BattleFile: Battles, Warfare, Military History

Ligny and Quatre Bras

By early afternoon on 16th June, Napoleon was ready to attack the Prussian force at Ligny, six miles to the east of Quatre Bras. This was a position chosen by Blucher and was much to the distaste of Wellington who predicted that the Prussians would be 'damnably mauled'. Napoleon sent Ney with 40,000 troops to Quatre Bras to secure the crossroads and block any attempt made by Wellington to come to the aid of the Prussians.

The plan was for Ney to then swing east and fall on the Prussian flank. Unfortunately for Napoleon, Ney did not fully understand his part in the grand plan and did not realise that the main emphasis for the day was the defeat of the Prussians. Throughout the afternoon of the 16th, more and more British troops arrived at Quatre Bras from Brussels, most notably the 1st Division under Picton. When orders came from Napoleon that Ney should send D'Erlon's Corp over to join the fighting at Ligny, he overrode them and ordered the troops back to Quatre Bras. The result was that this entire French Corp spent the day marching back and forward between the two battlefields, never actually taking part in either battle. It is fairly certain that their appearance on either field would have handed a decisive victory to the French. As it was, Wellington held Quatre Bras and managed to withdraw his troops back along the Brussels road intact.

At Ligny, however, the Prussians had, as predicted, taken 'a damn good hiding'. Blucher himself had been trod on by his horse but was still full of fight (as well as a brew of gin, rhubarb and garlic). The Prussians managed to withdraw but in apparently less order than the British. There was uncertainty as to where Blucher might retreat to; several of his officers seemed to distrust Wellington and urged their commander to head east toward Prussia but he was determined to support Wellington and ordered a concentration at Wavre. This was a position to the north, close enough to Wellington to support him but also with access to the east if necessary.