Battle of Ligny
Battle of Ligny | |||||||
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Part of the War of the Seventh Coalition | |||||||
Battle of Ligny, by Théodore Jung | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
French Empire | Prussia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Gebhard von Blücher (WIA) Graf von Gneisenau Graf von Zieten Ludwig von Pirch Johann von Thielmann | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
62,882[1][a] 210 cannons[4] |
83,417[1][b] 224 cannons[4] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
8,300–12,000 killed, wounded or captured[c] |
16,000 killed or wounded[4] 8,000 captured or missing[4] 21 guns lost[6] |
The Battle of Ligny, in which French troops of the
Prelude
On 13 March 1815, six days before Napoleon reached
Only very late on the night of 15 June was Wellington certain that the Charleroi attack was the main French thrust, and he duly ordered his army to deploy near Nivelles and Quatre Bras.[9] Early on the morning of 16 June, at the Duchess of Richmond's ball, on receiving a dispatch from the Prince of Orange, he was shocked by the speed of Napoleon's advance, and hastily sent his army in the direction of Quatre Bras, where the Prince of Orange, with the brigade of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, was holding a tenuous position against the French left commanded by Marshal Ney.[10] Ney's orders were to secure the crossroads of Quatre Bras so that if necessary he could later swing east and reinforce Napoleon.
As Napoleon considered the concentrated Prussian army the greater threat, he moved against them first. Lieutenant-General
Napoleon's original plan for 16 June was based on the assumption that the Coalition forces, which had been caught napping, would not attempt a risky forward concentration, and he intended, therefore, to push an advance guard as far as Gembloux, to feel for and ward 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, Napoleon would swing the reserve westwards and join Ney, who, it was supposed, would have in the meantime mastered Quatre Bras.[11]
In pursuance of this object Ney, to whom III Cavalry Corps (
Armies
The French Armee du Nord (Army of the North) was commanded by veteran officers and headed by Napoleon himself, who had won dozens of battles. Directly under him were three
By contrast, the Prussian Army was, at this point, in a state of disorganization and rebuilding. According to historian Peter Hofschröer "The armed forces fielded by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815 were in terms of quality of manpower, equipment, and coherence of organization probably the worst fielded by Prussia in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars."[12] The Prussian cavalry was reorganizing and converting the Freecorps and Legions into regular cavalry formations. The artillery was lacking guns and needed equipment and guns and equipment continued to arrive from Prussia even as the battles were raging. No less than one-third of the Prussian Infantry consisted of Landwehr (militia) and, unlike the Landwehr of 1813/1814, these were untrained. Hofschröer says that "they could be counted to go forward in disorder and retreat in chaos".[13] To further compound the Prussians' problems, the Saxon and Rhinelander contingents were recent additions to the Prussian Army and, having been until recently part of the French Army, they were reluctant to participate. Some Saxons rebelled and were sent home before the French advanced, and many of the Rhinelanders would also desert and head home during the battle.[14]
Prussian preparations
The Prussians were not caught napping and set up a series of artillery/cavalry outposts whereby the cavalry patrolled the front and raced back to the artillery which would fire cannon in a prearranged signal. In this way, the thinly stretched 1st and 2nd Brigades were promptly alerted and began rapid assembly.[15] General Zieten's I Corps began a difficult fighting withdrawal, giving time for the Prussian Army to assemble. The post chain was a relay of towns, each set up as a fortified village. Each was commanded by a Prussian officer who made sure that the post kept enough horses, forage, and troops to move messages efficiently along. Also, these posts served as intelligence posts where surveillance would take place, stragglers would be collected, and wandering civilians would be closely questioned. A posted chain was set up back to Blücher's command post so that the Headquarters was alerted from the time of the first French deployment.[16] General Steinmetz' 1st brigade of the I Corps had been very active in touring his outposts on 12 May, 17 May, 21 May, and 9 June. Out posting and intelligence collection were given proper weight.
Reports sent back to General Steinmetz indicated that an attack was seen as imminent as soon as 12 June.[17] During the period of 12 June through to 14 June reports were sent by the I Corps brigade commanders and General Zieten himself to General Blücher and General Wellington. Also, communications were made with the Dutch cavalry adjoining I Corps position to the west. Notably, General Steinmetz ordered his brigade to assemble for defense on the night of 13 June and General Pirch II[d][18] on the morning of the 14th, so thick was French deployments to their front.[19] The first French attacks were to take place on 15 June.[20]
Converging towards battle
On 15 June Napoleon had crossed the
Blücher's troops consisted of the I Prussian Corps under
William Siborne, writing from eyewitness accounts, records it thus:
"Upon a calculation being made, however, of the time which would elapse ere the Duke would be able to collect the requisite force for undertaking this operation, and of the possibility of Blucher being defeated before it could be carried into effect, it was considered preferable that Wellington should, if practicable, move to the support of the Prussian Right by the Namur road. But a direct support of this kind was necessarily contingent on circumstances, and subject to the Duke's discretion. The latter having expressed his confident expectation of being enabled to afford the desired support, as also of his succeeding in concentrating, very shortly, a sufficient force to assume the offensive, rode back to Quatre Bras." [23]
In reaction to the troop movements of the French, II and III Corps began sending reinforcements to I Corps under General Ziethen. The Prussian front lines were too long for the troops immediately available and were dependent on the arrival of the IV Corps under Bülow advancing from Liège and the support of the promised Anglo-allied corps.
The Prussians now faced the French with 82,700 troops, with the French Army numbering around 60,800 available troops.[24]
Battlefield
The battlefield of Ligny was on the watershed between the rivers Scheldt and Meuse. The Ligny stream rises to the west of Fleurus and meanders in a northeast direction through the small village of Ligny to the confluence at Sombreffe. The stream was only a few metres wide at its edges, however, it was swampy in parts so that the bridges at Saint-Amand and Ligny were strategically important. This dictated that villages of Ligny, and St Amand and Wagnelée – connected by the hamlets of Saint Amand-le-Hameau and Saint Amand-la-Haye – were the best defensive position because they were sturdily built and surrounded by trees. The remaining parts of the battlefield consisted of fields of grain as high as a man. The windmill of Brye on a hill north-west from Ligny was a suitable vantage point and Blücher made it his headquarters during the battle. Napoleon placed his headquarters in Fleurus, where he also had a good view of the battlefield from the windmill of Naveau.
Battle
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Saint-Amand
Napoleon delayed his attack until about 14:30 when he heard cannon fire coming from the direction of Quatre Bras, and thus knew that his left flank was secure. This delay also gave Gérard's IV Corps more time to deploy as it had only recently arrived in Fleurus from the south-west, and had an important role to play in Napoleon's plan of attack on Ligny. Both delays meant that there was less time to win a decisive victory before night fell.
Napoleon began the attack with a cannonade by the Guards artillery positioned around Fleurus. Shortly afterwards Vandamme's III French Corps (Girard's 7th Infantry Division attached on its left) attacked the hamlet of Saint-Amand-la-Haye.
With the loss of Saint-Amand-la-Haye, Blücher's right flank threatened to give way, so he ordered Pirch II's 2nd Prussian Brigade to retake Saint-Amand-la-Haye. Although Girard was mortally wounded (dying in Paris on 25 June of his wounds) the French held the hamlet, so Blücher ordered
Blücher left his observation post in the windmill of Brye and intervened personally in the fight. Under his guidance, the Prussian counter-attack on the French, very weak from the preceding actions, succeeded, and Saint-Amand-la-Haye was again in Prussian hands. Thus at 19:00 Saint-Amand, Saint-Amand-la-Haye and Wagnelée were still held by the Prussians.
Ligny
At 15:00 Gérard's IV French Corps opened the battle around Ligny. Under heavy Prussian artillery fire Pécheux's 12th Infantry Division succeeded in capturing the church in the village of Ligny. With this success, however, came a price as the division now found itself under a violent bombardment from three sides. In a short time, Pécheux's division lost 20 officers and 500 men and had to withdraw. Napoleon sent a battery of 12-pounders to support another attack and with the IV Corps artillery set numerous buildings in Ligny aflame. Another attack followed with vicious house-to-house fighting, then Jagow's 3rd Prussian Brigade counter-attacked and recaptured the town.
The Prussian second lieutenant, Gerhard Andreas von Garrelts, later gave an eye-witness account of the agonies of the Belgian civilian population, caught unexpectedly in the centre of battle:
Ligny stood half on fire, locked in bright flames [...] on this occasion we found we were in a house, where all windows were destroyed, two old people, a man and a woman, showing no emotion and dazed sat at the hearth, without moving, his elbows on his knees and his head supported by his hands; the vision made us cry! Probably they had seen armed combat and were not surprised, how else could they distance themselves with death so near; we too were familiar with death, we felt compassion for these old people, but they could not be convinced to move from their home.
— Gerhard Andreas von Garrelts.[26]
Missed chance
At about 17:00 Field-Marshal Blücher employed the still-fresh II Corps under the command of General Pirch I and ordered him to deploy it into the area south of Brye. At about the same time Vandamme on the left French flank sighted a force of twenty to thirty thousand men advancing on Fleurus, which he incorrectly took to be enemy troops. Napoleon, who was preparing to launch a crucial attack at the centre of Blücher's line, was very surprised by this news because at 15:30 he had sent Comte de la Bédoyère with a written note to Marshal Ney at Quatre Bras ordering him to send d'Erlon's I Corps to attack the rear of the right Prussian flank. Instead, it seemed that the troops seen by Vandamme threatened the French left flank.
D'Erlon had gone on ahead of his corps (marching west towards Quatre Bras) to reconnoitre. Bédoyère, realising that time was of the essence, had on his initiative ordered the I Corps to turn east towards Ligny. Its leading elements came into view at 17:00, that is to say, earlier than Napoleon expected. Marshal Ney, unaware of Napoleon's instructions, sent an order to d'Erlon to immediately turn around and march back towards Quatre Bras. D'Erlon, who had caught up with his troops, turned them around only a few kilometres away from Ligny. Crucially, the I Corps did not fight in either battle that day.
Blücher took advantage of the hesitation of the French by ordering an attack on the French left flank. From his observation post in the mill of Brye, Blücher could observe how his troops fared to the west of Saint Amand. Vandamme's III Corps received unexpected support from
Prussian counter-attack
At 19:00 the situation on the battlefield was as follows: Grouchy's cavalry had captured Tongrenelle and advanced on Mont-Potiaux; in the centre, heavy fighting was taking place around Ligny; on the Prussian right flank, there was a lull in the fighting between the Young Guard and the Prussians.
It was now that Blücher received a message that Wellington was heavily engaged fighting Ney's left wing of the French army and, therefore, could on no account send support to Ligny. So Blücher decided to counter-attack on the French left flank, to force a decision. First, he strengthened his tired forces in Ligny, and then he collected his last reserves and personally led an attack on Saint-Amand. The attack was initially successful and the Prussians managed to recapture Saint-Amand-le-Hameau, but the attack faltered and they were counter-attacked by chasseurs of the Imperial Guard west of Saint-Amand and started a disorderly retreat from Saint-Amand-le-Haye.
Napoleon commits the Old Guard
Taking advantage of the Prussians' retreat, Napoleon decided it was time to launch a decisive counterstrike. He could at least beat Blücher and render the Prussians unfit for any serious operation except retreat on 17 June, although he could no longer expect to destroy the Prussian army.
The Prussians formed a new defensive line between Brye and Sombreffe, on the heights about 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) behind Ligny. Units of the I Corps and II Corps retreated to this new position and rallied, fending off French attacks as they did so.[30][27]
In the words of William Siborne:
The Prussian infantry compelled to evacuate Ligny, effected its retreat in squares, in perfect order, though surrounded by the enemy, bravely repelling all further attacks, made in the repeated but vain attempts to scatter it in confusion.[31]
Blücher is incapacitated
As a reaction to the Old Guard's attack, Blücher instructed Lieutenant-General
Prussian retreat
Sources differ over Gneisenau's leadership while Blücher was incapacitated. Chesney credits him with the decision to retreat north in support of Wellington: "Gneisenau, coming into temporary command after the fall of Blucher at the end of the battle, and finding the struggle for the present hopelessly decided, chose at all risk of inconvenience to abstain from the notion of a retreat to the east, and to keep as near as might be to the English army." [Chesney 1869, pp142–143]. Glover also writes "A retreat on Gembloux by the entire army would be the obvious course of action, except that this would lead to a complete break of contact with Wellington. Gneisenau therefore initially ordered a retreat directly north on Tilly, which would maintain that contact".[33] However, Parkinson, citing Prussian records, claims Gneisenau "raged" over the lack of British support at Ligny and decided to retreat east after Tilly: "And slowly, fatefully, Gneisenau's choice of retreat route swung towards Liege - abandoning Wellington to face Napoleon alone, outnumbered." [pp. 228–9] Blücher later summoned his British liaison officer, Sir Harry Hardinge, to inform him: "Gneisenau has given in. We are going to join the Duke." [Parkinson p. 232]. "This decision by Blücher is unquestionably worthy of the highest praise. Ignoring all the false courses of action that traditional practices and misplaced prudence might have suggested in such a case, he followed his common sense and decided to turn toward Wellington on the 18th, preferring to abandon his own line of communications rather than adopt half-measures. The battle he had lost had not been a rout. It had reduced the size of his force by only about one-sixth, and with nearly 100,000 men he could undoubtedly turn the battle that the Duke of Wellington was confronting into a victory".[34] It is noteworthy that when Blücher was found alive, he refused to consider resigning his command on account of his injuries, declaring he would rather have himself "tied to a horse than resign". [Parkinson p. 229].
At about 22:00 the order to fall back was given. On the Prussian right, Lieutenant-General Zieten's I Corps retreated slowly with most of its artillery, leaving a rear-guard close to Brye to slow any French pursuit. Pirch I's II Corps followed the I Corps off the battlefield. They formed up again within a quarter of a league of the field of battle (about 3/4 of a mile), and retired to Wavre via Tilly, free of French pursuit. "Our infantry, posted behind Ligny, though forced to retreat, did not suffer itself to be discouraged … Formed in masses, it coolly repulsed all the attacks of the cavalry, and retreated in good order upon the height, whence it continued its retrograde movement upon Tilly. … At the distance of a quarter of a league from the field of battle, the army formed again. The enemy did not venture to pursue it. The village of Brie remained in our possession during the night, as well as Sombref, where General Thielemann had fought with the 3rd Corps".[35] "At 10 o’clock the order to fall back was given, and the centre and right retrograded in perfect order. Forming again within a quarter of a league of the field of battle, they recommenced their retreat; and, unmolested by the enemy, retired upon Wavre".[36]
On the left, Lieutenant-General Thielemann's largely-unharmed III Corps withdrew last with the army's various parks in tow, toward Gembloux where Bulow waited with the newly arrived IV Corps. He left a strong rear-guard at Sombreffe. "[Gneisenau], having undertaken the direction of affairs, ordered the retreat of the First and II Corps upon Tilly, and despatched Colonel Thile with directions to Thielemann, that if he could not effect a direct retreat upon Tilly, he was to retire upon Gembloux, there to unite with Bulow, and then effect a junction with the rest of the army".[37]
The village of Brye remained in Prussian possession (I Corps) during the night, as well as Sombref, where the III Corps had held Grouchy all day. The bulk of the rear-guards held their positions until about midnight. The final units of Zieten's I Corps rear-guard only left the battlefield at daybreak on 17 June, as the exhausted French failed to press on.[38] The last of III Corps was moved in the morning of 17 June completely ignored.[38]
Von Bülow's IV Corps, which had not been engaged at Ligny, moved to a location south of Wavre and set up a strong position on which the other elements of the Prussian army could reassemble.[38] Blücher was already in communication with Wellington. "The Field Marshall promised to come with his whole army; he even proposed, in case Napoleon should not attack, that the Allies themselves, with their whole united force, should attack him the next day. This may serve to show how little the battle of the 16th had disorganised the Prussian army, or weakened its moral strength".[39]
Under the circumstances, the overall results of Ligny cannot appear out of the ordinary. It is a battle which 78,000 men lost to 75,000 by very slight tipping of the scales, after a long struggle, and without any truly glorious results for the victor, since his trophies consisted of only 21 guns and perhaps a few thousand prisoners.
— Carl von Clausewitz.[40]
8,000 troops fled to Liege and
Aftermath
The retreat of the Prussians was not interrupted, and was seemingly unnoticed, by the French.[38] Crucially, they retreated not to the east, along their lines of communication and away from Wellington, but northwards, parallel to Wellington's line of march and still within supporting distance, and remained throughout in communication with Wellington. They regrouped south of Wavre, around 13 kilometres (8 mi) march to the east of Waterloo, from whence they proceeded to Waterloo on 18 June.[38]
Wellington anticipated that Napoleon would then come against him at Quatre Bras, so he spent 17 June
Before leaving Ligny, Napoleon gave Grouchy 33,000 men and orders to follow the retreating Prussians. A late start, uncertainty about the direction the Prussians had taken, and the vagueness of the orders given to Grouchy meant that he was too late to prevent the Prussian army reaching Wavre, from where Blücher could march to support Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo and Thielmann fought the Battle of Wavre. After the French defeat at Waterloo, only Grouchy managed to retreat in good order to France with his force of nearly 30,000 organised French soldiers with their artillery. However, this army was not strong enough to resist the combined coalition forces. Napoleon announced his abdication on 24 June 1815 and finally surrendered on 15 July.
See also
- List of Napoleonic battles
Explanatory notes
Notes
- ^ a b c Leggiere 2016, p. 370.
- ^ a b Chandler 2009, p. 1044.
- ^ a b Pigeard 2004, p. 475.
- ^ a b c d e f g Clodfelter 2008, p. 183.
- ^ Hussey 2017, p. 539.
- ^ a b Rothenberg 1978, p. 253.
- ^ Price 2014.
- ^ Chandler 2009, p. 172.
- ^ Corrigan 2006, p. 299.
- ^ Longford 1971, p. 508.
- ^ a b Beck 1911, p. 375.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, p. 59.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, p. 251.
- ^ Haythornthwaite 2007, pp. 178–179.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, p. 131.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, p. 133.
- ^ victorian 2007.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, pp. 133–135.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, p. 135.
- ^ Esdaile 2016.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, p. 334.
- ^ Siborne 1848, p. 136.
- ^ Hofschröer 1999, pp. 370, 378.
- ^ Franklin 2015, p. 94.
- ^ Garrelts 1856, p. 172.
- ^ a b Glover 2014, p. 66.
- ^ Beck 1911, pp. 377.
- ^ Mueffling 1833, pp. 73–74.
- ^ Siborne 1848, pp. 248–249.
- ^ Siborne 1848, p. 243.
- ^ Siborne 1848, pp. 245–246.
- ^ Glover 2014, p. 89.
- ^ Clausewitz 2010, Chapter 37.
- ^ Mueffling 1833, p. 74.
- ^ Maxwell 1833, p. 213.
- ^ Siborne 1848, p. 251.
- ^ a b c d e Chesney 1907, p. 136.
- ^ Mueffling 1833, p. 77.
- ^ Clausewitz 2010, Chapter 33.
- ^ Siborne 1848, p. 305.
- ^ Longford 1971, p. 527.
References
- Beck, Archibald Frank (1911), Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 28 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 371–381 , in
- Chandler, David (2009). The Campaigns of Napoleon. Scribner. ISBN 978-1439131039. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
- Clodfelter, M. (2008). Warfare and armed conflicts : a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1494-2007. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0786433193.
- Chesney, Charles C. (1907), Waterloo Lectures: A Study Of The Campaign Of 1815, Longmans, Green, and Co.
- Chesney, Charles Cornwallis (1869), Waterloo Lectures: A Study of the Campaign of 1815, Longmans, Green, and Company, pp. 142–143
- ISBN 978-1453701508
- Corrigan, Gordon (2006). Wellington: A Military Life. Hambledon and London, 2001, the University of Michigan. p. 299. ISBN 978-1852855154.
- Esdaile, Charles (2016). Napoleon, France and Waterloo: The Eagle Rejected. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1473870840.
- Franklin, John (2015), Waterloo 1815 (2): Ligny, Bloomsbury Publishing, p. 94, ISBN 978-1-4728-0368-9
- Garrelts, Gerh. Andr. von (1856), Die Ostfriesen im deutschen Befreiungskriege: Gesch. des ehemal. 3ten Westphälisch-Ostfries. Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiments, der freiwilligen Jäger, der Cavallerie … seit ihrer Entstehung bis zur Auflösung in den Kriegsjahren 1813, 1814 u. 1815. Mit alleger. Abbildung des Upstalsbooms u. Schlachtplan von Ligerz u. Waterloo, W. Bock, p. 172
- Glover, Gareth (2014), "Chapter 8: The Battle of Ligny", Waterloo: Myth and Reality, Pen and Sword, pp. 59–67, ISBN 978-1-78159-356-1
- Haythornthwaite, Philip (2007). The Waterloo Armies: Men, Organization and Tactics. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1473800434.
- Hofschröer, Peter (1999), 1815, The Waterloo Campaign: The German Victory, London: ISBN 1-85367-368-4
- Hussey, John (2017). Waterloo: The Campaign of 1815, Volume 1. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1784381981.
- Leggiere, Michael (2014), Blücher, the scourge of Napoleon, Arthur H Clark, ISBN 978-0806144092
- Leggiere, Michael V., ed. (2016), Napoleon and the Operational Art of War, Brill, ISBN 978-9004310032
- Longford, Elizabeth (1971), Wellington the Years of the Sword, Panther
- Maxwell, William Hamilton (1833), Stories of Waterloo, R. Bentley, p. 209
- Mueffling, Friedrich Carl Ferdinand von (1833), A Sketch of the Battle of Waterloo: To which are Added Official Despatches of ... the Duke of Wellington ... Prince Blucher, and Reflexions on the Battles of Ligny and Waterloo, Pratt & Barry, pp. 74, 77
- Pigeard, Alain (2004), Dictionnaire des batailles de Napoléon, Tallandier, Bibliothèque Napoléonienne, ISBN 2-84734-073-4
- Price, Munro (2014). Napoleon: The End of Glory. Oxford University Press.
- Siborne, William (1848), The Waterloo Campaign, 1815 (Fourth ed.), Edward Arber
- Siborne, William (1895). The Waterloo Campaign, 1815 (4th ed.). Westminster: A. Constable.
- victorian (2007). "Georg Dubislav Ludwig von Pirch". fortunecity.com. Archived from the original on 15 August 2007.[better source needed]
- OCLC 3272721.
Further reading
- "Battle of Ligny 1815: Maps, Order of Battle, Diagrams". napoleonistyka. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
- "Field Marshal Prince von Blücher". Waterloo200. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
External links
- Media related to Battle of Ligny at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Battle of Quatre Bras |
Napoleonic Wars Battle of Ligny |
Succeeded by Battle of Waterloo |