Thielemann, meanwhile, who had received orders to continue his march on Wavre, made preparations to resume his road. At 2 P.M., his troops having gained a sound and well-earned rest, secure, strange to say, from pursuit--for not a Frenchman had been seen--he again advanced, and passed by Ernage, Nil Perrieux, Corbaix, and La Baraque. He reached Wavre with his main body at 8 P.M., having covered the 15 miles in six hours, and passed through to La Bavette, a mile north of Wavre, where he halted for the night. His rear-guard (the Ninth Division and Lottum’s Cavalry Brigade) did not reach the Dyle until midnight; they bivouacked on the right bank. Marwitz, with his Cavalry Brigade, which had retired by Gentinnes with Zieten, now rejoined the Third Corps, and the troops which had been detached two days before to Dinant (a battalion of the 3rd Kurmark Landwehr, belonging to the Eleventh Division, and two squadrons of the 6th Kurmark Landwehr Cavalry, belonging to Lottum’s Brigade) also arrived. Thus the retreat of the Third Corps was accomplished in security, and accompanied by none of the disastrous effects of a defeat. Defeat at the hands of so great a master of war as Napoleon usually meant annihilation. To follow up his victory, to pursue the retreating force, and to leave no vestige of fighting power in the vanquished, is the aim and object of every general who wins a battle. When the Prussians were defeated at Ligny, the advantage of vigorous pursuit with all the available cavalry and Lobau’s Corps would have been enormous. The whole aim of Napoleon’s strategy had been to crush the Prussians, and to prevent them from interfering with his attack on Wellington. He had found Blucher ready to fight at Ligny, and he had beaten him. To allow Blucher to retreat with fighting power left in his army was the very result to be avoided at all cost. Then why did not Napoleon follow up his victory? What are the facts? The battle was over at about 9 P.M., on the 16th, the broken centre of Blucher’s line retreating by Bry. Darkness covered the field. Vandamme’s Third Corps, Gérard’s Fourth Corps, and Milhaud’s Cuirassiers had well-nigh exhausted themselves in their vigorous attacks, but Excelmans, Pajol, with their two Cavalry Corps, and Lobau with the Sixth Corps, were available for the pursuit. Their troops were comparatively fresh; Lobau had only arrived on the field towards the end of the day. But no attempt was made to hinder the retreat of Zieten and Pirch I. Thielemann maintained a firm hold on Sombreffe, but he did not cover Bry or the roads to Tilly.