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| Battle of Quatre-Bras
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| Conflict | Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | June 16, 1815 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Quatre-Bras, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Tactical draw, French strategic win | ||||||||||||||||
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"Napoleon has humbugged me, he has gained twenty-four hours march on me" – the Duke of Wellington
The crossroad Quatre-Bras of was of strategic importance because if the Anglo-allied army commanded by Wellington had unimpeded access to it, they could move towards the Prussians along the Nivelles-Namur road. If they could combine with the Prussians commanded by Gebhard von Blücher the allies combined army would be larger than Napoleon's. Napoleon's strategy had been to cross the border without alerting the allies and to defeat the Prussians before turning on the Anglo-allied army. He was very successful in this move. By dispatching Marshal Ney with a corps to block the crossroads it stopped any contingents of the Anglo-allied army going to the aid of the Prussians during the Battle of Ligny.
At the beginning of the battle Marshal Michel Ney, with the left wing of the Armee du Nord, faced a force of 20,000 Anglo-allied troops under the command of The Duke of Wellington, near the crossroads of Quatre Bras. As the day continued and Anglo-allied troops numbers increased as more units converged on Quatre Bras.
The battle was fought around the crossroads of Quatre-Bras, a small hamlet with only four houses. This crossroads marked the junction between the Charleroi- Brussels Road and the Nivelles-Namur Road.
To the South-West of the junction was the Bossu wood. South of the wood were the farms Petit-and Grand-Pierrepoint. South of the crossroads the ground fell away to the Gemioncourt farm, which lay next to a small stream in the valley. The ground then rose again to the South. North of Quatre-Bras the ground dropped into a reverse slope.
At 1400 hours, Ney started his assault on Quatre-Bras. Kellerman had advised him to attack cautiously (Kellerman had fought the Duke of Wellington before). Using a combined assault of infantry, arilley, and cavalary, Ney was on the verge of cracking the allied line. The Belgians on Wellington's right broke, but the steady British lines on the left managed to break the French massed coloumns with steady volleys. With French Lancers riding around freely the allied center due to the gap formed when the Belgians broke, the day was looking to be near a loss for Wellington. Thankfully for the allies at 1500, reinforcements came in: Picton's and Merlen's forces. The French formed a long line to brace themselves.
At 1530 hours the Prince of Orange tried to form a cavalry counterattack but ended with the French lancers butchering them. At 1600 hours, Ney received Napoleon's order to attack vigourously. He sent an order to his II corps to attack with more force and for his I corps to hurry up.