| "The fate of France is in your hands", message sent by Soult to Ney, 16th June 1815. |
Quatre Bras was the first major offensive of the three day Waterloo campaign, and took place on the day following the Duchess of Richmond's ball.
The crossroads at Quatre Bras were strategic because they allowed direct access to the road to Brussels, and with the news of the French crossing the border Wellington was concerned about a flanking manoeuvre, so did not commit his full army to the battle. At the same time, the French were also attacking the Prussians at Ligny. Wellington had promised support to Blücher, however with the French attack on Quatre Bras, he was caught with his troops in the wrong place, and they were marched as quickly as possible to prevent the fall of the crossroads.
Throughout the day, reinforcements arrived to support the troops already in place. History shows us that the French made several tactical errors, which could have swung events in their favour. One was that Marshal Ney did not push home his advantage of numbers when he had ample opportunity to do so, which allowed sufficient reinforcements to arrive. Another was akin to an English nursery rhyme, whereby a French unit marched backwards and forwards between Quatre Bras and Ligny without being engaged in either battle!
Identify the Corps number of this unit (A), which consisted of a complement of BCxxx personal, of which DEF were officers, and also consisted of GH guns.
The final can be found at
N51 2C.A(G-H)(F-B)
W000 4F.(E+F)(G-B)H
Additional Notes
Terrain: I first visited the area in April, and the ground was still quite muddy in places, however just a few weeks later, and the ground was rock hard with the nettles above waist height. I do not recommend shorts for a couple of the caches at this time of year!
Caches in the series