Having no further orders, Borcke lined the left bank of the Dyle at Basse Wavre with picked marksmen from the 8th Regiment of the Line and the 1st Battalion of the 30th Regiment. These he placed under the command of Major Dittfurth, who had already distinguished himself during the close of the battle at Ligny. These skirmishers extended from Basse Wavre to Wavre, and took cover behind the trees lining the bank, and the neighbouring hedges and walls. Borcke continued his way to Wavre, and there detached one battalion (the 2nd of the 30th Regiment) and two squadrons of cavalry, to reinforce Colonel Zeppelin’s detachment, which, by this time, had loopholed all the buildings along the bank of the river, and were improvising defences. This done, Borcke resumed his march towards the main Prussian army! General Borcke’s timely reinforcements to Zeppelin, and his prompt initiative in lining the Dyle at Basse Wavre with sharpshooters, afterwards proved to be of the greatest assistance. There was nothing but his own foresight to cause him to take these measures as he passed along, and it was fortunate for Thielemann that he did not march off without detaching these parties. As soon as Vandamme’s Corps plainly showed signs of attacking, Thielemann immediately halted all his Divisions and began to dispose them for defence. The position afforded favourable means for defence. The Dyle, ordinarily a shallow stream, but at this time in flood, owing to the heavy rains, ran along the front in a narrow valley. The town of Wavre, situated on the left bank, extended for about half a mile along the stream, and was connected with a few buildings which formed a kind of suburb on the opposite bank, by two stone bridges, one of which, the larger of the two, carried the main Brussels-Namur road. About three-quarters of a mile up-stream, on the left bank, was the Mill of Bierges, destined to be the scene of the fiercest fighting; here there was a wooden bridge, carrying a narrow country road, leading from the village of Bierges. At Limale, a village 2¼ miles up-stream from Wavre, and at Limelette, another village a mile further, there were also wooden bridges. On the right bank of the Dyle, there was a series of hills commanding the town, the river, and the bridges. On the left bank, a similar series of heights, rather steeper but not so high; and numerous hedges, lanes, and hollows on the left bank compensated for the greater “command” of the ground on the opposite side of the stream. All the buildings along the river were hastily loop-holed, and the two bridges at Wavre strongly barricaded. Basse Wavre included a few buildings about half a mile below Wavre; and houses stood on both banks. There were many lanes and cross-roads branching from the main Brussels road, on both sides of the stream, so that the movements of troops could be conducted generally under cover; but the state of the roads was so bad, that any movement at all was extremely difficult and slow.