Battle of Quatre-Bras

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Battle of Quatre-Bras
The Battle of Quatre-Bras, by James Wollen
The Battle of Quatre-Bras, by James Wollen
date June 16, 1815
place Quatre-Bras in Wallonia
output Allied tactical victory as the position is held; Strategic victory for the French, as a union of the Allies with the Prussians is prevented
Parties to the conflict

France 1804First empire France

United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom Netherlands Hanover Nassau Braunschweig
NetherlandsNetherlands 
Kingdom of HanoverKingdom of Hanover 
Duchy of NassauDuchy of Nassau 
Duchy of BrunswickDuchy of Brunswick 

Commander

France 1804First empire Michel Ney

United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Arthur Wellesley

Troop strength
approx. 21,000 men at the beginning of the battle, later reinforcements of 3,000 men approx. 9,000 men at the beginning of the battle, the final strength at the beginning of the counterattack approx. 25,000 men, around 9 p.m. approx. 34,000 men
losses

4,000 men lost, including 2,000 dead

4,800 casualties (other sources approx. 6,000 casualties)

Battles of the Wars of Liberation (1813-1815)

The battle of Quatre-Bras took place on June 16, 1815 as part of the coalition wars in what is now Belgium. In the small town of Quatre-Bras south of Waterloo , British, Dutch and German troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, defended the intersection there against the French troops of the Grande Armée under the command of Marshal Ney . At the same time, the Battle of Ligny between French troops of the Grande Armée under Napoleon and Prussian troops under the command of Field Marshal Blücher took place a few kilometers away. The fighting for Quatre Bras prevented Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, from fulfilling his guarantee that the allied Prussian army would come to the aid of an attack by Napoleon.

Napoleon's return from Elba

Napoleon had returned to France on March 1, 1815 from his exile on the island of Elba in the hope of regaining the imperial throne. On March 25, Prussia, Great Britain, Russia and Austria committed to mobilize their armies and put an end to Napoleon's hopes. All over Europe, troops were mobilized on an unprecedented scale to stop Napoleon. 700,000 men of the allies were planned for deployment in the field armies, and another 250,000 soldiers were to be deployed in the rear area. In order to avoid a unification of all armies against one another and not to experience a scenario similar to that of the campaign of 1814, Napoleon decided on a preventive military strike, expecting to be able to beat his opponents one after the other at eye level.

After the 128,000-strong Grande Armée, known as the “Armée du Nord”, on the night of 14./15. On June 15th, when the French border crossed north to the Kingdom of the United Netherlands , the first skirmishes between Prussian and French troops at Charleroi , Gilly and Gosselies took place. In the evening hours before Quatre-Bras there was a clash of French cavalry and Nassau infantry.

That night the 2nd Dutch- Nassau Infantry Division was ordered to take position at Quatre-Bras.

The morning before the battle

This Dutch-Belgian-Nassau infantry division occupied both the village of Quatre-Bras and an upstream leasehold. In a westerly direction the extensive forest was occupied, in an easterly direction behind a body of water, leaning against the edge of the forest, a defensive position was taken. The reinforcements of the Anglo-Allied army under Wellington had to march to their Prussian allies via Quatre-Bras on the road to Namur . On the morning of June 16, 1815, Wellington guaranteed Blucher at a meeting that he would support him as long as he was not attacked himself. Just to secure his left flank, Napoléon ordered Marshal Ney to conquer Quatre-Bras and to cut this line of communication.

The opposing troops

The commanders and subordinate soldiers are given, these figures being rounded.

The French

The 7th Infantry Division under Division General Girard (3941) was used in the Battle of Ligny .

  • 11th Cavalry Division L'Héritier (1900)
  • 12th Cavalry Division d'Hurbal (1700)

initially only the 2nd brigade of the 11th Cavalry Division was available, the other three brigades partially reached the battlefield only at the end of the battle

Between Quatre-Bras and Ligny

  • I. Corps Drouet d'Erlon these troops took part neither in this nor in the battle of Ligny, as they marched back and forth between the two battles for the whole of June 16 due to overlapping orders.

The Allies

  • 1st British Guard Infantry Division Cooke (4000)
  • 1st British Guards Brigade Maitland (1600) arrived on the battlefield after 5 p.m.
  • 2nd British Guards Brigade Byng (2300) arrived on the battlefield after 5pm
  • 3rd British Infantry Division Alten
  • 5th British Brigade Halkett (2500) arrived on the battlefield around 4 p.m.
  • 2nd Brigade of the King's German Legion (KGL) Ompteda (2100) arrived on the battlefield after 7pm
  • 1st Hannover Brigade Kielmannsegg (3300) arrived on the battlefield around 4 p.m.
  • 2nd Dutch-Nassau Infantry Division Perponcher (7700)
  • 1st Bijlandt Brigade (3300)
  • 2nd Bernhardt Brigade of Saxe-Weimar (4500)
  • 2nd light cavalry brigade van Merlen (1050) (available after the start of the attack, but normally subordinated to the Dutch cavalry division, whose other units were at Nivelles)
  • Army reserve
  • Picton 5th Infantry Division arrived on the battlefield around 3pm
  • 8th British Brigade Kempt (2600)
  • 9th British Brigade Pack (2600)
both formations arrived on the battlefield shortly after 4 p.m.
  • British cavalry
  • 1st Brigade under Somerset , 2nd Brigade under Ponsonby , 4th Brigade Vandeleur and 6th Brigade Vivian without much influence on the outcome of the battle, British cavalry reached the battlefield after 7 p.m.

The battle

Tactical map of the Battle of Ligny

Start of battle

The actual start of the battle was marked by the advance of the French in the early afternoon around 2 p.m., taking their bearings on the main road to Brussels. The widely dispersed and fanned Dutch-Belgian troops caused the French to move to the right. The target of the attack was nevertheless the capture of Quatre-Bras and thus the intersection in order to interrupt the line of communication with the Prussians. The evasion maneuver carried out by the 5th French Infantry Division under Bachelu was partially successful, which brought the French within sight of Quatre-Bras. But the simultaneous frontal attack of the 9th Infantry Division brought the situation, which should be avoided. The French troops now had the Dutch-Nassau troops posted in the forest under Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar on their flank. This threat should first be eliminated.

Both sides received reinforcements, the French from the 6th Infantry Division under Jérôme Bonaparte , the British from cavalry and the 5th British Division under Picton and the 4th Hanoverian Brigade. A little later, almost the entire Braunschweig corps reached the battlefield. Wellington let the Picton division lean against Quatre Bras, the Brunswick partly moved into the forest on the left flank of the French or took up positions in front of Quatre Bras. To stop the French infantry attack in front of Quatre-Bras, the Dutch-Belgian cavalry was used. Their attack was stopped by the French cavalry, the ensuing pursuit of the French cavalry was shot down by the British infantry.

Anglo-Allied Crisis

In order to end the bloody stalemate, Ney had his French troops rally and attacked Quatre Bras under massed artillery fire, accompanied by cavalry. While the British regiments held out, parts of the Brunswick infantry broke in. Counter-attacks by Brunswick cavalry did not bring relief either. In order to rally his soldiers and restore order, the Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg rode to this threatened point in front of Quatre-Bras. Before Quatre-Bras, he received a fatal wound. Although he was immediately taken behind the lines by three soldiers ( Corporal Külbel , Hornist Aue and Jäger Reckau), he succumbed to his injuries that same evening. The pursuit of the fleeing Braunschweig troops was carried out by the Piré cavalry division. Their attack collapsed again in the fire of British infantry, although the 42nd British Infantry Regiment (Black Watch) suffered heavy losses, while the 44th British regiment almost lost its flag.

In this critical situation, more Anglo-Allied reinforcements reached the battlefield. The 1st British Guard Division, next to it the 5th British Brigade under Halkett, the Nassau contingent and the 1st Hanoverian Brigade as well as artillery. Shortly thereafter, these troops reinforced the positions around Quatre-Bras. Since Ney could not expect reinforcements, as the French I Corps again changed direction to Ligny due to overlapping orders, he ordered a cavalry attack. The light French cloakroom should be spared, so only one cuirassier brigade was available. Their attack was now ordered by Ney. These cuirassiers reached the 5th British Brigade under Halkett, which was just in position. Their 33rd and 69th British infantry regiments suffered heavy losses, in part caused by an unfortunate order from the Prince of Orange, which took the 69th regiment in line by surprise and lost the troop flag, which was considered a particular shame at the time. The 33rd regiment fled to the Bois de Bossu, where it was personally collected by Halkett, wielding the regiment 's King's Color . Halkett's other squares held by the 30th and 73rd regiments held up. The French cuirassiers were almost able to take the crossing, and a breach had been made in the Allied defenses. But this French attack also collapsed in the fire of British infantry and artillery. The cavalry attack was not followed by an infantry attack, so the breach in the Anglo-Allied front did not result in the collapse of Wellington's army. At the same time, Ney was informed that his I. Corps should finally march towards Ligny to take part in the Battle of Ligny .

British counterattack

The British general attack, which Wellington had ordered after repelling the last French attacks, began around 6:30 p.m. The British Guards infantry fought their way into the forest on the left flank of the French, British infantry advanced south along the road from Brussels. In addition, Wellington received further reinforcements from the 2nd Brigade of the King's German Legion (KGL). The sheer bulk of the British troops pushed the French troops back. But the French cavalry, gradually arriving, prevented the worst.

The fighting ended after dark, with British forces remaining in possession of the battlefield.

Importance and Loss

Memorial of the Brunswick troops for their Duke Friedrich Wilhelm who died in the battle .

While the French troops had to record almost 4,000 men in sorts, this number was 4,800 in the Anglo-Allied army, with Wenzlik calculating sorts of up to 6,000 men in his book. Quatre-Bras is to be seen as a tactical British victory as the battlefield was claimed. Strategically, the French troops in front of Quatre Bras were able to prevent these troops from marching on to Ligny in support of the Prussian troops fighting there. Both armies were attacked separately. The idiosyncratic command of Marshal Ney also prevented a greater success in the Battle of Ligny , as the 1st Corps of the French Northern Army spent June 16 on the march from one battlefield to another. This is a situation like the one that occurred in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , when the French I. Corps marched back and forth between Jena and Auerstedt and was therefore useless. If Ney or the I. Corps had been able to intervene at Ligny - as Napoleon intended - the defeat of the Prussians at Ligny would have been more pronounced, which might have led to a different course of the campaign in 1815.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b after Wenzlik, p. 225 f.
  2. ↑ Bleibtreu, p. 64.
  3. ↑ Helmert / Usczeck, p. 342.
  4. ↑ Helmert / Usczeck, p. 337 f.
  5. ↑ Helmert / Usczeck, p. 337
  6. ↑ after Wenzlik, pp. 128 ff. And 206 ff.
  7. ↑ a b Ernst Carl Külbel : The last moments of our most noble Duke Friedrich Wilhelm near Quatrebras, June 16, 1815. Schweiger & Pick, Celle 1859.
  8. ↑ Bleibtreu, p. 61.
  9. ↑ Bleibtreu, p. 62.
  10. ↑ Wenzlik, p. 216.
  11. ↑ Adkin p. 101
  12. ↑ Hofschröer p. 303
  13. ↑ Wenzlik, p. 206 ff.
  14. ↑ Bleibtreu, p. 61 ff.

literature

  • Mark Adkin: The Waterloo Companion. Aurum Press, London 2001, ISBN 978-1-85410-764-0
  • Karl Bleibtreu: History and Spirit of the European Wars under Frederick the Great and Napoleon. Vol., No. 4, Friedrich, Leipzig 1893, reprinted by Agema-Verlag, Lünen, published
  • Heinz Helmert, Hans-Jürgen Usczeck: European Wars of Liberation 1808 to 1814/15. 3. Edition. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1986, ISBN 978-3-327-00042-7
  • Peter Hofschröer: 1815 The Waterloo Campaign - Wellington, his German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras. Greenhill Books, London 1998, ISBN 978-1-85367-304-7
  • Mike Robinson: The Battle of Quatre Bras: 1815 , The History Press 2009, ISBN 1-86227-290-5
  • Detlef Wenzlik: Waterloo I. 2., revised. and additional edition. VRZ Verlag, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-931482-04-6
  • Frank Bauer: Gneisenau im Feldzug 1815 (Small series History of the Wars of Liberation 1813–1815, H. 40), Altenburg 2015.

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 34 '16.8 "  N , 4 ° 27' 11.7"  E