The 2d brigade, under major-general d’Aubremé, composed of the 36th Belgian light infantry, the 3d, the 12th, and the 13th line, and the 10th militia, was at the farm of Vieux-Forêt, beyond Braine-l’Alleud, for the security of our right flank, and to keep open the communication with our detached forces at Hal, etc., for the protection of our extreme right. The 6th British brigade thus detached was composed of the 35th, 55th, 59th, and 91st regiments, under major-general Johnstone, with the 6th Hanoverian brigade, major-general sir James Lyon, and two regiments of Hanoverian cavalry, under colonel Erstorff, and a division of Netherlanders, under prince Frederick of Holland. These troops were thus posted for the protection of Brussels against a _coup de main_ by any detached force of the enemy[28]. The reader will observe that the principal advantages of the allied position were. 1º The junction of the two high-roads immediately in rear of our centre, from which branched off the paved broad road to Brussels, our main line of operation, and the paved road to the capital by Braine-l’Alleud and Alsemberg. This added to the facility of communication, and enabled us to move ammunition, guns, troops, the wounded, etc., to or from any part of our main front line, as circumstances demanded. 2º The advanced posts of Hougoumont, La Haye-Sainte, Papelotte, and La Haye farms, near which no enemy could pass without being assailed in flank by musketry. 3º The continuous ridge from flank to flank towards which no hostile force could advance undiscovered, within range of our artillery upon the crest. Behind this ridge our troops could manœuvre, or lie concealed from the enemy’s view, while they were in great measure protected from the fire of the hostile batteries. 4º Our extreme left was strong by nature. The buildings, hollow-ways, enclosures, trees and brushwood, along the valley from Papelotte to Ohain, thickly peopled with light infantry, would have kept a strong force long at bay. Our batteries on the left on the knoll commanded the valley and the slopes. The ground from those batteries to Ohain, which was occupied till near eight o’clock P.M. by Vandeleur’s and Vivian’s brigades, was admirably adapted for cavalry. 5º Our extreme right was secured by numerous patches of brushwood, trees and ravines, and further protected by hamlets, and by lord Hill’s troops _en potence_, part of which occupied Braine-l’Alleud and the farm of Vieux-Forêt, on the height above that town.