Battle of Wavre

Battle of Wavre

Part of: Summer Campaign of 1815 ( Sixth Coalition War )

date	June 18 to June 19, 1815
place	Wavre in Wallonia
output	Tactical victory of the French (expulsion of the Prussian troops) Allied strategic advantage (Grouchy's union with Napoleon at Waterloo was prevented)
consequences	24,000 Prussian troops kept 34,000 French troops away from the battle of Waterloo

Parties to the conflict
France	Prussia
Commander
Emmanuel Grouchy	Johann Thielmann Carl von Clausewitz
Troop strength
around 34,000 men	around 19,000 men, on June 19, 24,000 men
losses
approx. 2,200 casualties	approx. 3,200 casualties

The Battle of Wavre was one of the last battles of the Napoleonic Wars . It occurred from June 18 to June 19, 1815 between the Prussian rearguard under Johann Adolf von Thielmann and a French force under Emmanuel de Grouchy . The Battle of Wavre gained its importance from the fact that the Prussian troops ultimately kept over 30,000 French soldiers away from the Battle of Waterloo and thus made the defeat of Napoléon possible.

The opposing troops

The officers in command and the subordinate crew strengths are listed.

The French Associations

The command of Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy were under total of about 34 000 men of the following troops:

• III. French Army - Corps Vandamme (13 500)

• 8th Infantry Division Lefol (5 500)
• 10th Habert Infantry Division ( 4,100 )
• 11th Berthezène Infantry Division ( 3,900 )

• IV Army Corps Gérard (13 400)

• 12th Pécheux Infantry Division (4,000)
• 13th Vichery Infantry Division ( 4,100 )
• 14th Hulot Infantry Division (4,000)
• 6th Cavalry Division Vallin (1,300)

• 21 Infantry - Division Test (3200); removed from the VI.Korps and as General Reserve added
• 2nd Cavalry Corps Exelmans (2 550)

• 9th Strolz Cavalry Division (1 550)
• 10th Chastel Cavalry Division (1,000)

• 1st Cavalry Corps Pajol ( 1,200 ); free to take the initiative

• 4th Soult Cavalry Division (1 200)

The Prussian troops

• III. Army Corps Lieutenant General von Thielmann; originally about 27,000 men, after the battle of Ligny possibly only 24,000 men

• 9th Infantry Brigade Major General v. Borcke (approx. 7,000); 5,000 men of the brigade had mistakenly followed the I and II Corps and did not take part in the battle until June 19
• 10th Infantry Brigade Major General v. Krauseneck (approx. 3,900)
• 11th Infantry Brigade Colonel von Luck (4,000)
• 12th Infantry Brigade Colonel v. Telescopic nail (5 900)
  • 30th Infantry Regiment
  • 31st Infantry Regiment
• Cavalry Corps Major General v. Hobe (2,850)

• 1st Brigade Colonel vd Marwitz (800)
• 2nd Brigade Colonel v. Lottum (1 050)

• Artillery of the III. Corps Colonel v. Monhaupt

Although four so-called infantry brigades were subordinate to each of the corps, these were rather French divisions .

Since it did not have to withstand the main attack of the French offensive in the battle of Ligny , the III. Prussian corps suffered fewer losses than the other two Prussian corps; its strength was probably only 3,000 men.

After the battle of Ligny

After the Prussian troops had been defeated in the Battle of Ligny, they had to withdraw, sometimes in disorder. Grouchy was commissioned by Napoleon to pursue the withdrawing Prussian associations. The hesitant persecution by the French troops enabled the Prussian army to regroup and march off towards Waterloo on Blücher's orders . While the I. Corps under von Zieten and the II Corps under von Pirch set off from Wavre to Waterloo, the IV Corps under General von Bülow marched in front of these two corps. The III. Corps under Lieutenant General von Thielmann, fanned out between Wavre (23 battalions), Bierges (9 battalions) and Limal, formed a locking position that was supposed to thwart the French persecution.

On June 17th, the bulk of the French troops marched under Grouchy about 15 kilometers. The persecution began at around 10:00 am on June 18. From 11.30 a.m. the cannon thunder of the Battle of Waterloo began. Although Gérard urged Grouchy to hurry up there, the latter obeyed his orders and continued the march on Wavre.

The battle

The beginning of the battle on June 18th

Shortly after the French armed forces came into contact with Prussian associations, the III. French corps under Vandamme Wavre; followed by the II Cavalry Corps under Exelmanns. The commander of the III. French corps subsequently ordered several attacks on the city of Wavre, which was occupied by Prussian light infantry. All attacks over the stone bridge on the Prussian positions were repulsed. Additional attacks on the Prussian positions at Bas-Wavre by and at Bierges also failed.

Grouchy's further action

Meanwhile, Grouchy received an order from his emperor to march off immediately and intervene in the fighting at the Battle of Waterloo . In fact, Grouchy also ordered some units of the IV Corps to march off and carry out this order. Nevertheless, Vandamme continued to attack in front of Wavre, a total of more than a dozen assault attacks by French infantry over the Wavre bridge. These fights lasted after dark until around 11 p.m.

The battles for Limal

At around 6 p.m. the French 1st Cavalry Corps reached Limal, which was only defended by a Prussian infantry regiment and a few cavalry. The attack by the French cavalry threw the Prussians out of Limal, over whose bridge other French troops (including the Reserve Division under Teste) advanced. But Prussian troops were also sent to reinforce Limal, and von Thielmann tried to form a coherent defensive front. A first Prussian counterattack, which was initiated after dark, was also intercepted. In return, the French troops expanded their area of ​​influence beyond Limal. As a result, the III. Prussian Corps was separated from the Anglo-Allied Army and the Prussian Army.

The battle continued on June 19th

After the Prussian troops received further reinforcements (including the rest of the troops) on the night of June 19, they began a surprise attack on the French before dawn. These were in the superior force and started a counterattack on Marshal Grouchy's orders with artillery support. This attack was followed by other attacks, which ultimately led to the Prussians having to leave the battlefield. Following the battle, Grouchy learned of the defeat of his emperor at the Battle of Waterloo, whereupon he gave the order to withdraw the troops to France.

Losses and importance

The battle ended in a French victory as the Prussian troops were driven from the battlefield. However, the fighting at Wavre prevented the French units from intervening in the battle of Waterloo, which could have saved Napoleon from defeat. The fighting on June 18 and 19 had killed 3,200 Prussian troops, while the French lost 2,200 soldiers.

literature

Fiction

• Stefan Zweig : The world minute from Waterloo , pp. 115–129. In: Ders .: Great moments of mankind . Reclam, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-15-020296-8 (EA Leipzig 1927)

Non-fiction

• Georg Bruce: Harbottle's dictionary of battles . 2nd edition Granada Books, London 1979, ISBN 0-246-11103-8 .
  • German: Lexicon of battles. Styria, Cologne 1984, ISBN 3-222-11484-6 .
• Detlef Wenzlik: Waterloo . 2., revised. and additional edition. VRZ Verlag, Hamburg 2008.

1. 2008, ISBN 978-3-931482-04-6 .
2. 2008, ISBN 978-3-931482-11-4 .

• Karl Bleibtreu : History and Spirit of the European Wars under Frederick the Great and Napoleon . Salzwasser-Verlag, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-86382-676-5 (unchanged reprint of the Leipzig edition 1893).
• Klaus-Jürgen Bremm : In the shadow of disaster. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2003, ISBN 3-8334-0458-2 .
• Frank Bauer: Gneisenau im Feldzug 1815 (Small series History of the Wars of Liberation 1813–1815, H. 40). Altenburg 2015.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Georg Bruce: Harbottle's dictionary of battles . 2nd edition Granada Books, London 1979, ISBN 0-246-11103-8 , p. 239.
2. ↑ Wenzlik, Waterloo II, S. 60th
3. ^ ^{A b} Karl Bleibtreu: History and spirit of the European wars under Frederick the Great and Napoleon . Salzwasser-Verlag, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-86382-676-5 , p. 82.
4. ↑ Wenzlik, Waterloo I, S. 125 and 251st
5. ^ Karl Bleibtreu: History and Spirit of the European Wars under Frederick the Great and Napoleon . Salzwasser-Verlag, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-86382-676-5 , p. 71.
6. ↑ Wenzlik, Waterloo II, p. 50 f.
7. ↑ Wenzlik, Waterloo II, S. 54th
8. ↑ Klaus-Jürgen Bremm: In the shadow of disaster. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2003, ISBN 3-8334-0458-2 , p. 249.
9. ↑ Wenzlik, Waterloo II, S. 61st
10. ↑ Contents: Frederick the Great and the Revolution. - The Napoleonic wars for world domination. - The Wars of Liberation. - Wellington.