The inference is that Napoleon may well have thought it better to let d’Erlon proceed in obedience to the orders under which he was acting when he came upon the field.
7. We may fairly say that Napoleon fought few battles in his whole career more carefully and more skilfully than the battle of Ligny. The difference between a brave and zealous general of ordinary capacity and a master in the art was well illustrated on this field. Clausewitz’s remarks on this battle are very clear and instructive. We give them in full,—premising that the figures vary more or less from those which we have adopted.
[391]“If we get a picture of the whole battle, it is like all modern battles, a slow destruction of the opposing forces in the first line, where they touch each other, in a fire lasting many hours, subjected to only slight oscillations, till, at last, one part obtains a clear superiority in reserves, i.e., in fresh bodies, and then with these gives the deciding blow to the already wavering forces of the enemy.
“Bonaparte advances with about 75,000 men[392] against Blücher, whose three united corps form a force of 78,000 men,[393] that is of equal strength.
“With about 30,000 men he combats, from 3 o’clock till 8, the two chief points of Blücher’s position, St. Amand and Ligny. He employs some 6,000 men to occupy the IIId Prussian army corps, and with 33,000 he remains far behind the fighting line, quietly in reserve. Of these he employs 6,000 men finally to sustain the battle at St. Amand.
“As early as 6 o’clock he determines to give the deciding blow at Ligny with the Guard: at that moment he receives the information that a considerable corps has appeared on his left flank, about one hour’s march distant. Bonaparte stops his movement, for it might be a corps coming from the enemy at Brussels. The fact is, it was Frasnes against St. Amand. A troop of cavalry is sent in haste to reconnoitre this corps, but nearly two hours go by before the news comes back that it is the 1st French army corps. On this account the attack on Ligny does not take place till 8 o’clock.
“Even this blow Bonaparte does not give with the whole mass of his reserves, but only with about half of them, that is, with the Guard; the 6th Corps remains behind as a reserve.
“Blücher has in the beginning of the battle employed the Ist army corps of 27,000 men in the positions of Ligny and St. Amand, and the IIId, of 22,000 men, in that extending from Sombreffe to Balâtre, and has kept back only the IId, with 29,000 men, as a reserve. It is true that the IIId army corps could have been concentrated, since the enemy did not attack it in earnest, and it may have been looked upon as a reserve. Blücher, it is true, counted still on Bülow’s arrival; but it did not take place, and so the situation of the Prussian reserves remained always unfavorable. The IId army corps, that is, the reserves, were gradually, as we have seen, employed to sustain the battle. Nothing therefore remained to decide the battle even if the state of the battle had remained perfectly balanced, or even had turned out favorably for us.
“As the day ended, the situation of the opposing forces was somewhat as follows: Blücher had used up in the villages 38,000 infantry, who had suffered considerably, had in great part expended their ammunition, and must be looked upon as useless, in which there was not much more force. 6,000 infantry were stationed behind the villages, scattered in single battalions which had however not yet fought. The rest of the 56,000 men of the Ist and IId army corps were cavalry and artillery, of which only a small part was fresh.
“If the IIId army corps had been collected, or if it had been sufficiently provided for, it would have been a reserve of about 18,000 men; it could therefore have been said that Blücher had still 24,000 men in reserve.