Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Elba and the Hundred Days, 1814-1815; Waterloo, Battle of, Waterloo, Belgium, 1815
BLÜCHER had made so admirable a disposition of his four _Corps
d'Armée_, that two of them could at any time have combined, and
therefore have presented a superior force to GROUCHY, at any point
between Wavre and Planchenoit; whilst the remainder of the Army might
have continued its march to the Field of Waterloo. Had Grouchy moved
by St Guibert and Moustier upon St Lambert, THIELEMANN's Corps would
then have been on the march towards Couture, according to his original
instructions; and finding BÜLOW engaged with the Enemy, would have
joined him. GROUCHY might then have contrived to hold both these Corps
at bay, and thus have reduced the co-operating Prussian force at
Waterloo to the two Corps under ZIETEN and PIRCH, besides considerably
retarding that co-operation; since without having experienced the
effects of any such interruption to the progress of the other Corps, as
we have here supposed, these two Generals did not reach the Field of
Battle until seven o'clock in the evening of the 18th.
Such is the extent of the advantage which, under the circumstances,
GROUCHY would have gained by a march from Gembloux upon St Lambert; a
most important one, no doubt, as time for pushing the struggle with
WELLINGTON, with the whole force at his immediate disposal, before
the arrival of the Prussians, was of the most vital consequence to
NAPOLEON; and this advantage GROUCHY entirely lost by his march upon
Wavre--a march which enabled BLÜCHER to appear with three, out of his
four, _Corps d'Armée_, on the great and decisive Field of Action; and
that in sufficient time to render the victory as complete as could
reasonably be desired.
No exertions, however, on the part of GROUCHY, after he broke up from
Gembloux on the morning of the 18th, could have effectually frustrated
the junction of WELLINGTON and BLÜCHER. Two great errors, for which
that Marshal was not accountable, reduced the contemplated junction
from a measure of calculation to one of certainty. The first and
principal of these has already been adverted to at some length, and
cannot be too closely kept in view--the fatal neglect of a vigorous
pursuit of the defeated Prussians, on the night of the 16th and morning
of the 17th, by a detached Corps; combined with the extraordinary
delay in the attack upon WELLINGTON at Quatre Bras, on the latter day.
The second error arose from the want of a strong reconnaissance and
vigilant look out on the right of the main French Army, on the morning
of the 18th, followed up by the occupation of the Defiles of the Lasne.
* * * * *
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