What Happened? Where the Heck is Mont St Jean?

French Supply Train in Camp, during the Waterloo campaign 1815
Florent Vincent
Source

Napoléon had mustered the equivalent of six combined arms corps (infantry, artillery, and cavalry) and four cavalry corps (cavalry and horse artillery) at the frontier with Belgium by early June. Roughly 125,000 men and over 300 cannon were ready to march against the enemy.

That enemy was composed of roughly 107,000 Anglo-Allied (English, Irish, Scots, Welshman, Dutchmen, Belgians, and various assorted Germans, not the least of which were the King's German Legion) troops under the Duke of Wellington and some 123,000 Prussians under Field Marshal Blücher. Napoléon had rough parity with the Prussians and outnumbered the Anglo-Allied army in both quantity and (IMHO) quality.

As can be seen below, Wellington's forces were spread from Brussels to Mons on a north-south line and from Genappe to south of Ghent on an east-west line. Each red block indicates an Anglo-Allied unit, the blue are the French, and the gray are the Prussians.

The Prussians were concentrated in four blocks of corps strength as can be seen on the map. They could concentrate forward near Ligny with Ziethen, which they did in real life, or fall back on Liege which led back to the Rhine and their supply bases.

I've circled in green the four locations where battles were fought during this campaign: Quatre Bras and Ligny on the 16th of June, then Mont St Jean and Wavre on the 18th of June. (No boys and girls, there was no battle fought at Waterloo, that was where Wellington had his headquarters and he liked the name, easy for an Englishman to pronounce, dontcha know. As he won the battle, he got to name it. Though the Prussians might argue that point, with good reason. They call it the battle of La Belle Alliance, the inn near Napoléon's position during the battle where Wellington and Blücher met as the French army fled down the road to Paris. Incidentally, La Belle Alliance translates to "the beautiful alliance." So named by the proprietor of said inn, apparently it came with his wife when they got married. The place still exists and was a night club, last I knew.)

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In real life, the French drove back the Prussian outposts on the 15th of June in the vicinity of Charleroi. The delay gave the Prussians time to concentrate three corps (Ziethen, Pirch, and Thielmann) in the area of Ligny. Napoléon brought up the equivalent of four combined arms corps (III Corps under Vandamme, IV Corps under Gérard, VI Corps under Lobau, and the Imperial Guard under Drouot) and most of three cavalry corps (the four cavalry corps are shown on the map in one block, the one labeled "Grouchy").

Napoléon sent II Corps (Reille) and elements of one cavalry corps with some Guard cavalry to drive off the Anglo-Allied units near Quatre Bras. D'Erlon, commanding I Corps was held in general reserve behind the II Corps. The Emperor took personal command at Ligny, Marshal Michel Ney commanded the left wing, the chaps going up against Quatre Bras.

The fighting at Ligny was bloody and brutal, no quarter was asked or given. At Quatre Bras, Ney let his troops have their breakfast before launching an attack on the crossroads around two in the afternoon.

Two. In the afternoon. (Kinda late, dontcha think?)

Meanwhile, the Emperor called on D'Erlon to bring his corps to Ligny, where he could fall on the rear of the Prussian right flank and complete that army's utter destruction. Ney recalled D'Erlon to Quatre Bras. So I Corps spent the battle marching back and forth, their intervention on either field would have been decisive, but their arrival at Ligny would have probably knocked the Prussians all the way back to Liege. (Field Marshal Blücher got lucky, he had his horse shot out from under him while leading an attack and went unnoticed in the gloaming, being ridden over by French cavalry at least twice.)

Now Blücher's chief of staff, Gneisenau, didn't trust the Duke of Wellington, his initial desire was to retreat on Ligny. He did think better of it and ordered a retreat on Wavre, where the Prussian army would be able to provide support to Wellington, who they knew would retreat when he got word of the Prussian defeat at Ligny. Wellington's army was absolutely no match for the combined forces under Napoléon.

So back they went, Wellington towards Mont St Jean, a position he was familiar with, and the Prussians to Wavre. Not an easy march to Mont St Jean for the Prussians but doable. (As they accomplished this in real life, they proved it to be doable. But had they had to fight their way there? No way. IMHO)

Napoléon was exhausted after Ligny. He decided to move against Wellington next, leaving Grouchy to chase down what the Emperor thought were the remnants of Blücher's army while he dealt with the Anglo-Allied army.

Grouchy's pursuit got a late start, mostly because of the Emperor wanting to review the troops and walk the field of what turned out to be his very last victory. Ney also dawdled at Quatre Bras, again having a leisurely breakfast while the Anglo-Allies scooted north as the heavens erupted in a spectacular thunderstorm. Heavy rain turned the fields and the side roads into muck, which did slow the pursuit of both wings.

The Anglo-Allies made it to Mont St Jean where they populated the ridge there and a number of sturdy farmsteads to oppose Napoléon's army coming up, albeit slowly, from the south.

Grouchy simply plodded along after the Prussians. Napoléon's orders had been to keep the tip of his sword at Blücher's backside. What Grouchy did more or less was wave a butter knife at him from a comfortable distance. A close pursuit might have caused the Prussians to disintegrate. The pursuit was anything but close.

At Mont St Jean, the 18th dawned wet and soggy. The ground was extraordinarily muddy and Napoléon's artillery chief recommended waiting to start the battle until after the ground had dried out some. So they waited, Napoléon reviewed the troops, then retired to rest his weary ass (he was still being bothered by piles, especially after having been in the saddle most of the 16th and a large part of the 17th.) So he left Ney in charge.

The French opened the battle (probably after 1300 hours) with a cannonade on the center of Wellington's line and a probe towards a rather large complex of farm buildings on Wellington's right flank. Place called Hougoumont, also known as the Chateau de Goumont. That place had a competent garrison, mostly British Guards and some German light infantry in the woods in front of the place.

History has it that Napoléon wanted to distract the British at Hougoumont, but his kid brother Jérôme, who commanded a division in II Corps, let his troops get carried away. The corps commander, Reille, did little to restrain Jérôme. So what should have been a sideshow sucked in a large part of II Corps.

On Napoléon's right, I Corps finally went into action, using an odd formation which massed the troops in great blocks. Few could fire their weapons, but as a way to get quickly over the field, it wasn't that bad of an idea. It nearly worked, but for the British cavalry's Union Brigade (made up of English, Scottish, and Irish troops) headlong attack at the head of the left most French column. Which completely disrupted them, causing them to flee back to their starting point.

The British cavalry chased them all the way to the gun line where they were counterattacked by French cavalry. In reality, Wellington traded a single cavalry brigade for 12 brigades of French infantry. Not a bad deal.

After that early success the French continued to pound the Anglo-Allied line. A number of Wellington's units fled the field, leading Marshal Ney to think that the Anglo-Allied army was retreating, so he launched most of his cavalry, thousands of horsemen, at the Anglo-Allied ridge. Where they were driven off by artillery and infantry fire from the infantry massed in squares, a pretty good all-round defense against cavalry.

The Battle of Waterloo: The British Squares Receiving the Charge of the French Cuirassiers
Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux¹ (PD)

Sometime in the early evening Napoléon came out of his misery and realized that Ney was thrashing. Though he had answered rudely when Ney had begged for infantry, "What does he expect me to do? Make them?" He decided to slap together some of the surviving units from I Corps (there were quite a few lying about). (Ignoring the fact that he still had the Imperial Guard in reserve. Though in all fairness, the Prussians were nearby and the Emperor knew it.)

A task group was put together to seize the farm complex of La Haye Sainte which stood just below the center of Wellington's position. There had been fighting around that place all day, but now the French got serious and the men of the King's German Legion, manning that post, ran out of ammunition. So they had no choice but to flee.

Source

At nearly the same time the Prussians were making their presence known on the French right flank, the Emperor had already sent the small VI Corps to that flank to stop the Prussians and had had to reinforce them with elements of the Imperial Guard.

As the sun set, as men screamed and died, as cannon and musket fire shattered the ear drums of the combatants as well as clogging the air with thick clouds of powder smoke, the Duke of Wellington allegedly muttered, "Give me night, or give me the Prussians." He could feel the morale of his army wavering.

That's about the time Napoléon sent his last reserve into the fight, elements of the Imperial Guard went up the ridge, were shattered by musket fire, and the French army went from being disciplined soldiers to a panicked mob. Fleeing back from whence they came.

Near Wavre, Grouchy and his two corps essentially kept one Prussian corps away from the main show. He basically did little or nothing. Had he tried to interpose his troops between Wavre and Mont St Jean, or launched attacks against the marching Prussians trying to cross the sodden terrain using bad roads, who knows what might have happened.

Well, we'll see, won't we?

¹ One of my favorite paintings though the terrain in the background is horribly inaccurate.

Uh Wait, What?

The Morning of The Battle of Waterloo: the French Await Napoleon's Orders
Ernest Crofts
Source

Okay, in my haste to entertain you with my fictional tale of what might have been had the French won at Waterloo, I made a huge error. It's an error frequently fallen into by those who consider themselves experts in any field. Trying to explain something to someone, who may not be an expert in that field or perhaps know nothing at all about that field, without going into agonizing detail about that field. Perhaps assuming that the person to whom they are telling the story has the same intimate knowledge of the subject at hand.

Mea culpa, for I have done exactly that.

For instance, in telling the tale of how Napoléon averted disaster by having some guy named Bourmont killed, "accidentally" of course, I neglected to really tell you the whole story. I just kind of assumed everyone would say, "Oh yeah, Bourmont, kill that traitor." Most of you, no doubt, have no idea who that guy was. Unless you chased the link to the Wikipedia article about him. And really, who wants to constantly chase links during a story? I know I don't, my stance is always, "Come on, get on with it, I'm not chasing your bloody link again."

So this post is an attempt to at least get everyone on the same page concerning the Waterloo campaign, or more properly the Hundred Days campaign. Wikipedia does have a good article on the campaign which I'll let you track down at your leisure, or not at all should that be your desire.

Anyhoo ...

The Waterloo campaign was the final act of a long series of wars begun during the French Revolution, then continuing during Napoléon Bonaparte's reign as Emperor of France. Our focus is on the Napoleonic Wars, running from 1805 to 1815.

Now the French pretty much had things go their way up until about 1808, 1809 if you count the campaign that year against Austria, a French victory. But in 1808 the French got sucked into Spain, their Vietnam/Afghanistan if you will. Many historians call the Spanish campaign the bleeding ulcer, it was a constant drain on French resources and seriously hurt French morale.

Why Spain though? Well, you have to understand that the French had pretty much beaten down the Prussians, the Austrians, and the Russians. But every time they ended the war, the British would dig deep and come up with more money to finance yet another coalition to fight Napoléon. They had the advantage of their island and the most powerful navy on the planet between them and the French.

As much as Napoléon wanted to be done with those pesky islanders, he couldn't get to them. The Royal Navy had smashed the combined French and Spanish fleets (huh, the Spanish, I thought the French were their enemies) at Trafalgar. Napoléon was a master of land combat, never did understand the sea. A big advantage the British had was that their navy was constantly at sea, blockading the French and cutting off their trade from the rest of the world. The French mostly sat in port, plotting to drive the Brits off but never getting quite there. Though, for the most part, French ships were better, it ain't the ship, it's the crew. And the Royal Navy had some excellent sailors.

Anyhoo, why were the Brits so pissed off at the French, I mean besides the centuries of warfare and animosity between those two nations? Well, the British believed in trade, and making money from that trade. They liked the idea of a balance of power on the continent, better for trade and better for the British economy.

So the Napoleonic Wars could be viewed as a long squabble over hegemony in Europe. The French on the one hand wanting to dominate, the British on the other being quite opposed to that.

Long story short, Napoléon came up with this thing he called the Continental System whereby British trade would be locked out of Europe altogether. It might have worked had Napoléon thought it through a lot better than he did.

The Russians, being far from Paris, and being huge and kind of isolated, had made a lot of money trading with the British. Having that trade cut off really hurt the Russian economy, so they began trading with the British again, even after "allying" themselves with the French (after getting their asses kicked at the Battle of Friedland in 1807). Yup, that pissed Napoléon off, so he decided to invade Russia to enforce his Continental System.

Invade Russia, where have I heard that before?

At any rate, Napoléon took this huge army into Russia in 1812, many of those guys never returned home. It was the Emperor's first big defeat. Though he managed to scrape an army together in 1813, the French were driven back behind their own borders and the Campaign of 1814 was fought within France.

Yup, they lost and Napoléon was forced into exile on the island of Elba. Pretty much forced by circumstance and his own marshals to give up the throne altogether.

The Bourbon dynasty returned to France and pretty much tried to set the clock back to 1789. As if the Revolution had never happened. As is true of I'd say 95% of all royalty, the Bourbons were too stupid to make a go of it. They might have succeeded as the French people were pretty sick of the constant wars. But bring in the air-headed nobles swinging their titles and names around and suddenly Napoléon didn't seem all that bad.

The French people were pissed, the French Army was pissed, and the many veterans who had marched with Napoléon were also pissed. Like old soldiers everywhere, they had forgotten the horrors and the hardship and only remembered the "good times."

Napoléon heard all of this and decided to have another go at things. He landed on the coast of southern France with less than two thousand men, and within a month was back in Paris, back on the throne, and apparently willing to let bygones be bygones, he appealed for peace.

The allied powers (Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Spain, Portugal, a slew of duchies and principalities, and France herself in the person of Talleyrand) had been meeting in Vienna to decide the future of Europe. Upon hearing of Napoléon's return they declared him an outlaw, they didn't declare war against France, they declared war against a person, Napoléon Bonaparte.

The Emperor had to scurry, basically slapping an army together in record time to contend with all of Europe. Small armies would suffice to watch the frontiers as it would take time for the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians to get their armies to France, but to go after a nearby enemy the Emperor put together a fairly creditable force, the Armée du Nord, or Army of the North, to strike into Belgium where a Prussian army under Blücher was waiting to advance on Paris and an Anglo-Allied army under the Duke of Wellington was waiting for the same.

Napoléon's thought process was pretty simple, destroy these two armies and the other nations might just say the hell with it and throw in the towel. Especially if he could destroy Wellington's army as it might convince the British government to put away their checkbook. No money to fight Napoléon and maybe he would leave everyone alone. (He'd never known a moment where the British weren't paying someone to fight him so you never know, maybe he would've been content with peace. At least for a while. Who knows?)

Here's how things stood at the beginning of June 1815 -

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Below is a map of the dispositions of Wellington and Blücher. Note that near the small crossroads village of Quatre Bras is a corps labeled as being under the command of the Prince of Orange, heir to the throne of the Netherlands. Twenty two years old and a full general (!)  in the British army, he commanded the Anglo-Allied troops in Belgium prior to Wellington's arrival. He was at Waterloo, the Butte du Lion on that field was erected over the spot where he was wounded, and he played a big part in the battle.

British historians denigrate his performance at the battle for various reasons. Dutch historians disagree. One can say that the Prince was young and inexperienced, this being his first command. But he did make mistakes and it did lead to unnecessary losses. Of course, a lot of far more experienced commanders have made similar errors. It's war, it's hard to be everywhere at once and understand everything going on amidst the powder smoke, the gunfire, and the screams of the dying.

Source

So the strategic big picture is that the French face two armies, they have one. If their enemy joins forces, the war is lost. If Napoléon can get between them, screen one while destroying the other, they had a chance at victory.

The Emperor determined that the Prussians would be attacked first, drive them back on their lines of supply running to the Rhine, in the opposite direction of Wellington's lines of supply which ran to the Channel ports, thence to England.

But could he get there fast enough, catching his opponents off guard?

In real life he did.

"Napoléon has humbugged me, by God; he has gained twenty-four hours' march on me." - The Duke of Wellington when informed of Napoléon's army marching into Belgium

On the morrow, we'll look at the tactical picture presented to the Armée du Nord and its commanders.

Bataille d'Iéna. 14 octobre 1806
Horace Vernet (PD)

À bientôt!

Author's Note: I note that today is Bastille Day, or as the French call it, La Fête Nationale. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that. My French ancestors would be spinning in their graves if I forgot ...

Progress Update "Home on the Range"

 

Ok,  I've gone through a lot of the Medal of Honor stories (still got a few left, but I'm keeping them in my pocket in case of loss of story creativity) and I've added a couple of stories about flying which I think interest a lot of you.  But, I'm dredging the bottom of my story index,  so, I thought I'd show y'all the progress on the house.  No Beans, we're not that close to moving in. Yet! But, in spite of some uncontrollable setbacks (AKA Weather) we're getting closer.  Here's the visual  story of construction progress.

Demolition of the old house (very old and decrepit)

Cleaning up the site

Electricity installed on property

Framing the foundation

Framing took 2 or 3 days

 Okay, we’ve survived the financial and weather hoops that needed to be jumped. Evidently 6 inches of rain in a couple of hours upsets the construction crews. What did I know. 

But back in action again 

 

Adding soil in preparation for pouring the slab

 

:Lots of fill AKA dirt! Lots and Lots

 

Weather cooperating this week, the next step is to level the dirt and then the plumbers and electricians will come in and set the pipes and pull wires and plumbing into those pipes.   After that will be pouring and curing the cement foundation of the main house.  Builder says this could take 3 to 6 weeks for the cement to cure depending on the weather and there's only one entity that controls that.  While that's curing, they'll pour the foundation for my Brother's cabin and get it started curing also.  Lots of balls in the air.  

 

Concrete has been poured in the horse barn.

 

They've even started on my brother's house

 

 

The weather has improved greatly and heavy rain is not forecast for a while. But, as can be expected in June, July and August in Texas, it's hot as H377. (You know what that's code for.) But progress is being made. 

 

We shall see what we shall see when we see it. Hopefully something like this!

Please Lord! 

 

 

 

 

Peace out, y'all!

The Cupboard is Bare, As Is My Brain

Source

The heat of summer can be enervating, especially when one is in trail with a lawnmower.

After three weeks of lots of heat and not a lot of rain, the grass wasn't so much high as it was ragged.

So I waited until the outside temperature got closer to 80 than 90, then donned my working attire and set forth to cut the front yard.

It's done, I had a Guinness to celebrate than repaired to the dining room to consume a roast beef sandwich, with horse radish sauce, of course.

That being done, I thought about the blog.

Brain said, "Nope, not today pal."

So here we are ...

Juvat will be up tomorrow, and we'll get back with the Armée du Nord on Tuesday. They're camped on the frontier with Belgium, waiting for the word to advance.

Hopefully the Emperor can round up his stray marshals and get things going.

Wellington and Blücher ain't gonna wait forever.

Damn, I miss the beach.

Ciao!

Laggards

Chevau-léger lancier du 2e régiment
Hippolyte Bellangé (PD)

The carriage jolted to a halt, nearly throwing the Emperor from his seat. He had refused the offer of Ali to pull out the bed, wanting to remain awake to address the voluminous correspondence which he had received prior to departing Paris. Normally he would have let Berthier handle that, but that man needed to focus on the campaign ahead.

Napoléon looked outside and saw a lancer of the 2nd Régiment. So, the duty squadron, dedicated to protecting his person, had changed during the night. While he preferred that the Guard Chasseurs à Cheval¹ handle this duty on the day of battle, during movements such as this, duty squadrons could be, and often were, drawn from line cavalry regiments.

An officer of that unit approached the carriage.

"Sire, my apologies for the abrupt stop, an ammunition wagon is blocking the road ahead and the dunces did not light a torch to warn oncoming traffic."

The Emperor nodded, then dismounted from the carriage.

"It's quite all right, Captain ..." he squinted in the lantern light at the mounted man.

"Beauvais, yes? Captain Beauvais, you were a corporal in my Guard in Russia, yes?"

"Yes Sire, I was, I'm surprised you remembered."

"We shared a shank of mutton outside Orsha as I recall."

"We did Sire, a meal which kept me alive. I am still grateful."

"I'm glad to see you promoted, my line cavalry needs brave officers. You learned your trade well in my Guard."

"A harsh school, Sire, but yes. Excuse me while I see to the obstruction in the road."

Napoléon waved his hand as if to say, "carry on," but given with the air of one soldier to another, not as an emperor to a junior officer.

Berthier had dismounted from his carriage as well, he watched the interaction between the cavalryman and the commander in chief. He turned to his aide.

"And that is why we follow him, to the grave if necessary."

The aide, Général de Brigade Louis-François Lejeune nodded, "Even though the Emperor had me arrested for leaving the army without orders in 1812, it's why I agreed to rejoin the army under le Maréchal Oudinot in 1813."

"You have no problem with that, the Emperor himself left the army on the retreat after all?"

"It may seem hypocritical but the man is the head of state, Paris left to herself will always make trouble. Someone had to take the reins, and they were, and are again, his to take."

Berthier nodded, "Indeed. But you took up painting did you not, after the Emperor's abdication?"

"Yes, I enjoy it, but my country, and my Emperor, called out to me. I couldn't justify sitting at home painting landscapes while my brothers marched against the enemy."

Berthier was about to speak when he heard the Emperor call his name.

"While they clear that wagon off the road, let us speak of the part of the army I've designated as my right wing." Napoléon began speaking brusquely, as he often did, his mind racing ahead of current events to what lay in the immediate future.

"Yes, Sire. With the relief of Gérard and the appointment of Ney to the command of IV Corps, I am a bit concerned. Ney has yet to rejoin the army, in act he hadn't left his estate as of two days ago, I'm concerned that two corps may be more than Vandamme can handle on his own."

"I am not. If I were to attack Lucifer in Hell, I would want Vandamme beside me. Of course, if I had two such generals as he, I would set one to hang the other. He is brutal and violent, just what I want for this campaign. Besides which, Soult is already with that wing of the army. I have no worries."

A look crossed Berthier's face.

"What? What is it, Berthier?"

"Monsieur le Maréchal Soult has not joined them as of yet. He was thrown from his horse and spent a few days recuperating. I have a letter from him, he expects to be on the scene tomorrow, at the latest." Then Berthier waited for the Emperor to erupt.

Napoléon clenched his teeth, gripping his hands tightly behind his back, he barely restrained himself from shouting at Berthier. Through their long association, Napoléon was known to strike and otherwise abuse his chief of staff. For now, he took a deep breath.

"Send for Chef d'Escadron Moliné, he should be with his unit at the moment. Tell him to come quickly and bring his troopers, he'll know the ones I mean."

Berthier went pale, Moliné was the man the Emperor used for a number of tasks, none of them to be spoken of outside of the Emperor's presence. He had heard a rumor that Moliné was responsible for the disappearance, and probable murders, of Fouché and Talleyrand.

"Yes Sire, at once."

One of the duty squadron came into the lantern light, "Capitaine Beauvais's respects, Sire. The obstruction has been cleared, we may proceed."

The Emperor thanked the trooper and turned to where Berthier had been standing, his chief of staff was already over by his own carriage, handing a message to one of his aides. That aide galloped off in haste. Berthier nodded at the Emperor.

As Napoléon tried to get comfortable in his carriage once more, the ache in his backside was troublesome to say the least, he thought to himself, "I shall light a fire under both Soult and Ney, they will move their asses or feel my wrath. Perhaps I should make Vandamme a marshal, wouldn't that anger any number of people?"

He settled back as the carriage moved forward, he grimaced as a sudden pain made him shift in his seat. Damn these piles!

¹ Literally "mounted hunters," an elite light cavalry unit. Very similar to hussars.

Final Preparations

Napoleon in 1806
Édouard Detaille (PD)

Maréchal Ney came into the Emperor's office, Ali had just left with a few last minute items to be stowed in the Imperial carriage. Ali had tactfully turned away when the Emperor had handed him a small portrait of Joséphine. He swore that a tear glistened upon the man's cheek.

Ney spoke gruffly, "Sire, I am concerned that you are dispatching the Guard tomorrow. That will signal to everyone in Europe that you will be traveling soon."

The Emperor sighed, put a battery of cannon to his front, give him a squadron of hussars, and Michel Ney would draw his saber and bellow the charge at the top of his lungs. But the peculiarities of tactics and strategy, particularly strategy, were well beyond his ken.

"My dear Maréchal, how long do you thing it will take for the Russians and Austrians to approach the frontier?"

"Certainly weeks, Sire, but ..."

"Where are the two armies which could conceivably march on Paris any day now?"

"Why Belgium of course, Blücher and his Prussians, then you've got Wellington and his mongrel army. But march on Paris? Not while the diplomats continue to squabble in Vienna."

"Ah Ney, you are a good soldier but you see, there is only one move available to me, one logical move, and that is to move north and attack Wellington and Blücher in their cantonments. While they might expect it, my spies have spread the word that I'm having trouble recruiting my cavalry up to strength, let alone properly mounting them. I let them think that my infantry is still being equipped and that my artillery is woefully inadequate. But they are duped, when we march it will be with a hundred and fifty thousand veteran troops and nearly 300 cannon."

"You said we, I thought I was to be left behind, that whole 'iron cage' thing, for which I apologize once again ..."

"Ney, Ney, Ney, your apology was accepted. I understand, you bet on what you thought was a sure thing. The might of France against my rag tag army of banditti marching up from the Mediterranean coast. I might have done the same. But the dice rolled one way and you came up short."

"Am I to accompany the army with you? And in what capacity I might ask."

"You march with my headquarters. I may have need of your sword at some point, you will be a spare marshal, if you will, if anything happens to Davout or Soult, I can throw you into command. The men know you, I'm not sure they fully trust you, but they do respect you. It's that or spend the campaign under house arrest. Your choice."

Ney bowed his head, he was desperate, he needed this. After all, the Bourbons had insulted his beloved wife, they had looked down on him, even referring to him as "that Alsatian brute" behind his back. Though he had thrown in his lot with Louis, he regretted it now, deeply.

"I will go where you command, Sire. Into Hell itself, if need be."

Napoléon laughed, "If we lose we may indeed see Hell, a firing squad at the very least. Now go, we march in the morning."

The Emperor opened his eyes well before dawn. He sat up and grimaced, his piles were acting up. Though the physicians had given him a salve, it smelled badly and didn't really relieve the pain. He was eating a very plain diet in the hope that by the time he had to take to his saddle, the piles might subside.

A sharp rap came on the outer door, he heard Ali respond. A moment later Ali was at his bedchamber.

"Sire, le Maréchal Berthier is here."

"Very well, send him in."

The Emperor ran his fingers through his hair, he hoped he looked somewhat presentable, but Berthier had seen him disheveled before and wouldn't say a word.

"Ah, Berthier, good morning. You have news for me I trust?"

"Yes Sire. Certain royalist officers have been, shall we say, relieved from their posts as of late last night. Général de Division Bourmont had already moved with his staff to the frontier. Unfortunately ..."

Berthier coughed and had to clear his throat.

"Bourmont was shot and killed by his own men as he was reconnoitering the area to the front of his division. The pickets were not informed and they assumed the general and his party were a Prussian cavalry patrol. A number of his staff were also killed and wounded."

"Ah, a shame," the Emperor's voice had a hint of glee in it.

He had been looking for a reason to get rid of Bourmont, but a number of people, important people, had vouched for the man. One of those who sang Bourmont's praises had been Fouché, whose body now lay moldering beneath the soil of the Forêt de Marly, alongside that of Talleyrand.

"Who will take 14th Division in his stead?" Napoléon asked, knowing the answer.

"The commander of the 1st Brigade, Général de Brigade Baron Etienne Hulot de Mazarny is very capable. However, Gérard has been making noises, he vouched for Bourmont and he is demanding an investigation."

"Well, now I have a job for Ney, recall Gérard to Paris at once, place him under house arrest for the time being. Write the orders, Ney is to have IV Corps. He should be able to handle that."

"Sire, it shall be done. Your carriage is ready, the headquarters is ready. The Guard is already on the roads north. The borders have been sealed and Paris itself has been placed under martial law for the time being. Maréchal St. Cyr has been given carte blanche to deal with any insurrectionists."

"Very well."

As Berthier left, Napoléon shouted, "Ali! Let's get a move on man! We march!"

Source

Background Briefing

Napoleon's return from Elba
Carl von Steuben(PD)

Okay, so I'm back from vacation (my return was nowhere near as spectacular as Napoléon's return from Elba depicted above) and ready (in so far as that goes) to get back to writing. But before I begin with the continuation of my "What If" series on the Battle of Waterloo, I decided to give you, my oh-so-patient readers, a bit of background on the time period in question. That time period being the spring of 1815, the place being the continent of Europe.

We're two episodes into the series and what has happened so far - well, the Emperor has ordered the executions of his Minister of Police, one Joseph Fouché, and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, one Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Both men had been against the Emperor since about 1808. Talleyrand may have actually cared about France, Fouché cared about Fouché and not much else.

During the actual Hundred Days Campaign (which is the overarching name for the short period in which Napoléon returned to Paris, 20 March 1815, to the subsequent return of King Louis XVIII to the French throne, 8 July 1815) Napoléon had to watch his back. He had to be in the field with his army and he needed people he could trust in Paris. In real life he left Marshal Davout, perhaps his best field commander, behind in Paris. Probably to keep an eye on Fouché and Talleyrand.

By disposing of them, he could bring Davout on campaign, as I figure it. Leaving another Marshal behind in Paris to watch the politicians would suffice.

Now Napoléon had a number of marshals (maréchal in French), most of whom won their batons (they are the equivalent of field marshals, something the USA doesn't have because George Marshall didn't want to be known as Field Marshal Marshall, so I've been led to believe) by merit, either on the battlefield or for political reasons.

Hey, there were a number of old republicans and anti-monarchists, mostly in Paris, who weren't thrilled when Napoléon declared himself Emperor, (okay the people did vote on it, but that vote was kinda-sorta not above board, something we in the USA are all too familiar with these days) and to mollify them, a couple of their guys were made marshals. With Paris, one must always appeal to the "people," often called the "mob" if one were to be completely honest.

Anyhoo, some of those marshals were extremely good at fighting, Davout, in my opinion, being only second to the Emperor himself. And in some respects better in the field than Napoléon. Jean-de-Dieu Soult was also a damned good fighter, but as the real Waterloo showed, he sucked at staff work.

Which brings us to Louis-Alexandre Berthier, perhaps the best staff officer in military history. Many of Napoléon's victories can be traced to Berthier's excellent staff work. He could translate Napoléon's thoughts and intentions into tangible orders which could be sent to the troops, understood, and acted upon.

Soult failed miserably at that.

Berthier died under very suspicious circumstances on the 1st of June, 1815, falling from a window to his death in Bamberg, Germany. Some speculate that he had help in falling from that window. Personally, I think Berthier was murdered to prevent him from rejoining the Emperor on campaign. Which led to a lot of mistakes, bad staff work, missing messages, and just all around confusion when to succeed, Napoléon needed everything to be just so. Under Soult that didn't happen.

Now the point of the story is to examine ways in which Napoléon Bonaparte could have won at Waterloo and what might have happened in the aftermath of a French victory. The precursors for such a victory required, in my mind, that Davout and Soult accompany the Emperor to Belgium, in command of troops, with Berthier handling the details of moving and fighting the army Napoléon took with him into Belgium.

What about Maréchal Ney, the bravest of the brave, Prince de la Moskowa, Duke of Elchingen? The man was a scrapper, someone you wanted beside you in a barfight or in a desperate retreat, like from Russia, where he was allegedly the last French soldier to depart Russian soil in 1812.

Well, he did fight at Waterloo, man was an inspiration, had multiple horses shot out from under him, but ...

He tended to lose his mind in a fight, instead of directing his forces, he'd put himself at their head and charge headlong into the enemy. I mean, he started life as a light cavalry sergeant ya know? Never really forgot those days I guess.

He's also the guy who promised Louis XVIII that he would intercept Napoléon on his march to Paris and bring him back "in an iron cage." He'd also been one of the marshals who had insisted on the Emperor's first abdication in 1814. There's an old saying, "once a traitor, always a traitor." While I'm not saying it applied to Maréchal Ney, after all he's one of my favorite soldiers from history, that thought did cross the Emperor's mind after the battle.

Ney may also have been suffering from PTSD from his time in Russia, which I have no proof of, but many historians have speculated that that was the case, especially after the horrors of the Russian Campaign. I tend to agree with them based on his behavior during the Hundred Days.

So will Ney march into Belgium with the Armée du Nord? I can't say yet, he probably will, but I can't think of a job for him, not with Davout and Soult on the ground. One guy I haven't mentioned is Maréchal Emmanuel de Grouchy, many blame him for the loss at Waterloo. Many think he should never have been promoted to marshal. I tend to agree with that camp.

So there you go, the background behind this latest series. We'll see how it goes.

In other news ...

I enjoyed my time away from the internet over the past few weeks. I'm still not sure if the blog will remain a going concern, it seems so easy to just walk away. While it's not easy to continue, on the gripping hand, it would be hard to just stop. We'll see how things go.

Ciao!