Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1917 — Battles Which Made the World [ARTICLE]

Battles Which Made the World

. WATERLOO —5 The Terrlfle Fray In Which British Resolntlon Withstood French Fury and Which Transformed Napoleon Bonaparte From an Emprrur to an Exile.

By CAPT. ROLAND F. ANDREWS

(Copyright, BIT, by MoCloro New (paper eradicate)

Waterloo sealed the dooifi of the greatest world figure of modern times. With Its ending was decreed that never again should Napoleon Bonaparte, immense somnambulist of a shattered dream, menace the future of kings and continents, with nations and peoples as mere pawns upon the chess board of his gigantic ambition. It requires a rare flight of mind to imagine what might have been the state of Europe and the rest of the world today had Napoleon, at the climax of his Belgian campaign, overthrown his enemrtes and established himself and his dynasty firmly In power. History as* it was written up to the evening of his doom had failed to indicate any limits for his possible sway. Waterloo was a battle of "IfA.” Such an authority as Lieutenant Colonel Shuttleworth, U. S. A., asserts that If Napoleon had enjoyed the advantage of a small runabout motorcar he would have triumphed most certainly. If Grouchy had come up instead of Blucher the day must have belonged to France. If Ney had displayed more military acumen In the preliminary fight at Quatre Bras the backbone of the English resistance might have been broken. Napoleon himself contended that If somebody had not, without authority, ordered the unsupported charge of his splendid cavalry, he would have won. The “if** terloo. Before the main battle Napoleon had beaten the Prussians at Llgny and had dispatched Grouchy with 30,000 troops to prevent the defeated army from marching to Wellington’s aid. In this mission Grouchy failed and the emperor ever after censured him bitterly for the failure. Ney, meanwhile, attacked the English at Quatre Bras, but while he kept them from aiding Blucher and his Prussians he yet failed to break or demoralize them. Wellington, retreating, took up positions on the plateau of Mt St. Jean, or Waterloo. Blucher, at Wavre, left Thielman to be overwhelmed by Grouchy while with his main army he marched to Wellington’s assistance. Thus, in the language of Creasy, “he risked a detachment and won a campaign accordingly.” There Is some variation In the estimate *of the strength of the opposing forces. Creasy gives Napoleon 71,947, Wellington 67,655, and Blucher something gver 10.000, only part of whom, of course, were employed on the main field. Captain Becke and Colonel Hlme give Napoleon 74,000, agreeing in substrfhce with Creasy as to the number commanded by Wellington and Blucher. Of British troops, however, Wellington had’ but 24,000. The balance of his forces comprised Dutch, Belgians, Hanoverians, Brunswickers, Nassauers and the like, whose loyalty and effectiveness was in more or less doubt On the morning of June 18, 102 years ago, the two armies were drawn up opposite each other, with a valley between. The Prussians were at Wavre. 12 miles away.

Here again, enters the “If.” The night of the 17th had been stormy. The ground was soft. Finding the movement of artillery difficult Napoleon delayed the start of the action until nearly noon. If he had been able to begin at daybreak he might have demolished Wellington before Blucher could have reached him with aid. Napoleon’s first assault was against the farm of Hougoumont, on the right of the British position. Column after column was hurled upon this post, which a detachment of the British guards, fighting with the most desperate valor, held throughout the day. At one time, Indeed, Foy’s attacking regiments forced the stockade, but at the gate Colonel Macdonnell ran through French infantrymen with his sword, and Colonel Macklnnon dashed up under heavy fire with the Grenadiers to the relief. At one o’clock, with every cannon on both sides thundering, Napoleon launched his first grand attack against the British left center. For this he selected 18,000 Infantry, supported by Kellerman’s horse and led by Ney, “the bravest of the brave.” The Dutch-Belgians in the first line fled In terror before the furious onslaught of these veterans, but the British infantry behind held firm. Plncton, commanding the thin red English line, only 3,000 strong, took advantage of the French moment of deployment to loose a devastating volley, after which the British cavalry charged, sending the French reeling back. At three o’clock Wellington’s forces having suffered severely from the bombardment, andfresh troops appearing on the horizon (these were the Prussians coming up, although Napoleon insisted they were Grouchy’s men), the emperor tried a charge of bis magnificent heavy cavalry against the British right and center; So terrific was the rush, of these helmeted and corseleted horsemen, reins in teeth, saber and pistol in hands, that they rode fairly over the British advance guns, bringing up against the daunt•ess squares of British infantry. If this

success had been heavily supported by foot troops different might have been the issue, for the cuirassiers stayed long on the crest frantically storming at the squares which mowed them down by squadrons. As It fell out, they were almost totally destroyed by the fire of the stubborn squares, and by a counter attack of massed English horse. The order for this charge of the French horse—at least In the form It was delivered—was afterward repudiated by Napoleon, who declared that Ney “agted like a madman,” and that he “threw the cavalry away.” Somewhere In the .course of this action the reserve cavalry, the .Horse Grenadiers and the lighter lancers, and Hussars had been brought in. Whether they charged by direction of Ney or oh the inspiration of Guyot, their immediate commander, is not certain. Napoleon asserted that they had been ordered to leave him under no circumstances. This destruction of the whole mounted reserve Napoleon told Bourrienne cost him the day. In the waning day the Intrepid Ney, gathering the wreck of D’Erl on’s corps, did carry La Haye Sainte, on the English left, but It was too late. The Prussians were already pushing hard. Napoleon was forced to play his last card. Cavalry gone, first line corps shattered, he ordered up the dauntless Imperial Guard. The emperor and the guard had turned the day on many a field. The fierce giants, in their towering bearskins, seemed almost Irresistible. Passing before him, they hailed him with great shouts of “Vive I’Empereur,” while he, pointing toward the English line, cried out: “There is the road to Brussels.” But the guard went to death, and in the last charge it was ever to make. With Ney, hatless, covered with mud and blood, at its head, on foot—for his fifth horse of the day had been killed under him—lt climbed the hill in the face of a furious artillery fire, only to encounter Maitland’s brigade of English household troops, to whom the duke himself is said to have shouted the order, “Up, guards, and at them I” The fire which followed was too terrific for even the veterans of Napoleon’s eagles. In the darkness, for it was now nearly eight o’clock, they wavered, reeled and fled, with the British cavalry sabering them as they ran. Someone raised the cry of "Sauve qui pent,” and all was lost Only Chambronne’s regiment of the guard remained compact and defiant, moving slowly in the welter of blood, sneering at commands to surrender, prefering death to Ignominy—and finding it Napoleon was swept off the field, to become in a few weeks an exiled captive. The loss of the French was never known. AH records disappeared with the destruction of the army. In dead and wounded Wellington lost* 15,000, the Prussians 7,000 more. At such cost was purchased the delivery of Europe.