Quatre Bras
- REDIRECT Battle of Quarte Bras
| Battle of Quatre-Bras | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | June 16, 1815 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Quatre-Bras, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Draw | ||||||||||||||||
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Fought between Allies and the French on 16th June 1815 near crossroads of Quatre-Bras.
The Fighters
Marshal Michel Ney, with his left wing of the Armee du Nord, was facing a force of 20,000 Allied troops near the crossroads of Quatre-Bras at the beginning of the battle.
The Ground
The battle was fought around the crossroads of Quatre-Bras, a small hamlet with only four houses. This crossroads marked the junction between the Charleroi-Brussels Road and the Nivelles-Namur Road.
To the South-West of the junction was the Bossu wood. South of the wood were the farms Petit-and Grand-Pierrepoint. South of the crossroads the ground fell away to the Gemioncourt farm, which lay next to a small stream in the valley. The ground then rose again to the South. North of Quatre-Bras the ground dropped into a reverse slope.
The Battle
The Battle Starts
At 1400 hours, Marshal Michel Ney started his assault on Quatre-Bras. Kellerman had advised him to attack cautiously (Kellerman had fought Wellington before) He was doing well for an hour - the Allied line was on the verge of cracking. Then, at 1500, reinforcements came in: Picton's and Merlen's forces. The French formed a long line to brace themselves.
At 1530 hours the Prince of Orange tried to form a cavalry counterattack but ended up conceding heavy casualties. At 1600 hours, Ney received Napoleon's order to attack vigourously. He sent an order to his II corps to attack with more force and for his I corps to hurry up.
D'Erlon's I corps
D'Erlon was not marching towards Quatre-Bras! He was marching away from it. Had the I Corps been deployed at either Ligny or Quatre-Bras, the campaign could have ended much sooner. The I Corps instead was marching from one battlefield to another like a pendulum. In the end they got nowhere.
The Battle Continues
At 1615 hours, French mixed forces advanced almost all the way to the crossroads. The 42nd, 44th and 92th brigades held up against the infantry - and then were mauled by the cavalry. The 42nd and 44th were driven off the battlefield. Another front was more successful. Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's youngest brother, drove the Allies out of the Bossu Wood. Just then, three Allied brigades came, and drove the French back south and to the orignal positions.
Conclusion
Nothing was achieved except the killing of over 9000 men and stalemating both sides. However, the battle that was to be fought there later on, Waterloo, would be much more decisive.