Chapter XI · THE BATTLE OF LIGNY.

Marshal Blücher had taken up a position, which although in some respects determined by the nature of the ground, was nevertheless intended to secure two objects,—first, his line of communications with Namur, and an unobstructed march for his expected IVth Corps, Bülow’s, and, secondly, his avenue of communication with the Anglo-Dutch army, from which he expected to receive at least some assistance in the course of the afternoon. It thus came about that the centre of the Prussian army was at Sombreffe,—that the line of the right wing ran through the villages of Ligny and St. Amand in a south-westerly direction, and that that of the left wing ran from Sombreffe through the hamlet of Mont Potriaux to Tongrinelle and Balâtre in a south-easterly direction. This left wing consisted entirely of the IIId Corps, Thielemann’s. It contained 22,051 infantry, 2,405 cavalry, and 48 guns.339 The Ist Corps, Zieten’s held the front of the centre and right wing, and was supported by the IId Corps, that of Pirch I., throughout its whole extent. These two corps contained 56,803 infantry, 6,093 cavalry, and 176 guns.340 The right wing was “in the air”; it was possible to turn it completely, by way of St. Amand and Wagnelée. Behind Ligny and St. Amand, and on commanding ground, was the village of Brye. Blücher’s whole force thus consisted of 87,352 men, of whom 8,498 were cavalry,—with 224 guns.

Napoleon, having finished giving his orders shortly after nine, arrived at Fleurus about 11 A.M.341 He busied himself, while the troops were arriving, with examining the enemy’s position. From the tower of an old and disused windmill in the outskirts of the town he made, it is said, his first observations. Then he went,—without his staff, as his custom was before a battle,—partly on horseback and partly on foot, along the front of the enemy’s position, seeing for himself everything that could be seen. By the time the troops had arrived in the neighborhood of Fleurus, he had formed his plan. He had not, however, correctly estimated the numbers of the force opposed to him; the nature of the ground prevented his being able to see all the enemy’s troops.342

The more natural and obvious plan for Napoleon would have been to direct his attack upon the exposed Prussian right wing, and to operate in conjunction with the column under Marshal Ney, so far as that might seem expedient. By moving upon Wagnelée and Brye, he would turn the position of St. Amand, and almost certainly secure a victory. But Napoleon did not see in this operation any chance of inflicting a decisive blow.343 At most, he would only have defeated an exposed wing of the enemy’s army. There would have been nothing to prevent its falling back upon the centre and left wing. The Prussians would no doubt be worsted, but their defeat could hardly be of a character to cripple them. Nor would their communications be in the slightest degree imperilled.

What Napoleon determined on was an operation far more decisive. He saw that that part of the Prussian army which lay in the neighborhood of Sombreffe, Tongrinelle and Balâtre, placed there, as it had been, for the purpose of protecting the communications with Namur, would in all probability not dare to move from its position, and would accordingly not be able to take any active part in the battle. He would therefore have to deal only with that portion of the enemy’s army which lay between Sombreffe and St. Amand,—say, two-thirds of their entire force. He also saw that if the enemy’s centre, between Ligny and Sombreffe, could be broken, the Prussian right wing would be separated from the rest of the army, and that he might hope to overwhelm it. He saw also one other thing. If, at or about the time when this success should be obtained, a strong column from Marshal Ney’s command could march down the Quatre Bras-Namur turnpike and move upon Brye, that success would almost certainly be of the most decisive character.344 Attacked in front and rear at the same time, its connection with the rest of the army severed, surrounded by superior numbers, the utter rout of that part of the Prussian army was inevitable. (See Map 6.)

At one o’clock the French army had arrived, and was in and about Fleurus. The Emperor threw the 4th Corps, Gérard’s, about 16,000 strong,345 with 38 guns, far to the right, opposite the whole front of the village of Ligny; the 3d Corps, Vandamme’s, about 19,000 strong,346 with 38 guns, connected with the left of the 4th Corps, and, assisted by Girard’s division of the 2d Corps, about 4,300 strong,347 with 8 guns, menaced the Prussians in the village of St. Amand; while the cavalry of Pajol and Exelmans, to the number of about 6,500 men,348 with 24 guns, supported by Hulot’s division of the 4th Corps, observed the Prussian left wing,—stationed from Sombreffe to Balâtre. The Guard, with Milhaud’s Cuirassiers, in all about 22,000 men, with 102 guns,349 was kept in reserve, near Fleurus, ready to strike the final blow when the enemy in Ligny and St. Amand should have been sufficiently weakened by a continuous struggle of three or four hours. The whole force consisted of 67,787 men, of whom 13,394 were cavalry, with 210 guns.350 These dispositions consumed perhaps an hour or more. At 2 o’clock the chief-of-staff, Soult, wrote351 to Marshal Ney, informing him that, at half-past two Marshal Grouchy, with the 3d and 4th Corps, would commence an attack on a Prussian corps stationed between Sombreffe and Brye; that it was the Emperor’s intention that Ney should also attack the enemy before him; and, after having vigorously driven them, should fall back upon the main army to join in enveloping this Prussian corps, of which mention had just been made.

Then, at half-past two precisely, the battle began;352 Gérard vigorously attacked Ligny,—Vandamme and Girard, St. Amand. With equal vigor did the Prussians defend their positions. The engagement immediately became very hot, and very sanguinary. Both sides fought with singular determination. In less than an hour Napoleon was convinced that he had more than a single corps to deal with,—as he had written to Ney,—it was an army. The success, therefore, could be made more decisive than he had at first thought possible, if only at the proper time Ney’s coöperation could be secured. Without that coöperation, indeed, he was practically sure of victory; it was plain to him that the Prussians in the villages of Ligny and St. Amand and its neighboring hamlets, and on the heights in the rear of these villages, were becoming exhausted, and were suffering terribly from the fire of his guns, to which their position on the heights exposed them;353 he knew that when the proper moment arrived he could defeat them; but he wanted something more than a defeat; he saw that the rout or capture of this part of the Prussian army was a certain thing if Ney could only make that movement from Quatre Bras upon their right and rear, of which he had spoken in his 2 o’clock order. Hence at a quarter-past three Soult wrote to Ney again,354 urging him to manœuvre at once, so as to envelop the enemy’s right, and to fall on his rear. He told him that the Prussian army was lost if he acted vigorously; that “the fate of France was in his hands.” “Thus,” the order proceeds, “do not hesitate an instant to make the movement which the Emperor orders, and direct yourself on the heights of Brye and St. Amand to assist in a victory perhaps decisive.”

The officers who carried these orders had some thirteen miles to ride, about six miles on cross-roads, as far as Gosselies, and the remainder on the great Brussels turnpike, on which d’Erlon’s troops were marching towards Frasnes. Their errands could not have been performed in less than two hours,355 and as a matter of fact they required three hours. Napoleon could hardly have expected the first order to reach Ney much before 5 P.M., and the second hardly before 6 P.M. The distance from Quatre Bras to Marbais, where the road branches off from the Namur turnpike in the direction of Wagnelée, is nearly four miles. If then at 5 o’clock it should be in Marshal Ney’s power to execute the 2 P.M. order, his troops might be looked for or heard from in the direction of Marbais about 7 o’clock. If he should be unable to obey the 2 o’clock order, but should be able to execute the 3.15 order, his movement down the Namur road might be looked for about 8 o’clock.

The battle then went on with unabated determination and with heavy loss on both sides. Blücher reinforced his troops from time to time; in this way he exhausted his reserves; nearly all his divisions were brought under fire. Napoleon on the other hand was exceedingly chary of giving aid to the two corps engaged; he wished to keep his reserves as large as possible; at half-past five he had employed ten thousand fewer men than his adversary.356 At this time, also, the 6th Corps was well on its way from Charleroi. The hour was approaching, too, when Ney’s coöperation might be expected.

Up to this time Napoleon had remained in his position in front of Fleurus;357 it was a central position, and nothing had called for his personal superintendence elsewhere.

But now he prepared to strike the decisive blow. He determined to put in the Guard. He proposed to send to Vandamme the infantry division known as the Young Guard, and one of the two brigades of the division known as the chasseurs of the Guard;358 the other brigade of this division he would place at the disposal of Gérard. He himself, at the head of the infantry division of grenadiers of the Guard, known as the Old Guard, with all the artillery of the Guard, with Guyot’s division of the heavy cavalry of the Guard, and Milhaud’s division of cuirassiers of the line,—to take the place of Lefebvre-Desnouettes’ division of light cavalry of the Guard which was with the left wing under Marshal Ney,—prepared to carry the village of Ligny, and the commanding heights above and to the right of the village, thereby breaking the centre of the enemy’s line.

At this moment, however, word came from Vandamme that a column of the enemy was seen debouching from a wood some two miles away, and apparently marching on Fleurus. This was not the quarter in which the expected reinforcement from Ney was looked for. Curiously enough, Vandamme did not ascertain what this column was. Why he should not have done this it is not easy to see. Had he sent a patrol to find out who these troops were, time would have been saved, and time, at that hour in the day, was most important. The Emperor sent one of his own aides to ascertain the facts; and, pending his report, suspended the projected attack. The battle went on as before, but Blücher drew more and more from his centre and left wing to support his right at St. Amand and the neighboring villages.

In something less than two hours the aide returned. The troops which Vandamme had reported advancing were those of d’Erlon’s Corps.359 All anxiety was relieved. Napoleon naturally concluded360 that d’Erlon had been sent by Ney, and would immediately move on Brye. He instantly resumed the suspended movement.361 Before half-past seven, Vandamme had received his reinforcements, and had renewed the fight with energy. At the same time the Emperor, at the head of the grenadiers and cavalry of the Guard and of Milhaud’s cuirassiers, marched for the village of Ligny, of which the eastern portion was already in the possession of Gérard’s Corps. The Prussians, though fighting desperately, were speedily overcome; the village was carried; the brook of Ligny, a serious obstacle for both cavalry and artillery, was crossed on the bridges in the town; and at half-past eight o’clock362 the French troops, passing out of the northern end of the village, deployed on the heights lying between that village and Sombreffe, and ascended the plateau, the key to the field of battle, on which stood the windmill of Bussy. The Prussian troops which Blücher had allowed to remain on this part of the line offered a stout but ineffectual resistance. The old Marshal himself came up from St. Amand, where he had wrongly supposed that the crisis of the battle was being decided, and at the head of a body of cavalry fiercely charged the victorious French. In one of the encounters his horse was killed, he himself was badly bruised, and came very near being taken prisoner.

Meantime, the Prussians fell back from St. Amand and the neighboring villages, which were at once occupied by Vandamme. Brye, however, was held until midnight by Pirch I. with a strong rear guard, and Thielemann occupied Sombreffe and Point du Jour. The corps of Zieten, followed finally by that of Pirch I., retreated on Tilly, a town just north of Sombreffe, and in the direction of Wavre.

The Prussians lost363 in this battle about 18,000 men killed and wounded; and, a day or two afterwards, about 10,000 or 12,000 more, who would seem to have done their duty in the fight, abandoned their colors, and retired towards Liége. These men belonged to provinces which had formerly been part of the French Empire, and their sympathies were with Napoleon.364 The French captured some thousands of the Prussian wounded, and 25 or 30 guns. The French loss was between 11,000 and 12,000 men.365

The battle was over at about half-past nine. The 3d Corps established itself in bivouac beyond St. Amand and Wagnelée; the 6th Corps occupied the plateau of Bussy; the 4th Corps was on the right of the 6th, with one division at and near Potriaux. The Guard and Milhaud’s cuirassiers occupied a line behind these troops.366 At 11 P.M. the Emperor returned to Fleurus,367 where he established his headquarters.

All parts of the French army on the field had taken part in this action except the 1st and 6th Corps. The 1st Corps retired towards Frasnes soon after it had been seen. As for the 6th Corps, the order to Lobau, which was not sent until 2.30 P.M., could not have reached him in his bivouac near Charleroi till 3.30 P.M. He had eight miles to march before reaching Fleurus; he was then directed on Ligny, and he passed through Ligny, just after the successful attack of that place by the Imperial Guard, to his final position on the plateau of Bussy, between Brye and Sombreffe, where he arrived about 9.30 P.M.368 It has been considered singular, that when Lobau arrived at Fleurus, say, about 7.30 P.M.,369 he should have been directed on Ligny, apparently to support the movement of the Guard; whereas if he had been instructed to move on Brye by passing around St. Amand and Wagnelée it would seem that he might have struck the defeated Prussians in flank and rear, and accomplished substantially what Napoleon expected from Ney. But the withdrawal of the 1st Corps could only be explained by the supposition that Ney had encountered the English in considerable force; and under these circumstances Napoleon may have deemed it wiser to retain the 6th Corps as a reserve for the whole army.370

The battle of Ligny was a great victory, although it was not a decisive victory. Napoleon had diminished by one-third the strength of his opponent’s army, and had also driven him from the field. He had certainly achieved a great success. But the advantage obtained was not all that he had a right to expect. Had it not been for the appearance of d’Erlon’s Corps in the neighborhood of St. Amand, the attack by the Guard would have been made at half-past five o’clock, when there would have been sufficient daylight left to have made it possible to follow up the victory. On such a result as would have been obtained in this event Napoleon had a right to calculate, and that he did not obtain such a result was in no way his fault.371 For the purpose therefore, of estimating the adequacy of the Emperor’s measures to the task before him, and the danger which Marshal Blücher ran when he accepted battle, we should consider what would have been the result, if the attack of the Guard had been made two hours earlier than it was made, and there had been two hours of daylight in which to complete the defeat and to pursue the enemy.

As for the coöperation of Ney, that is a different matter. Napoleon could not know what resistance Ney might encounter; hence he could not calculate on his overcoming that resistance and sending a reinforcement to the main army,—he could only hope that Ney would be able to do this. If Ney should be able to keep off the English, all that Napoleon had a right to calculate on would be effected. Whether Ney could have accomplished more than he did accomplish will be considered in another place.

Owing, then, to the postponement of the attack on the Prussian centre caused by the unexpected apparition of a large body of troops (the 1st Corps), in a quarter where it threatened the French left, the victory of Ligny was by no means so complete as it otherwise would have been. Darkness came on before the Prussians, retiring from St. Amand and the neighboring hamlets, could be vigorously pressed. Nevertheless, the victory of Ligny had disposed of Blücher for thirty-six hours, at the very least. It gave Napoleon an opportunity of attacking Wellington the next day without danger of interference from the Prussians. And as this success had been achieved with no loss at all on the part of the 1st and 6th Corps and with a trifling loss on the part of the Guard, Napoleon was in excellent condition to take advantage of the opportunity thus presented. That is to say, the decision of Marshal Blücher to accept battle when he had collected only three-fourths of his army, and the inability of the Duke of Wellington to render him any assistance, had produced this result at the close of the second day of the campaign,—that one of the allied armies had been badly beaten, and that Napoleon was perfectly free to attack the other the next day with superior forces, most of which consisted of fresh troops.