The Campaign of Waterloo: A Military History: Third EditionRopes, John Codman
History
The Campaign of Waterloo: A Military History: Third Edition
Ropes, John Codman
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Elba and the Hundred Days, 1814-1815; Waterloo, Battle of, Waterloo, Belgium, 1815
[234] Müffling, Passages, p. 236. Ollech, p. 126.
[235] Gneisenau, vol. 4, pp. 369, 370.
[236] At the same time, it must be said that Delbrück was quite
naturally led to adopt this suggestion. It is only on the supposition
that the “Disposition” is an authentic document and that the Duke
followed it blindly, but honestly, in his letter to Marshal Blücher,
that we can find a satisfactory answer to Delbrück’s suggestion.
_NOTES TO CHAPTER VII._
1. It may be worth while to state, as nearly as we can, the actual
positions at 7 A.M. of the 16th of the various bodies of troops
mentioned in the “Disposition.” (See Map 5.)
The 1st division was not at 7 A.M. at Braine-le-Comte. It did not reach
that place from Enghien until 9 A.M.[237] Its commander, General Cooke,
having received no further orders, halted the division till noon, when
he took upon himself the responsibility of continuing the march to
Nivelles, where he arrived at 3 P.M. Here he received orders to proceed
at once to Quatre Bras.
The 2d division, Clinton’s, which was also stated in the “Disposition”
to have been at 7 A.M. at Braine-le-Comte, and to be marching on
Nivelles, did not, in fact,[238] receive the order to march from the
neighborhood of Ath, where it was stationed, to Enghien till twelve
hours after it was dated,—_i.e._, not until 10 A.M. of the 16th! The
troops did not reach Enghien till 2 P.M., and missing, apparently, the
direct road, did not arrive at Braine-le-Comte till midnight.
The 3d division, Alten’s, is said in the “Disposition” to have been at
Nivelles at 7 A.M., and marching to Quatre Bras. It did not arrive at
Nivelles till noon.[239]
The 4th division, Colville’s, was no doubt correctly stated in the
“Disposition” to have been at Audenarde at 7 A.M. The 10 P.M. orders of
the 15th of June directed it on Enghien; and we must presume, for the
reasons given above, that further orders to march on Braine-le-Comte
had been issued.
The 5th division, Picton’s, was not “beyond Waterloo” at 7 A.M., as
stated in the “Disposition.” In point of fact, it must have been some
six miles on the Brussels side of Waterloo at that hour.[240] Included
in this division was the 4th Hanoverian brigade,[241] and the Duke of
Brunswick’s Corps.
The 6th division, Cole’s, is no doubt correctly stated in the
“Disposition” to have been at 7 A.M. at Assche; but whether orders for
it to march to Genappe and Quatre Bras had arrived at so early an hour,
may be doubted.
Similar observations apply to the 5th Hanoverian brigade, stated in the
“Disposition” to have been at 7 A.M. at Hal, and marching to Genappe
and Quatre Bras, and to the 1st Dutch-Belgian Division and Anthing’s
Indian brigade, stated to be at Sotteghem, and marching to Enghien.
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