the centre gave way. The left wing, Thielemann’s Corps, was very firm. There was also the probable arrival of Bulow’s Corps by the Namur road. The Prussian army was still full of fight. No news from Ney had been received during the day. Napoleon was in entire ignorance as to the state of affairs on his left wing. Lastly, a pursuit by night, especially the pursuit of a still formidable enemy, is a most dangerous task. ”

“ In a few minutes, General Habert and 600 men were down. Attempts to force the barricaded bridge were beaten back with frightful loss, and the Division was placed in a very serious position. If they retreated, they came under the heavy fire of the Prussian batteries on the opposite heights; if they remained where they stood, the enemy’s sharpshooters would annihilate them; to advance was impossible. Gradually, they found shelter, company by company, under the walls of the buildings along the bank, whence they had just driven the Prussians. Vandamme was now deeply committed to the fight. ”

“ There must be cracking of whips, rumbling of wheels, cries from the drivers, and excitement among the animals, however quiet the troops themselves may be. If even half-a-dozen patrols had been sent out to gather information as soon as day broke, the French could not have failed to discover Thielemann’s retreat, and, having found it, they would not have had much difficulty in locating its direction. There seemed to be a fixed resolve to let the Prussians go free. ”

“ He proposed to gather the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Corps, the Imperial Guard, and Grouchy’s Cavalry Reserve, round the Capital, which would be garrisoned by 80,000 regular troops, mobilised guards and sharpshooters, strongly entrenched and governed by Davoût: and to concentrate round Lyons Suchet’s army of the Alps, 23,000 men, and Lecourbe’s Corps of the Jura, 8,000 men. All the great fortresses were strongly garrisoned; and Napoleon intended to let the Allies advance until they were surrounded with these powerful garrisons and faced by himself with 200,000 men. ”

“ And Gneisenau, who is credited with initiating the brilliant strategy of the retreat to Wavre, took care first of all to rally his men; for he must have feared a vigorous pursuit by the French, who, he supposed, would soon force Thielemann to withdraw.
The retreat of a defeated army in face of the enemy is one of the most difficult and delicate operations in war. The two chief causes of the success of the Prussian retreat from Ligny were the favourable darkness and Thielemann’s firm behaviour at Sombreffe. ”

“ The Reserve Cavalry Division, under Jacquinot, also attached to Gérard’s Corps, numbered 1608 men, so that the two together would only make a modern brigade. In artillery, the corps, for those days, were well provided; and each corps also had its own engineers, from 140 to 200 strong.
3. Chapter III. Pursuits after a Battle.—A general who wins a battle must make every effort to obtain the greatest possible advantages from his victory; he must closely pursue the defeated enemy with cavalry, artillery, and infantry; he must spare no one until the retreat has been turned into a rout. ”

“ If he had marched straight and swiftly on the cannon-thunder of Waterloo, he might perhaps have been in time to effect something in the nature of a diversion, although it is extremely improbable that he could have materially changed the fortune of the day; but instead, acting on the letter of Napoleon's instructions despatched to him on the morning of the battle, he moved on Wavre and engaged in a futile action with the Prussian 3rd Corps there. A shrewd and enterprising man would have at least seen into the spirit of his orders ”