CHAPTER V.
THE FIFTEENTH OF JUNE: BLÜCHER AND WELLINGTON.
Marshal Blücher had long since fixed upon Sombreffe as the point of concentration for his army, in the event of the French crossing the Sambre at or near Charleroi, and he had even chosen the line of the brook of Ligny, which borders the villages of St. Amand, Ligny, and Balâtre, as a possible battlefield.[134]
On the night of the 13th of June, Zieten, who commanded the Ist Prussian Corps, and whose headquarters were at Charleroi, saw the French bivouac fires at Beaumont and Solre;[135] and, on the evening of the 14th, Blücher ordered the IId, IIId and IVth Corps to concentrate at or near Sombreffe. Zieten with the Ist Corps was to make as obstinate resistance as possible and fall back to and hold the village of Fleurus, thus gaining time for the concentration of the whole army.[136]
These measures, it is admitted by all writers, were taken without any consultation being had with the Duke of Wellington at the moment. But it is claimed that there existed a definite understanding between the two commanders, in pursuance of which Blücher acted.[137]
There had been a meeting between Wellington and Blücher at Tirlemont on May 3d, which the Duke[138] in a letter to the Prince of Orange pronounces “very satisfactory.” Baron Müffling, who was the Prussian military attaché at the Duke’s headquarters, states[139] that the lines of march which the English and Prussian armies should respectively pursue in case France should be invaded, were definitely agreed upon and laid down in writing. This agreement may have been arrived at at that interview, though Müffling does not say so. He then goes on to say:—[140]
“The junction of the English and Prussian armies for a defensive[141] battle * * * was so distinctly prescribed by circumstances and by the locality that no doubt whatever could be raised on the point.”
He then proceeds to give his views, and ends by saying:—
“The point of concentration for the Prussian army was accordingly marked out between Sombreffe and Charleroi, and for the English, en dernier lieu, between Gosselies and Marchiennes.”