of selecting the reports which were worth forwarding, sent it back, saying that, so far from convincing him that the emperor was advancing to give battle, it assured him of the contrary. Owing to this officer’s presumptuous folly Grant’s information only reached the duke on June 18, too late to be of use.
The Army of the North on this night was disposed as follows:—The left wing stretched from Frasnes back to the Sambre at Marchienne and Thuin. Reille’s corps was to the front and was covered by the light cavalry of the Guard and Piré’s lancers. Ney’s headquarters were at Gosselies; one division (Girard’s) was at Wangenies and acted as a link between the two wings. The right wing, under Grouchy, had come to a halt in front of Fleurus. It was covered by Pajol’s and Exelmans’ cavalry corps. Vandamme’s was the leading infantry corps, and it bivouacked with its head at Winage. Gérard’s corps (with which was Kellermann’s cuirassier corps) halted astride the Sambre at Chatelet. Gérard’s advance had been delayed owing to the commander of his leading division deserting with his staff to the Prussians. Consequently the IV. Corps had not assisted at all in the passage of the river; though had it only been present, it would have been magnificently placed to co-operate with Grouchy in the action of Gilly. Thus each of these strategical covering forces was itself protected by an adequate tactical advanced guard, to perform the service of local protection. The centre (or reserve) was meanwhile disposed as follows: The Guard was halted between Gilly and Charleroi; the emperor’s headquarters being at the latter place. Milhaud’s Cuirassier corps and Lobau’s (VI.) corps were south of the Sambre, between Charleroi and Jamioulx. In this particular the execution on June 15 fell short of the original conception, for at nightfall about one-third of the French army was still on the right bank of the river. This, however, signified little, for the emperor still occupied a dominant strategical position.
Napoleon had now perfected his arrangements for the invasion of Belgium, and his army was organized definitely in two wings and a reserve; the latter being so placed that it could be brought “into action on either wing as circumstances dictated.” As circumstances dictated, either wing would fasten upon one of the allied armies and detain it until the reserve had time to come up and complete its destruction; the other wing meantime detaining the other allied army and preventing its commander from coming to his colleague’s assistance. The emperor was not in possession of the Namur-Nivelles road. The allies were thus afforded an opportunity of committing the very blunder which Napoleon longed for, namely to attempt a risky forward concentration. His dispositions on the night of the 15th–16th were skilfully calculated to encourage the allies to mass at Quatre Bras and Sombreffe, and his covering force were pushed sufficiently forward—to Frasnes and Fleurus—to grip whichever ally adventured his army first. At nightfall the Army of the North lay concentrated “in a square whose sides measured 12 m. each; and it could with equal facility swing against the Prussians or the Anglo-Dutch, and was already placed between them.”
Early on the morning of June 16 Prince Bernard was reinforced at Quatre Bras by the rest of his division (Perponcher’s), and Wellington’s other troops were now all on the march eastward except the reserve, who were heading southwards and halted at the cross-road of Mt. S. Jean until the duke had resolved that their objective should be Quatre Bras. They then marched in that direction. Blücher meanwhile was making his arrangements to hold a position to the south of the Namur-Nivelles road and thus maintain uninterrupted communication with Wellington at Quatre Bras. In this way he would keep open the Namur road, and also that from Gembloux for Bülow’s arrival.
Napoleon spent the early morning in closing up his army, and writing what proved to be the most important letter of the campaign to Ney (Charleroi, about 8 a.m.): “I have adopted as the general principle for this campaign to divide my army into two wings and a reserve. . . . The Guard will form the reserve, and I shall bring it into action on either wing just as circumstances dictate. . . . According to circumstances I shall weaken one wing to strengthen my reserve. . . .” Here, in its simplest form, is the principle that underlies Napoleon’s Strategy in 1815. Only on the wing on which the reserve is brought into action will a decisive result be aimed at. The other is to be used exclusively to neutralize the other enemy, by holding him at bay.
Napoleon’s original plan for the 16th was based on the assumption that the allies, who had been caught napping, would not attempt a risky forward concentration; and he intended therefore to push an advanced guard as far as Gembloux, for the purpose of feeling for and warding off Blücher. To assist this operation the reserve would move at first to Fleurus to reinforce Grouchy, should he need assistance in driving back Blücher’s troops; but, once in possession of Sombreffe, the emperor would swing the reserve westwards and join Ney, who, it was supposed, would have in the meantime mastered Quatre Bras. In pursuance of this object Ney, to whom Kellermann was now attached, was to mass at Quatre Bras and push an advanced guard 6 m. northward of that place, with a connecting division at Marbais to link him with Grouchy. The centre and left wing together would then make a night-march to Brussels. The allies would thus be irremediably sundered, and all that remained would be to destroy them in detail. Napoleon now awaited further information from his wing commanders at Charleroi, where he massed the VI. Corps (Lobau), to save it, if possible, from a harassing countermarch, as it appeared likely that it would only be wanted for the march to Brussels. Ney spent the morning in massing his two corps, and in reconnoitring the enemy at Quatre Bras, who, as he was informed, had been reinforced. But up till noon he took no serious step to capture the cross-roads, which then lay at his mercy. Grouchy meantime reported from Fleurus that Prussian masses were coming up from Namur, but Napoleon does not appear to have attached much importance to this report. He was still at Charleroi when, between 9 and 10 a.m., further news reached him from the left that considerable hostile forces were visible at Quatre Bras. He at once wrote to Ney saying that these could only be some of Wellington’s troops, and that Ney was to concentrate his force and crush what was in front of him, adding that he was to send all reports to Fleurus. Then, keeping Lobau provisionally at Charleroi, Napoleon hastened to Fleurus, arriving about 11. He found that Grouchy had made little progress beyond the town. As he surveyed the field from the windmill north of Fleurus it struck him as significant that Blücher’s troops were disposed parallel to the Namur road, as if to cover a forward concentration, and not at right angles to it, as they would be had they been covering a retreat. Still, at the moment, only one corps was showing. Possibly, however, the decisive day of the campaign had come. By the emperor’s arrangements Vandamme, Gérard, Pajol and Exelmans would be available after 2 p.m. to attack whatever force Blücher might command, and the Guard and Milhaud would be at hand to act as reserve. The wonder is that he did not now order Lobau to move to some intermediate position, such as Wangenies, where he would be available for either wing as circumstances dictated. At 2 p.m. Napoleon ordered Ney to master Quatre Bras, and added that the emperor would attack the corps which he saw in front of him. Whichever wing succeeded first would then wheel inwards and help the other. Not yet had Napoleon grasped the full significance of the allied movements, for the derisive flank had not yet become clear.
Blücher had already determined to fight. Meanwhile, Wellington having reached Quatre Bras in the morning, wrote to him to concert the day’s operations; then, as all was quiet in his front, he rode over to meet Blücher at Brye. The two chiefs, surveying the French army in their front, considered that no serious force was in front of Quatre Bras, and Wellington terminated the interview with the conditional promise that he would bring his army to Blücher’s assistance at Ligny, if he was not attacked himself. This promise, of course, was never fulfilled, for Ney employed the duke all day at Quatre Bras; and, furthermore, the duke’s tardy concentration made it quite impossible for him to help Blücher directly on the Ligny battlefield. On his return to Quatre Bras be found that a crisis had already been reached.
