Portable Waterloo - The Prussians

 

Les Prussiens sont arrivés!

The French reacted quickly to the arrival of the Prussian leading elements. Now, placing the formations on the edge of the board constituted the first move of any Prussian formation. This, aided by the French 'winning' the next initiative roll relative to the Prussian Corps, enabled the latter quickly to react to this incursion into their deep right flank. Closest to hand, Milhaud's cavalry corps at once engaged Prussian IV Corps Reserve cavalry, their weight and training compensating for their deficiency in numbers. Very soon they would be joined by Pajol's Lancers, and General Lefebvre-Denouette's Light Horse of the Guard - some 7000 horsemen opposing 9000 Prussian in equal numbers of horse and foot.  

French counter-action against the Prussians

Right on the edge of the battlefield, between Maransart and the Paris Wood, the French horsemen strove to contain the Prussian breakout into the open field - a struggle that, however prolonged, could have had but one outcome.

The battle elsewhere carried on uninterrupted. Lobau's leading Division (19th) had by now reached the Imperial Guard gun line, and the action around Hougoumont continued unabated. True, the assaults by 5th Division upon the chateau were repulsed with loss.  At this point, to keep back the British line, the French 3rd Cavalry Division charged the 1st Brigade of the King's German Legion (KGL) which had been detached from Clinton's 2nd Division to form line with the Guards Brigade behind Hougoumont..   

Fighting around Hougoumont.  Third Cavalry 
Division charges 1st KGL Brigade.

West of the chateau, the clash of horse and foot had developed into a general battle. Jerome Bonaparte was forced to extend his Division into a line to the left, in order to contain the attacks from British light horse and foot. The flank was covered by Kellermann's heavy horse, his 3000 troopers taking on not only 6000 Dutch-Belgian foot, but 2500 light dragoons and hussars as well. For reserves in this sector, the French had only 2nd Cavalry Division, 1500 horse, at that moment taking a breather. The Allies had the whole of 4th Infantry Division, a good 6000 strong, unengaged, in reserve. From the French point of view, this was taking a lot upon themselves.

French west of Hougoumont 
try to push ahead, but numbers are against them

It was probably fortunate for Napoleon's army that the Allies' assaults upon Frichemont had been thrown back, although 3rd Division was still locked in combat with 2nd Dutch-Belgian. With the I Corps flank for the moment unthreatened, General Milhaud felt himself able to switch front to deal with the menace that had appeared to the right rear. Already, 'Napoleon', possibly over-reacting, was directing elements of VI Corps to the right. The fact was, I was expecting the Prussian threat to develop far more quickly than it did. But it might have been better to let Lobau carry on up the road with his whole force, probably with a Division of the Guard (the Chasseurs) and the Guard Heavies, and entrust the defence of Plancenoit to the Young Guard and the Guard Grenadiers.  

General view of the east end of the field...

The injection of 3 foot divisions, the Guard heavy cavalry and the VI Corps artillery park might well have proved a real test for the Allied centre. As it was that particular test never quite materialised.

General view of the west end of the battlefield

Eventually, the entire VI Corps available (a whole infantry Division and a cavalry Brigade had been detached to Grouchy's command, several miles distant) was directed eastwards. The Young Guard, meanwhile, entered the Plancenoit village, where they began to prepare its defences.

The Young Guard entering Plancenoit to 
prepare the place for defence.

The battle to the west carried on. Their horses blown (retreat results on the combat dice), Kellermann drew his troopers for the moment out of the fight, leaving 2nd Cavalry Division to take up the unequal fight on the flank. For all that 3rd Dutch-Belgian had by this time lost a quarter of its strength.  Jerome's Division was scarcely in better shape.  At the chateau itself, the assaults of 9th Division continued as those of 5th Division were renewed.  The garrison remained unmoved.

The back-and-forth battle rages on...

... both sides scoring successes.

Mixed fortunes attended the west flank fighting.  The French light horse unexpectedly threw back the Allied cavalry, but a lunge down the road by 2nd Division threw back one of Jerome's two brigades away from the chateau.  

On the east flank it was proving impossible to contain the pent-up force of the Prussians entering the battlefield.  The 14th Brigade, filtering though Maransart village unhinged the Guard light horse, who retired a short distance.  It seemed likely that the rest of the French horse would soon also be forced back.

Inexorable push as the Prussians press onto the field.
The Guard light horse have been forced back

The pressure there was compounded by sinister developments on the I Corps front.  Recuperating from their earlier repulse, 5th Infantry Division once again flung itself into Frichemont  village. This time the impetus was too much for the garrison, which fell back out of the village - just as the 2nd Dutch-Belgians to their right were falling back from the encounter with the French 3rd Division.  The action was becoming more confused and scattered.

Allies storm the French line and carry the 
Frichemont village.

Into the gap left by the retreat of the Dutch-Belgians, thundered Uxbridge with the Household Cavalry and the Union Brigade.  Here the French Corps Commander, Count D'Erlon had placed himself - this was to be a duel between commanders.  In the ensuing clash, Uxbridge got somewhat the edge, driving the French infantry back alongside the former Frichemont garrison.  

Frichemont changes hands...

 

These Allied successes open up the right flank of the whole of I Corps, and hence, the Army.  Into the uncontested defile between Frichemont and the Paris Wood rode the 4th and 6th Cavalry Brigades, to strike the right front of the embattled 4th Division.  At the same moment, Uxbridge's heavies seemed about to break through and ride down 3rd Division.  The fate of nations seemed to hang in the balance... though not for the last time!

...4th and 6th cavalry Brigades hit 4th Division as
it evacuated the village.

At that moment, the I Corps artillery happened to be on the flank, and at close range, of the Union Brigade. Hastily drawing out of the danger, the gunners left a gap into which 1st Division closed in upon the right front of the Allied mounted elite.

1st Infantry Division appears on the flank of the 
Allied elite horse.

Back went the crack British cavalry; forward once more drove 3rd Division, forcing them back well beyond the villages. At the same time 2nd Division counter-attacked from Papelotte, and followed up the Allied 6th Division as it in turn drew off from its sustained assault. The hard fighting around Frichemont had also exacted a serious toll upon the Allied formation. Having borne the brunt of the fighting, 8th Brigade was reduced to a handful of scattered survivors (all 4 of its SP having been lost), leaving the Highlanders only to hold the place.   

Unfortunately this bad photo was the only pic I had 
if this phase of the action...

So now, again, to the Prussians, battling to clear the Maransart-Paris Wood defile. The IV Corps cavalry were finding their heavier and better trained adversaries too tough to handle.  The leading unit of uhlans were soon scattered in charge and counter-charge (these being represented simply by vagaries of the initiative rolls in an otherwise IGoUGo game system). In the thick of the fighting, Generals Milhaud and Pajol were bearing charmed lives.  

The lead Prussian uhlan unit has been wiped out,
for no material loss...

The Prussians could not remain bottled up forever. Facing far superior numbers of infantry, the Guard light horse drew off, leaving the remaining 4000 horse far too few to contain the 12,000 Prussians forcing their way into the field.

Returning to the west flank, the to-and-fro battle continued, with heavy loss on both sides. The Dutch-Belgians had lost almost half their strength, but the French cavalry had also be worn down by a third of theirs.  And still the Hougoumont held out, against assault after assault by two whole Divisions.  The whole situation seemed deadlocked - which suited the Allies far more than it did their enemy. They had the numbers.

After a prolonged resistance, hope began to rise in French hearts as there seemed a perceptible falling off in the resistance the Hougoumont garrison was putting up. At last the attackers scored a hit that halved the defenders' strength. Surely they could not hold out for much longer?

VI Corps moving over to deal with the Prussians

Now might have been the time for a general advance up the Mont St-Jean road. But by now the VI Corps was being fully committed to the flank, and the Imperial Guard grenadiers and chasseurs were a long way off from putting their weight behind a final push...

To be continued... The Battle for Hougoumont, Prussians emergent, and plenty more action to come!