Battle of Quatre Bras

Background

Napoleon crossed the Sambre at Charleroi on 15 June 1815, aiming at the seam between Wellington's Anglo-allied army, cantoned around Brussels, and Blücher's Prussians to the east. Quatre Bras, where the Charleroi–Brussels road crosses the road from Nivelles to Namur, was the lateral link between the two armies: whoever held it could keep them together or apart.

Wellington was slow to see where the blow was falling, and his orders to concentrate pointed his army at Nivelles rather than the crossroads. His Dutch-Belgian subordinates acted on their own. On the afternoon of 15 June Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar's brigade of Perponcher's division, mostly Nassauers, reached Quatre Bras, and Bernhard resolved to stand there; Perponcher approved, and Constant Rebecque, the Prince of Orange's chief of staff, sent Bylandt's brigade to join him in place of the concentration at Nivelles. That evening Polish lancers from Frasnes probed the position and were driven off, and Ney declined to risk a night attack.

On 16 June Napoleon turned with his centre and right on Blücher at Ligny, giving Ney the left wing, Reille's and d'Erlon's corps and Kellermann's cuirassiers, to take the crossroads and then, as his orders developed through the day, to fall on the Prussian right. Napoleon's morning letter expected to decide his next move 'perhaps at three o'clock in the afternoon, perhaps this evening', and told Ney to be ready to march on Brussels. Ney, waiting for d'Erlon to close up behind Reille, did not seriously attack until about 14:00.

The armies

Ney's force was three divisions of Reille's II Corps: Bachelu's 5th, Jérôme Bonaparte's 6th and Foy's 9th Divisions, with Piré's light cavalry including lancers. Later Kellermann's cuirassiers came up, though only one brigade charged. These were mostly veteran troops, and their cavalry was far superior to anything Wellington had on the field.

Wellington's army arrived piecemeal, mostly down the Brussels and Nivelles roads. Perponcher's 2nd Netherlands Division, Bylandt's and Saxe-Weimar's brigades, held the ground alone until mid-afternoon, with van Merlen's light cavalry joining them. Then came Picton's 5th Division, Kempt's and Pack's British brigades with the Highland regiments, Royal Scots and 95th Rifles, and a Hanoverian brigade; the Duke of Brunswick's young corps; Alten's 3rd Division with Halkett's British and Kielmansegge's Hanoverian brigades; and finally Cooke's 1st Division, the two brigades of Foot Guards under Maitland and Byng.

The British cavalry did not arrive until the fighting was over, and Wellington's infantry had to face French cavalry almost unaided. Tall rye standing in the fields hid formations from each other and let cavalry come close unseen. The Bossu wood, west of the Brussels road, and the farms of Gemioncourt, Pierrepont and Piraumont gave both sides strongpoints.

The battle

CDB90 records the battle as engagement 144 (QUATRE BRAS), from 14:30 to 21:30. Times below come from Siborne and Wikipedia and are approximate.

Morning (06:00–13:00). Skirmishing had gone on since dawn. The Prince of Orange arrived at about 06:00 and pushed the French back towards Frasnes. Wellington came between 10:00 and 11:00, found the front quiet and rode east to meet Blücher at the Bussy windmill above Ligny. Ney edged forward from Frasnes at about 13:00, little more than a reconnaissance.

Ney's attack (14:00–15:00). At about 14:00 Ney attacked with Bachelu's and Foy's divisions behind a screen of Piré's cavalry, with Jérôme's in reserve and a battery of some 22 guns in support. Perponcher's men, outnumbered more than two to one, gave ground. The French took Gemioncourt and Piraumont, the Nassauers fell back to Pierrepont, and Jérôme's division pushed into the Bossu wood. Wellington returned shortly after 14:00.

Picton and the Brunswickers (14:30–16:30). Picton's division arrived at about 14:30–15:00 and deployed along the Namur road east of the crossroads. A charge by van Merlen's light cavalry, led by the Prince of Orange, was thrown back, and Highland infantry fired on the retiring Dutch horsemen, taking them for French. The Brunswickers came up and were posted between the Charleroi road and the wood. Under artillery fire and cavalry attack the young Brunswick infantry broke, and the Duke of Brunswick was killed by a shot while trying to rally them. French lancers caught the 42nd and 44th; some broke into the 42nd's square and were bayoneted or taken, but its commanding officer, Sir Robert Macara, was killed. At about 16:15 Ney received Napoleon's 14:00 order to drive off whatever was in front of him and turn on the Prussians.

Alten and Kellermann (17:00–18:00). Alten's division arrived from Nivelles at about 17:00, giving Wellington the advantage in numbers. Ney learned at about this time that d'Erlon's I Corps had been diverted towards Ligny and sent a peremptory order for its return. He then sent Kellermann with a single cuirassier brigade at Halkett's brigade, on the Allied right. The Prince of Orange had ordered the 69th out of square into line; the cuirassiers, hidden by the rye, rolled it up and the 8th Cuirassiers carried off its King's colour. The 30th formed square in time and beat off its attackers; the 33rd and 73rd took refuge in the Bossu wood. The cuirassiers pushed up the road almost to the crossroads, where artillery and musketry broke them and Kellermann was unhorsed.

The Guards and the counter-attack (18:30–21:00). Cooke's Guards division reached the field at about 18:30 by the Nivelles road and drove Jérôme's men out of the Bossu wood. French cavalry caught the Guards in disorder at the edge of the wood; they lined a ditch and drove them off, with a Brunswick battalion in square beside them. Wellington's whole line then advanced, retaking Gemioncourt and Piraumont. By about 21:00 Ney had fallen back to the heights of Frasnes, and the French had lost all the ground they had taken.

D'Erlon. Diverted by a staff officer carrying Napoleon's order, d'Erlon's corps appeared near Ligny at about 17:00, where Vandamme mistook it for an enemy force. Ney's recall turned it round a few kilometres short of that field, and d'Erlon reported to Ney at Frasnes at 21:00, after the fighting had ended. Durutte's division stayed on the edge of Ligny. A corps of some 20,000 men had spent the day marching between two battles and fought in neither.

Aftermath

Each side lost about 4,000–5,000 men. Wellington's British regiments suffered heavily, the 42nd, 44th, 69th and 92nd among them; the 92nd's Colonel John Cameron of Fassiefern was mortally wounded. The Dutch-Belgian 5th National Militia lost 62% of its strength.

Tactically Wellington had won: he held the crossroads at nightfall. Strategically the day went better for Napoleon. Wellington could send Blücher no help at Ligny, where the Prussians were beaten. But Ney had neither taken the crossroads nor sent troops to fall on the Prussian right, and d'Erlon's wasted march let the Prussians escape a defeat that might have been decisive. They fell back north towards Wavre, and on 17 June Wellington withdrew up the Brussels road to Mont-Saint-Jean. Napoleon made a late start and found only Wellington's cavalry rearguard when he reached Quatre Bras at 13:00. Two days later the armies met at Waterloo.

The arguments began early. Whether Wellington promised Blücher unconditional help at the Bussy windmill is still disputed. Who sent d'Erlon east, and how much blame Ney or Napoleon bears for it, is another debate. Siborne's history is scathing about the Dutch-Belgians; Wikipedia credits Rebecque and Saxe-Weimar with saving the crossroads by disobeying Wellington's order. William I later made Wellington Prince of Waterloo with estates that included much of the field, and the Bossu wood was felled for timber.

Wargaming it

Quatre Bras is one of the best Napoleonic games there is, because it is a race. The defender starts with a single Dutch-Belgian division against a French corps, and fresh Allied brigades march on down two roads every hour or so. The French player has perhaps three hours to take the crossroads before the balance turns. Played at brigade level the whole afternoon fits a modest table; at battalion level, with turns of 15–20 minutes, the fight for the Bossu wood, Picton's squares on the Namur road or Kellermann's charge each make a good scenario on its own.

The terrain decides a lot. The Bossu wood can screen or swallow a flank. The farms at Gemioncourt, Pierrepont and Piraumont are strongpoints. The tall rye should hide units until they are close, so that a battalion caught in line, like the 69th, can be ridden down. The Allied player has hardly any useful cavalry; the French player has plenty, but few infantry to support it.

The obvious what-if is d'Erlon. An arrival table for I Corps, which might march to Quatre Bras, march to Ligny, or wander in between, makes both players uneasy. Others are Ney attacking in the morning instead of 14:00, or the Allies concentrating at Nivelles as ordered. For balance, judge the French on whether they hold the crossroads or the Namur road at nightfall, not on beating Wellington outright.

Maps and pictures

Paintings and prints

Paintings and prints of the battle, from the time and the century after, by year: free-to-use pictures from the battle's category on Wikimedia Commons. Each opens its file page there, with the full caption and source.