Of Living Valour: The story of the soldiers of Waterloo by Barney White-Spunner

Author:Barney White-Spunner [White-Spunner, Barney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

5

18 JUNE 1815

Afternoon and Evening

It was now three p.m. It was hot, stiflingly hot, the unwashed soldiers slowly steaming in the sun, the still-sodden ground, the trampled corn, the gunpowder and the wounded giving off a particular stench. Napoleon’s main attack had failed, and as he had been committing d’Erlon’s corps he had received the unwelcome news that the Prussians had been sighted. Looking to his right, the Emperor had seen troops himself, in the far distance around Chapelle St Robert. At first he may have thought it was Grouchy, to whom Soult had been sending increasingly urgent messages to march to join their right wing, but at 1.15 p.m. a Prussian prisoner was brought in who confirmed that the dark figures emerging from the woods were the advance elements of Bülow’s IV Corps, which was leading Blücher’s march. Lobau’s cavalry were consequently despatched east by the Emperor, to be followed by the rest of Lobau’s corps. By now Prussian cavalry patrols from Schwerin’s 1st Cavalry Brigade were well across the River Lasne and were beginning to encounter Lobau’s cavalry in the Bois de Paris. Schwerin himself was killed in one of the first engagements.

The appearance of the Prussians gave Napoleon two problems. First, he had to despatch much of his uncommitted infantry, namely Lobau’s corps, to block them, which meant these troops were no longer available to Ney for the main assault. Secondly, he realised that he had to force Wellington’s position before Blücher joined up with him. He still had several hours, as it would take at least that long for the Prussian main body to come up, but it imparted an urgency to French attacks that had previously followed a more leisurely timetable. Napoleon must also have realised that Grouchy was in danger of failing him, and that he could no longer rely on his 30,000 men, although in his memoirs he is at pains to point out that Lobau’s orders were to hold the Prussians until he heard Grouchy come up behind them.

Although there was a lull whilst d’Erlon’s shattered divisions tried to regroup themselves, the intensity of the fighting at Hougoumont increased. 3 At about two p.m. Tissot’s men had brought up a howitzer, and started shelling the château and the farmyard buildings, setting them on fire. Mathew Clay, having just got back inside the farmyard before the north gate was closed by Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonnell, had been sent to man one of the upstairs rooms in the château; from here they were able to take well aimed shots at the French infantry still milling around between the wood and the walls. Soon French shells were landing against the building, and the room from which he was firing was set on fire. ‘Our officer placed himself at the entrance of the room and would not allow anyone to leave his post until our positions became hopeless and too perilous to remain. We fully expected the floor to sink with us every moment and in our escape several of us were more or less injured’, Clay recalled.

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