Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Elba and the Hundred Days, 1814-1815; Waterloo, Battle of, Waterloo, Belgium, 1815
About the same time, NEY's troops were reinforced by the remaining
Division of KELLERMANN's Corps of Heavy Cavalry, so that his whole
force was constituted as follows:--
+-----------------------------+----------+-----------+-----+
| |Infantry. | Cavalry. |Guns.|
| +----------+-----------+-----+
|Force already in the Field | 16,189| 3,472| 44|
|Eleventh Cavalry Division | | 1,502| |
|1 Battery of Horse Artillery | | | 6|
| +----------+-----------+-----+
| | 16,189| 4,974| 50|
+-----------------------------+----------+-----------+-----+
NEY, on perceiving the arrival of this reinforcement to the
Anglo-Allied troops, despatched a peremptory Order to D'ERLON to hasten
to his support and join him without a moment's delay; and having well
calculated the advantages he still retained, he resolved upon a bold
and vigorous effort to secure the victory.
The greater portion of the Wood of Bossu was now in his possession; and
this circumstance appeared to him to present the means of establishing
himself at Quatre Bras, and of thus enabling him effectually to
turn WELLINGTON's Right Flank, and cut off his line of retreat upon
Brussels. With this view he had already greatly reinforced his
Infantry in the Wood through which he had even ordered the advance of
two Batteries, in a direction parallel to, and within a very short
distance of, its eastern boundary, so that they might be prepared to
act upon the plain, as soon as circumstances rendered such a proceeding
advisable or expedient. He now also threw forward additional Light
Troops to strengthen his extreme Right in the vicinity of Piermont;
whilst his Cavalry, so vastly superior, both in numbers and in
efficiency, to that which the British Commander had brought into the
Field, constituted his main central force, and compensated in a great
measure for the deficiency created in this point of his line by the
drawing off of the Infantry to the Flanks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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