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The 'Battle of Quatre Bras' was fought between contingents of the Anglo-Dutch army and the left wing of the French Army on 16 June 1815, near the crossroads of Quatre Bras, in modern day Belgium (then part of United Kingdom of the Netherlands).

Contents

Prelude

Combatants

Battle

Conclusion

References

Further reading

Footnotes

Prelude

The crossroads of Quatre-Bras was of strategic importance because the side which controlled it could move south-eastward along the Nivelles-Namur road towards the French and Prussian armies at the Battle of Ligny. If Wellington's Anglo-allied army could combine with the Prussians, the combined force would be larger than Napoleon's. Napoleon's strategy had been to cross the border into the Netherlands without alerting the Coalition and drive a wedge between their forces and subsequently to defeat the Prussians before turning on the Anglo-Allied army. Although the coalition commanders did have an overview of French pre-war movements, Napoleon's strategy was initially very successful.
Wellington's instructions at the start of the campaign were to defend Brussels from the French, but he did know what route Napoleon might take and had received (false) reports of a flanking manoeuever through Mons. He first heard of the outbreak of hostilities at around 15:00 on the 15 June from the Prince of Orange, and further confirmation of the French engaging the Prussians outposts under Lieutenant-General Graf von Zieten at 04:30 at Thuin (near Charleroi) arrived within the next three hours. It was 06:00 that Wellington drafted initial orders to concentrate his army.^[2] However, he was still uncertain precisely where to concentrate his army, and it was not until he heard that the front near Mons was clear - around midnight - that he ordered his army to move towards the Prussians.
This nine-hour delay meant it was too late for him to move his army in sufficient strength to eventually provide Gebhard von Blücher with the support he needed (and historian Peter Hofschröer says he promised)^[3] on 16 June at the battle of Ligny.
Wellington did not order his entire army to Quatre Bras on 16 June either, still suspecting a flanking manoeuver through Mons. (He was later to claim doing so in order to cover his misjudgement, although the orders issued and received do not correspond with that claim.) The Prince of Orange's headquarters however decided to ignore Wellington's order to assemble Dutch forces in and around Nivelles and instead took the initiative to defend Quatre Bras, where they received substantial aid from the Brunswickers and Nassauers.

Combatants

At the beginning of the battle the left wing of the Armee du Nord, with 18,000 men (including 2,000 cavalry and 32 guns) under Marshal Michel Ney, faced 8,000 infantry and 16 guns, under the command of the Prince of Orange. The Dutch were thinly deployed south of the crossroads of Quatre Bras. They were backed up by the Nassau and Brunswick contingents, the latter led by the Duke of Brunswick, who would not survive the day. As the battle continued more Anglo-Allied units converged on Quatre Bras, and at 1500 hours the Duke of Wellington appeared on the field. During the day the French force would grow to 24,000.

Battle

The French attack began around 1200 hours. Ney formed a massed battery of 22 guns and started bombarding the coalition positions. Swarms of skirmishers preceded the French columns as they attacked. The Dutch picket line greeted them with musket volleys, but was outnumbered and forced to retreat. The Nassauers of Saxe-Weimar retreated to Grand-Pierrepont farm and Dutch troops of van Bylandt to Gemioncourt.
After a while the fresh division of Jérôme Bonaparte arrived on the scene. They were sent against Grand-Pierrepont. The Nassauers were forced to abandon the farm and were driven into the Bossu wood. There they fought from tree to tree, slowing the French advance. At Gemioncourt the Dutch troops were a thorn in the side of the French. One of the defending battalions, the 5th militia, lost 62% of its original strength that day. The Dutch lost and retook the farm twice, but eventually lost it.
Around 1400 hours, Ney started his assault on Quatre-Bras. Using a combined assault of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, Ney was able to push the Dutch troops all the way back to Quatre-Bras. Facing three infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade, the situation became desperate for the Dutch 2nd division.
At 1500, Picton's 5th British infantry division and Van Merlen's 3rd Dutch Light cavalry brigade arrived. The duke of Wellington came back from his meeting with Blücher. Van Merlen's Light cavalry charged the French cavalry and were thrown back, but this gave the battered Dutch infantry time to regroup. British infantry was also ordered to form a line. However, when the Dutch cavalry brigade disengaged and retired to friendly lines they were shot at by Scottish infantry because their uniforms looked like the French uniforms of the Chasseurs à Cheval.
At 1600 hours, Ney received Napoleon's order to attack vigorously. He sent an order to his II Corps, under the command of Honoré Reille to attack with more force; and for his I Corps under the command of Count d'Erlon to join him as he was now engaged in the larger Battle of Ligny. Ney also was reinforced by Kellermann's heavy cavalry.
Ney was left without the infantry needed to punch through the Anglo-Allied line, as his requested infantry reinforcements, the I Corps, were marching towards Napoleon at Ligny. Due to indecision by d'Erlon on whether to follow the orders issued by Marshal Ney, his direct superior, or those of his Emperor, the I Corps wound up marching to and from Ligny without fighting in either battle. There has been much debate of what would have happened if d'Erlon's I Corps had engaged at either Ligny or Quatre Bras.
At 1615 hours, French mixed forces advanced almost all the way to the crossroads. The British 42nd, 44th and 92nd regiments held up against the infantry - and then they were mauled by Kellermann's cuirassiers before these were driven back by Anglo-Allied musketry and cavalry.
On Ney's left, Jérôme Bonaparte drove the allies out of the Bossu Wood. Just then, three Anglo-Allied brigades came and drove the French back south and to the original positions. The 1st regiment of the British Guard was caught by surprise by Piré's French lancers just near Pierrepont and lost 500 men before retiring into the wood.

Conclusion

The battle cost Ney 4,000 men to Wellington's 4,800. Although a tactical draw, the allies had been unable to send forces to the aid of the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. Wellington's Anglo-Allied army, upon learning of the Prussian defeat, was forced to retreat north along the Brussels road further away from the Prussians, who retreated north-east towards Wavre.
There has been much debate of what would have happened if d'Erlon's I Corps had engaged at either Ligny or Quatre Bras. As he did not, Napoleon chose to follow Wellington with the bulk of his forces, and two days later met his destiny at Waterloo.

References

★ Hofschröer, Peter; 1815, The Waterloo Campaign: The German Victory;Greenhill Books (London); ISBN 1-85367-368-4

★ Hofschröer, Peter; 1815, The Waterloo Campaign: Wellington, his German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras;Greenhill Books (London); ISBN 1-85367-304-8

Further reading

★ Detailed account of the Battle of Quatre Bras, 1815

★ Battle of Quatre Bras

★ The Battle of Quatre-Bras by Alfons Libert.

★ Contribution of the Netherlands Mobile Army during the 1815 campaign Gives full account of the Dutch troops that fought at Quatre-Bras, based on many unknown primary sources.

★ The campaign of 1815: a study website by Pierre de Wit.

Footnotes

1. The Anglo-Allied army consisted of troops from Britain, Brunswick, Hanover, Nassau and the Netherlands, see Order of Battle of the Waterloo Campaign
2. Hofschröer, 1815 Waterloo Campaign Wellington, his German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras p. 331
3. Hofschröer, 1815 Waterloo Campaign, The German Victory p. 334