Note 59 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
This force was never employed but in cases of great emergency. Had it been brought forward earlier and before the Prussians arrived, deployed into line out of range of our musketry, and supported by cavalry before that arm was so much cut up, certainly Napoleon would have stood a better chance. No doubt the attack ought to have been made earlier, or not at all.
The Duke says, “Had they forced our position, instead of taking advantage of it and pressing on they must have turned round to face the Prussians, who were at that time in great force pressing the enemy’s right and rear.”
Looking at the relative situations of Plancenoit, Mont-St.-Jean, and the French army, reckless as Napoleon had doubtless then become, it is still surprising he made the attack.