Marshal Blücher had taken up a position, which although in some respects determined by the nature of the ground, was nevertheless intended to secure two objects,—first, his line of communications with Namur, and an unobstructed march for his expected IVth Corps, Bülow’s, and, secondly, his avenue of communication with the Anglo-Dutch army, from which he expected to receive at least some assistance in the course of the afternoon. It thus came about that the centre of the Prussian army was at Sombreffe,—that the line of the right wing ran through the villages of Ligny and St. Amand in a south-westerly direction, and that that of the left wing ran from Sombreffe through the hamlet of Mont Potriaux to Tongrinelle and Balâtre in a south-easterly direction. This left wing consisted entirely of the IIId Corps, Thielemann’s. It contained 22,051 infantry, 2,405 cavalry, and 48 guns.[339] The Ist Corps, Zieten’s held the front of the centre and right wing, and was supported by the IId Corps, that of Pirch I., throughout its whole extent. These two corps contained 56,803 infantry, 6,093 cavalry, and 176 guns.[340] The right wing was “in the air”; it was possible to turn it completely, by way of St. Amand and Wagnelée. Behind Ligny and St. Amand, and on commanding ground, was the village of Brye. Blücher’s whole force thus consisted of 87,352 men, of whom 8,498 were cavalry,—with 224 guns.
Napoleon, having finished giving his orders shortly after nine, arrived at Fleurus about 11 A.M.[341] He busied himself, while the troops were arriving, with examining the enemy’s position. From the tower of an old and disused windmill in the outskirts of the town he made, it is said, his first observations. Then he went,—without his staff, as his custom was before a battle,—partly on horseback and partly on foot, along the front of the enemy’s position, seeing for himself everything that could be seen. By the time the troops had arrived in the neighborhood of Fleurus, he had formed his plan. He had not, however, correctly estimated the numbers of the force opposed to him; the nature of the ground prevented his being able to see all the enemy’s troops.[342]
The more natural and obvious plan for Napoleon would have been to direct his attack upon the exposed Prussian right wing, and to operate in conjunction with the column under Marshal Ney, so far as that might seem expedient. By moving upon Wagnelée and Brye, he would turn the position of St. Amand, and almost certainly secure a victory. But Napoleon did not see in this operation any chance of inflicting a decisive blow.[343] At most, he would only have defeated an exposed wing of the enemy’s army. There would have been nothing to prevent its falling back upon the centre and left wing. The Prussians would no doubt be worsted, but their defeat could hardly be of a character to cripple them. Nor would their communications be in the slightest degree imperilled.
What Napoleon determined on was an operation far more decisive. He saw that that part of the Prussian army which lay in the neighborhood of Sombreffe, Tongrinelle and Balâtre, placed there, as it had been, for the purpose of protecting the communications with Namur, would in all probability not dare to move from its position, and would accordingly not be able to take any active part in the battle. He would therefore have to deal only with that portion of the enemy’s army which lay between Sombreffe and St. Amand,—say, two-thirds of their entire force. He also saw that if the enemy’s centre, between Ligny and Sombreffe, could be broken, the Prussian right wing would be separated from the rest of the army, and that he might hope to overwhelm it. He saw also one other thing. If, at or about the time when this success should be obtained, a strong column from Marshal Ney’s command could march down the Quatre Bras-Namur turnpike and move upon Brye, that success would almost certainly be of the most decisive character.[344] Attacked in front and rear at the same time, its connection with the rest of the army severed, surrounded by superior numbers, the utter rout of that part of the Prussian army was inevitable. (See Map 6.)
At one o’clock the French army had arrived, and was in and about Fleurus. The Emperor threw the 4th Corps, Gérard’s, about 16,000 strong,[345] with 38 guns, far to the right, opposite the whole front of the village of Ligny; the 3d Corps, Vandamme’s, about 19,000 strong,[346] with 38 guns, connected with the left of the 4th Corps, and, assisted by Girard’s division of the 2d Corps, about 4,300 strong,[347] with 8 guns, menaced the Prussians in the village of St. Amand; while the cavalry of Pajol and Exelmans, to the number of about 6,500 men,[348] with 24 guns, supported by Hulot’s division of the 4th Corps, observed the Prussian left wing,—stationed from Sombreffe to Balâtre. The Guard, with Milhaud’s Cuirassiers, in all about 22,000 men, with 102 guns,[349] was kept in reserve, near Fleurus, ready to strike the final blow when the enemy in Ligny and St. Amand should have been sufficiently weakened by a continuous struggle of three or four hours. The whole force consisted of 67,787 men, of whom 13,394 were cavalry, with 210 guns.[350] These dispositions consumed perhaps an hour or more. At 2 o’clock the chief-of-staff, Soult, wrote[351] to Marshal Ney, informing him that, at half-past two Marshal Grouchy, with the 3d and 4th Corps, would commence an attack on a Prussian corps stationed between Sombreffe and Brye; that it was the Emperor’s intention that Ney should also attack the enemy before him; and, after having vigorously driven them, should fall back upon the main army to join in enveloping this Prussian corps, of which mention had just been made.
Then, at half-past two precisely, the battle began;[352] Gérard vigorously attacked Ligny,—Vandamme and Girard, St. Amand. With equal vigor did the Prussians defend their positions. The engagement immediately became very hot, and very sanguinary. Both sides fought with singular determination. In less than an hour Napoleon was convinced that he had more than a single corps to deal with,—as he had written to Ney,—it was an army. The success, therefore, could be made more decisive than he had at first thought possible, if only at the proper time Ney’s coöperation could be secured. Without that coöperation, indeed, he was practically sure of victory; it was plain to him that the Prussians in the villages of Ligny and St. Amand and its neighboring hamlets, and on the heights in the rear of these villages, were becoming exhausted, and were suffering terribly from the fire of his guns, to which their position on the heights exposed them;[353] he knew that when the proper moment arrived he could defeat them; but he wanted something more than a defeat; he saw that the rout or capture of this part of the Prussian army was a certain thing if Ney could only make that movement from Quatre Bras upon their right and rear, of which he had spoken in his 2 o’clock order. Hence at a quarter-past three Soult wrote to Ney again,[354] urging him to manœuvre at once, so as to envelop the enemy’s right, and to fall on his rear. He told him that the Prussian army was lost if he acted vigorously; that “the fate of France was in his hands.” “Thus,” the order proceeds, “do not hesitate an instant to make the movement which the Emperor orders, and direct yourself on the heights of Brye and St. Amand to assist in a victory perhaps decisive.”
The officers who carried these orders had some thirteen miles to ride, about six miles on cross-roads, as far as Gosselies, and the remainder on the great Brussels turnpike, on which d’Erlon’s troops were marching towards Frasnes. Their errands could not have been performed in less than two hours,[355] and as a matter of fact they required three hours. Napoleon could hardly have expected the first order to reach Ney much before 5 P.M., and the second hardly before 6 P.M. The distance from Quatre Bras to Marbais, where the road branches off from the Namur turnpike in the direction of Wagnelée, is nearly four miles. If then at 5 o’clock it should be in Marshal Ney’s power to execute the 2 P.M. order, his troops might be looked for or heard from in the direction of Marbais about 7 o’clock. If he should be unable to obey the 2 o’clock order, but should be able to execute the 3.15 order, his movement down the Namur road might be looked for about 8 o’clock.
The battle then went on with unabated determination and with heavy loss on both sides. Blücher reinforced his troops from time to time; in this way he exhausted his reserves; nearly all his divisions were brought under fire. Napoleon on the other hand was exceedingly chary of giving aid to the two corps engaged; he wished to keep his reserves as large as possible; at half-past five he had employed ten thousand fewer men than his adversary.[356] At this time, also, the 6th Corps was well on its way from Charleroi. The hour was approaching, too, when Ney’s coöperation might be expected.
Up to this time Napoleon had remained in his position in front of Fleurus;[357] it was a central position, and nothing had called for his personal superintendence elsewhere.
But now he prepared to strike the decisive blow. He determined to put in the Guard. He proposed to send to Vandamme the infantry division known as the Young Guard, and one of the two brigades of the division known as the chasseurs of the Guard;[358] the other brigade of this division he would place at the disposal of Gérard. He himself, at the head of the infantry division of grenadiers of the Guard, known as the Old Guard, with all the artillery of the Guard, with Guyot’s division of the heavy cavalry of the Guard, and Milhaud’s division of cuirassiers of the line,—to take the place of Lefebvre-Desnouettes’ division of light cavalry of the Guard which was with the left wing under Marshal Ney,—prepared to carry the village of Ligny, and the commanding heights above and to the right of the village, thereby breaking the centre of the enemy’s line.