Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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The Last Battle Of The Napoleonic Wars...
Since June 16, 1815, French Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy has been pursuing...
... with 34,000 men of the III. Corps (General Dominique Joseph Vandamme)...
... the IV Corps (Étienne-Maurice, Comte Gérard)...
... and the II Cavalry Corps (Rémy-Joseph-Isidore, Comte Exelmans)...
...the Prussian troops who, according to Napoleon, were fleeing (after the Battle of Ligny there were still 24,000 men strong).
He follows them cautiously and at a distance.
On June 17, the bulk of the French troops under Grouchy marched about 15 kilometers.
At around 10 a.m. on the morning of June 18, the pursuit of the Prussians resumed. From 11.30 a.m. the cannon fire of the Battle of Waterloo begins and is also heard by Grouchy's troops.
Although Gérard urges Grouchy to hurry there...
... he follows his orders and continues the pursuit in the direction of the village of Wavre.
In the late afternoon of the day, the leading corps of the French, Vandamme's units, had visual contact with the Prussian Arrier Guards for the first time - they were in Wavre.
When Exelman's cavalry arrived at Wavre around 6 p.m., Vandamme ordered the attack on the Prussians...:
They all fail!
The only access to the village is a narrow stone bridge over the Dyle, the Pont de Christ...
...and it is fiercely defended by the Prussians....:
Escape attempts by Exelman's cavalry also fail, as the Prussians are entrenched in houses.
What the French don't know:
They only fight this day against the III Prussian Corps under Generalleutnant von Thielmann...
... the rest of the Prussians are helping their allies to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo!
The next morning, June 19, 1815, Grouchy's troops are all assembled and the Marshal orders the preparations for the general attack!
The Prussians have also brought in reinforcements during the night, namely everything that is still capable of marching and fighting after the slaughter at Pancenoit.
And they strike first!
Although greatly outnumbered, they attack the completely surprised French and are able to first confuse them and then push them back.
But Grouchy is not a bad commander - even if all sorts of contemporaries will later go to great lengths to pin that stigma on him and blame him for Napoeon's defeat at Waterloo.
The marshal quickly organizes his troops and orders a counterattack with artillery support - after a short time he is master of the situation, the French are victorious and the Prussians have to withdraw from the battlefield.
A little later, Grouchy received the news of his emperor's defeat at Waterloo and ordered his troops to withdraw to French soil. And he manages to do that, despite strong enemy pursuit, without losing another man!
The French suffered 2,200 casualties, the Prussians lost 3,200 men.
And with that the Napoleonic Wars ended.
https://figure-mad.com/smf2/index.php?action=reporttm;topic=1474.25;msg=157414
Since June 16, 1815, French Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy has been pursuing...
... with 34,000 men of the III. Corps (General Dominique Joseph Vandamme)...
... the IV Corps (Étienne-Maurice, Comte Gérard)...
... and the II Cavalry Corps (Rémy-Joseph-Isidore, Comte Exelmans)...
...the Prussian troops who, according to Napoleon, were fleeing (after the Battle of Ligny there were still 24,000 men strong).
He follows them cautiously and at a distance.
On June 17, the bulk of the French troops under Grouchy marched about 15 kilometers.
At around 10 a.m. on the morning of June 18, the pursuit of the Prussians resumed. From 11.30 a.m. the cannon fire of the Battle of Waterloo begins and is also heard by Grouchy's troops.
Although Gérard urges Grouchy to hurry there...
... he follows his orders and continues the pursuit in the direction of the village of Wavre.
In the late afternoon of the day, the leading corps of the French, Vandamme's units, had visual contact with the Prussian Arrier Guards for the first time - they were in Wavre.
When Exelman's cavalry arrived at Wavre around 6 p.m., Vandamme ordered the attack on the Prussians...:
They all fail!
The only access to the village is a narrow stone bridge over the Dyle, the Pont de Christ...
...and it is fiercely defended by the Prussians....:
Escape attempts by Exelman's cavalry also fail, as the Prussians are entrenched in houses.
What the French don't know:
They only fight this day against the III Prussian Corps under Generalleutnant von Thielmann...
... the rest of the Prussians are helping their allies to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo!
The next morning, June 19, 1815, Grouchy's troops are all assembled and the Marshal orders the preparations for the general attack!
The Prussians have also brought in reinforcements during the night, namely everything that is still capable of marching and fighting after the slaughter at Pancenoit.
And they strike first!
Although greatly outnumbered, they attack the completely surprised French and are able to first confuse them and then push them back.
But Grouchy is not a bad commander - even if all sorts of contemporaries will later go to great lengths to pin that stigma on him and blame him for Napoeon's defeat at Waterloo.
The marshal quickly organizes his troops and orders a counterattack with artillery support - after a short time he is master of the situation, the French are victorious and the Prussians have to withdraw from the battlefield.
A little later, Grouchy received the news of his emperor's defeat at Waterloo and ordered his troops to withdraw to French soil. And he manages to do that, despite strong enemy pursuit, without losing another man!
The French suffered 2,200 casualties, the Prussians lost 3,200 men.
And with that the Napoleonic Wars ended.
https://figure-mad.com/smf2/index.php?action=reporttm;topic=1474.25;msg=157414
