When the unidentified force had been first seen Lieutenant General Vandamme had sent one of his staff officers to identify them. This officer had come galloping back shouting that “They are enemies, they are enemies!” Lieutenant General Vandamme convinced that they were part of Wellington’s Anglo-Dutch Army coming to aid and support Blücher had immediately ridden across to the Emperor to enlighten him of this news.
Many of the men of General Lefol’s 8th Infantry Division panicked when they heard the staff officer’s cry. This panic spread amongst their comrades and soon the 8th Division was falling back from Saint-Amand. General Lefol made every effort to stop the rout of his division even turning his own cannon on his men. General Girard’s 7th Division, now commanded by Colonel Matis as the two Brigade Generals were by now also casualties of the battle, was forced to abandon Saint-Amand la Haye to take up positions to meet the impending assault.
At the Naveau Windmill the Emperor maintained an air of calmness and halted the advance of the Imperial Guard. He immediately sent one of his ADCs to investigate the unidentified force. He also detached General Duhesme's Young Guard and sent them to support Lieutenant General Vandamme’s III Army Corps.
One hour later Napoleon’s ADC returned with the news that the mysterious column was in fact Lieutenant General d’Erlon’s French I Army Corps, but that they were now turning away from the battlefield back toward Quatre Bras. It appeared that Lieutenant General d’Erlon had been responding to a note he had received instructing him to make contact with Napoleon’s left wing at Wagnelée, but as he came within sight of the Ligny battlefield he had received subsequent orders from Marshal Ney instructing him to bring his Corps to Quatre Bras. Before turning back however Lieutenant General d’Erlon ordered his 4th Infantry Division commanded by General (GdD) Count Durutte and his 1st Cavalry Division, commanded by General (GdD) Baron Charles Claude Jacquinot to remain in the area of Wagnelée in case they were needed.
It was 19:00 hrs before order had been restored on the French left. Lieutenant General Vandamme assisted by the Young Guard had eventually regained his former positions at Saint-Amand and Saint-Amand la Haye. The Prussian centre at Ligny continued to be reduced by the continual fighting and was still ripe for delivering a decisive blow, but could it still be a fatal one? The Imperial Guard artillery added its weight to the guns already engaged in the battle as the sky grew dark with the gathering mass of thunderclouds.
At 19:45 hrs to the accompaniment of thunderclaps and flashes of lightening the massed ranks of the Imperial Guard moved forward a second time to the cries of “Vive l’Emperuer!” In a sudden down pour of warm summer rain they descended into the shallow valley of the Ligne brook. The French artillery fire reached a crescendo as the Imperial Guard reached the valley bottom. Suddenly the French guns fell silent as the massed ranks of Napoleon's Imperial Guard charged. They swept through the village and were soon assailing the high ground beyond.
Field Marshal Blücher had been over on the Prussian right when the Imperial Guard had been unleashed. He had galloped back to his headquarters at Bussy Windmill to find the French Imperial Guard climbing up the slopes towards him. As the rain stopped and the sun dipped towards the horizon, Field Marshal Blücher reigned up his horse in front of General Röder’s massed cavalry squadrons. There he wheeled his horse about and shouted his orders for them to advance. At the head of the 32 squadrons of Prussian Cavalry the ‘old Hussar General’ once again led a cavalry charge against the French. Down the hill thundered the hooves of the Prussian Cavalry as they galloped towards the French Imperial Guard that was quickly forming their defensive squares.
In the midst of the chaos and fog of war that ensued Field Marshal Blücher’s horse was shot from under him. As the horse went down it pinned its rider to the ground preventing Blücher from rising. There trapped beneath his dead horse the Field Marshal lay as his ADC the Count Nostitz tried frantically to drag him free. Three French Cuirassiers from Lieutenant General Milhaud’s IV Cavalry Corps charged up driving back the Prussian Count. They swept on past the fallen Field Marshal not recognising the prize that was in their grasp in the failing light. A counterattack by Prussian Uhlanens drove the French Cuirassiers back, but the Prussian Lancers were in turn driven back by the French. As the battle flowed back and forth all around him Field Marshal Blücher was finally freed.
With their Field Marshal no longer in a position to command the Prussian centre collapsed and Napoleon had his victory. Field Marshal Blücher was led from the field and away to safety as the two wings of his smashed army fought valiantly to prevent the defeat becoming a rout. On the right Lieutenant General Ziethen retired in good order towards Brye using his artillery to good effect to prevent Lieutenant General Vandamme’s French III Army Corps from driving them from the field in disarray. On the left Lieutenant General Thielmann’s Prussian III Army Corps withdrew almost unmolested having deployed a strong rearguard at Sombreffe.
The battle was lost and won, it had cost the Prussian’s 16,000 dead and wounded, 21 cannon left on the field and a further 8,000 men that would desert during the night. The French had lost around 12,000 with some units more affected than others. General Girard’s 7th Infantry Division had been so badly hit during the battle that it took no further part in the Waterloo campaign.
At 17:00 hrs Napoleon had judged that the moment was right to deliver the decisive punch that would crush Blücher's Prussians, but 2 hours later that moment had been lost. A great deal of debate has taken place ever since regarding the incident when Lieutenant General d’Erlon’s French I Army Corps came to within sticking distance of the Ligny battlefield only to turn back towards Quatre Bras. Of particularly debate were the initial orders for d’Erlon to go to Ligny and the order from Marshal Ney for d’Erlon to return to Quatre Bras. The first deprived Marshal Ney of nearly half his force whilst he was engaging the Anglo-Dutch, whilst the second order deprived Napoleon of the decisive victory at Ligny he so badly needed. It also meant that d’Erlon’s I Army Corps would not be in a position to take part in either battle, Ligny or Quatre Bras, until well after nightfall.
Napoleon himself was not blameless in this matter, as he could easily have sent one of his ADCs to order d’Erlon to Ligny but did not. This combined with the late ordering of Lieutenant General Lobau’s VI Army Corps to come to Ligny proved to be vital to the outcome of the battle. Napoleon had his victory over Blücher's Prussians, but it was not the crushing one. Napoleon had driven the Prussian centre from the battlefield in disarray even though they had been in a good defensive position. He had not however been able to deliver a devastating blow to the Prussian Army as the two wings had been able to retire in good order to live to fight another day. The Prussians withdrew to the northeast toward Wavre where they would regroup and fight again on 18th.
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