The Riveteer
Well-Known Member
Some more notes I found from Adkin that might be of use:-
For your interior. I always assumed the "passage through the house was simply a run through the occupied rooms.
Adkin shows the passage to be - just that- a kind of tunnel through the building with a door at each end - (what we in the North used to call a Ginnel).
The door on the right of the main house in the photo being the "passage". - this means troops could escape from the courtyard directly
Some diagrams of the battle
Initial deployment;- 1.30 - 2.30
3.00 - 5.00 p..m.
After the French capture.
Sorry for the poor photography. the box at the bottom of the last diagram continues; - "main gate.The garrison....retreats through the passageway to the Garden. Baring finds the garden untenable and abandons La Haie Sainte around 6.35".
Other stuff; - Lt Graeme of the KGL states that "we had no loopholes excepting three great appatures, which we made with difficulty ....in the morning......Later in the day the Enemy got possession of one near the pond and fired on us."
Adkin ; " This meant shooting over the walls was often not possible and seriously restricted through them. Graeme and his men had to lie or kneel on the roof of the piggery to fire at the enemy."
And "loopholes" (presumably made by the soldiers themselves) "were few and there were no platforms built behind the walls"
(This was because the pioneers had been sent to Hougoumont before La Haye was garrisoned.)
For these reasons I Personally think the most casualties occurred in the Orchard, in the Barn - defending the open doorway and the garden - although until to the end this was more easily defended being walled on the east side, covered by the main Allied lines to the north and the 95th rifles to the north east.
If the French only had access to one large loophole for most of the day I imagine serious injuries caused within the building complex itself would be relatively low until the gates and Barn were finally breached - (just my own thoughts).
Brendan Simms, in his book "The Longest Afternoon" also suggests some stragglers from the 8th Line Battalion may have made it to the farm buildings.
A lot has been made of Baring's statement that he only mustered 42 men "at the end". In saying that he was only referring to his own command alone (the 2nd Battalion), and it does not account for those wounded, those left in the house, those taken prisoner or those who wandered off after the retreat "in search of ammunition" etc. Most of the garrison did ultimately survive.
Baring himself stated that after they rejoined the main line in the sunken road, and despite all his pleas, the whole command crumbled.
Brandis, (Baring's Aide de Camp), ran into him "completely isolated without a single man of his Battalion".
Baring eventually staggered back to the rear where he found a horse and returned to the front alone. He tried to restore order there but was ignored and is reported to have heard men shouting "shoot Baring!" in their haste to retreat
Fortunately, this was just as the general advance had been ordered. He met his Divisional quartermaster-sergeant and they finally settled down on some straw to sleep - a humble end to an extra-ordinary day.
Phew! think I need to go and lie down myself now.
David
.
For your interior. I always assumed the "passage through the house was simply a run through the occupied rooms.
Adkin shows the passage to be - just that- a kind of tunnel through the building with a door at each end - (what we in the North used to call a Ginnel).
The door on the right of the main house in the photo being the "passage". - this means troops could escape from the courtyard directly
Some diagrams of the battle
Initial deployment;- 1.30 - 2.30
3.00 - 5.00 p..m.
After the French capture.
Sorry for the poor photography. the box at the bottom of the last diagram continues; - "main gate.The garrison....retreats through the passageway to the Garden. Baring finds the garden untenable and abandons La Haie Sainte around 6.35".
Other stuff; - Lt Graeme of the KGL states that "we had no loopholes excepting three great appatures, which we made with difficulty ....in the morning......Later in the day the Enemy got possession of one near the pond and fired on us."
Adkin ; " This meant shooting over the walls was often not possible and seriously restricted through them. Graeme and his men had to lie or kneel on the roof of the piggery to fire at the enemy."
And "loopholes" (presumably made by the soldiers themselves) "were few and there were no platforms built behind the walls"
(This was because the pioneers had been sent to Hougoumont before La Haye was garrisoned.)
For these reasons I Personally think the most casualties occurred in the Orchard, in the Barn - defending the open doorway and the garden - although until to the end this was more easily defended being walled on the east side, covered by the main Allied lines to the north and the 95th rifles to the north east.
If the French only had access to one large loophole for most of the day I imagine serious injuries caused within the building complex itself would be relatively low until the gates and Barn were finally breached - (just my own thoughts).
Brendan Simms, in his book "The Longest Afternoon" also suggests some stragglers from the 8th Line Battalion may have made it to the farm buildings.
A lot has been made of Baring's statement that he only mustered 42 men "at the end". In saying that he was only referring to his own command alone (the 2nd Battalion), and it does not account for those wounded, those left in the house, those taken prisoner or those who wandered off after the retreat "in search of ammunition" etc. Most of the garrison did ultimately survive.
Baring himself stated that after they rejoined the main line in the sunken road, and despite all his pleas, the whole command crumbled.
Brandis, (Baring's Aide de Camp), ran into him "completely isolated without a single man of his Battalion".
Baring eventually staggered back to the rear where he found a horse and returned to the front alone. He tried to restore order there but was ignored and is reported to have heard men shouting "shoot Baring!" in their haste to retreat
Fortunately, this was just as the general advance had been ordered. He met his Divisional quartermaster-sergeant and they finally settled down on some straw to sleep - a humble end to an extra-ordinary day.
Phew! think I need to go and lie down myself now.
David
.
