7. Chapter IV.—The mismanagement of the places of assembly and the times of starting the march of different bodies of troops which have to take the same road, leads to miserable confusion. In the present case, there were two Corps d’Armée, Gérard’s and Vandamme’s, which were required to march from Ligny and St Amand La Haye respectively, to Point-du-Jour by one and the same road. It seems obvious that, time being important, and considering the positions of the two Corps, Gérard’s Corps should be marched off first, while Vandamme’s should follow as soon as it was ready. But Grouchy, for no reason which can be found, ordered Vandamme to take the lead. Gérard had to wait over one hour while Vandamme’s Corps passed him.
It is not an easy matter to arrange, in a case of this kind, that the front corps should be clear by the time that the head of the corps in rear comes up; but Gérard’s Corps was sufficiently far ahead of Vandamme’s to allow plenty of time for his men to get on their way before the latter approached, and, at all events, it would have been better to halt Vandamme, while Gérard moved well on the road, than to keep Gérard waiting while Vandamme passed him.
8. Chapter IV.—Vandamme’s march on Gembloux was extremely slow. He left his bivouac at 12 noon, and arrived at Point-du-Jour, less than 4 miles off, at 3 P.M., and at Gembloux, another 5 miles, at 7 P.M. The roads, it must be remembered, were in a deplorable condition, and the rain was falling steadily; but the rate of marching, when compared with the rate of the Prussians over the same road, in only slightly better condition of surface, and with the rate in Grouchy’s subsequent retreat, also in heavy weather, is extraordinarily slow. The guns were moved with great difficulty, and it must be supposed that infantry in large numbers were used to drag them along, but there were still horses to be used, and the Prussians had moved all their guns and waggons successfully. The state of the weather has always been urged in extenuation of Grouchy’s slowness in this campaign, but it has been laboured too much. It certainly was a very heavy factor against him, but not so overpowering as is alleged.
9. Chapter IV.—Grouchy wasted valuable time in bivouacking at Gembloux, when there were still two hours of daylight left. His men must have been tired with their exertions through the mud; but they had not made extraordinary efforts. French soldiers had proved themselves capable of greater things in other days, and under other commanders. Had they even pushed on to Sauvenière that night, they would have arrived early enough to allow themselves some six or eight hours’ rest; or even longer if the cavalry were used with skill. The difficulties of this particular march are often exaggerated; compare it with the marching of the same men two days later, over the same roads, and after continuous fighting for several hours; compare it, too, with some of the marches in the Peninsula, a few years before!
10. Chapter IV.—Grouchy’s despatch from Gembloux on the night of the 17th to the Emperor cannot be read without a feeling of surprise at his words. In the first place, he says, “My cavalry is at Sauvenière.” Now, Napoleon would naturally infer that Pajol’s cavalry were included; or that all the cavalry were probably together. It was misleading to say that his “cavalry was at Sauvenière.” Secondly, “They (the Prussians) were still here at ten o’clock this morning.” The Emperor would at once conclude that the enemy had left soon after ten o’clock; he certainly would suppose that Grouchy would have found out if they had remained there later. Actually, the Prussians left at 2 P.M., four hours later. Thirdly, “He (Blucher) has not passed by Gembloux.” Napoleon would suppose (since Grouchy had been instructed to keep touch with the left wing) that traces of Blucher and his main body had been searched for between the line of Grouchy’s march and the main French army. On these three essential points, the information given in the despatch was decidedly misleading. Some other details were inaccurate, but they were reasonable convictions, as far as Grouchy’s views went. Negative information in war is very often as useful and important as positive; and Grouchy would have assisted Napoleon to form his ideas if he had reported that he had discovered no signs of a Prussian retreat on Namur. He should also have made some mention of Pajol’s detachment—such as “no news has been received from Pajol, who is on my right at St Denis, with a detachment of cavalry and infantry.” Again, had Grouchy only accounted for 30,000 Prussians, of the whole of Blucher’s army? What had become of the remainder? Where were they?
Napoleon must have found it impossible to draw inferences of any weight from this despatch; and in such a campaign as this, full and accurate intelligence was of the utmost importance.
11. Chapter V.—A flank march in presence of the enemy is a most difficult and dangerous operation. In the case of Blucher’s movement, there was little actual danger from Grouchy, as events proved, but in face of a vigorous enemy the Prussians would have been in a perilous position. It was possible for an active enemy to seize the bridges over the Dyle at Moustier and Ottignies, and fall upon Blucher’s flank. The latter was not exposing his communications, for his real communications were with Liege; he had temporarily abandoned them when he marched on Wavre; but if attacked during his march his position would not have been by any means safe. If defeated, whither would he have fallen back? This is the chief danger of a flank march: the lack of a good, or even of any, line of retreat. As a rule, a flank march, being away from the general line of advance or retreat, has necessarily to be made on lesser roads, and the difficulty of ample movement from one to another, or of rapid deployment or change of front, becomes prodigious. Blucher, if attacked during this march, would most probably have left one corps to detain the enemy, while he, with the other three corps, resumed his march towards Wellington; for to turn back would have been as dangerous as to advance. But if his way had been barred he would have fallen back on Brussels rather than upon Louvain, as he would still have a chance of joining Wellington. If Blucher had been so attacked and defeated, Grouchy would have been able to deal a terrible, in all probability a crushing, blow on Wellington’s left flank.
It is interesting, but not particularly profitable, to speculate as to what course events would have taken had Grouchy been up in time to prevent Blucher’s flank march, and had checked him. Would Wellington have fallen back on Brussels with Blucher, and fought again under the city walls against Napoleon and Grouchy combined? In that case, the weight of numbers would have been very much in favour of the allies, and the great object of Napoleon’s plan of campaign—to prevent the junction of the two armies—would have been thwarted. If Blucher, after being checked, had fallen back on Louvain, while Wellington was still engaged with Napoleon, it seems obvious that Grouchy’s extra numbers thrown into the fight would have caused the Duke’s overthrow, for it would not then have been necessary for Napoleon to detach against the Prussians; Wellington was too seriously engaged to be able to withdraw, and the defeat would have been complete. But after all, such speculation as this might be continued indefinitely; and every campaign might be discussed and argued to a hundred different conclusions by re-modelling the conditions or improvising situations. A campaign, like a chess problem, admits of more than one solution.
12. Grouchy’s Retreat. Chapter VIII.—A few points concerning Grouchy’s retreat may be discussed briefly. Firstly, could he have been intercepted before he reached Namur? The answer is Yes, by Pirch I. Pirch had received orders, on the night of the 18th, to cut off Grouchy from the Sambre; and he had accordingly marched towards Namur through Maransart. He reached Mellery at 11 A.M. on the 19th. At this hour, Grouchy had not begun his retreat. But Pirch’s men were tired, and they were halted at Mellery. Had they pushed on another six miles to Gembloux, which they would have reached at 2 P.M., Grouchy’s retreat on Namur would have been intercepted. It is true that Grouchy’s force would have greatly outnumbered Pirch’s, but the former would not stop to engage the Prussians at Gembloux while Thielemann pressed close on his heels. He would have been forced to make a very wide detour, and in the meantime the Prussians could have hastened on and captured Namur.
Secondly, after Namur, why was not Grouchy more closely pursued? It would have been an idle move to detach a force to follow Grouchy while the advance on Paris was of such immediate importance. At best, Grouchy could threaten the Prussian flank; but he would be more likely to endeavour to join with the remnants of Napoleon’s army collected by Soult. Little harm could be done by these forces; and the contagion of defeat might have spread from Soult’s fugitives and demoralised Grouchy’s men. In any case, the other allied armies were approaching the frontier, and these would be able to deal with Grouchy. The important move was to march on Paris, where the populace, sickened by Napoleon’s collapse, were likely to accept terms.