Jane 17.

Napoleon's instructions to Grouchy.

297

The following were the troops thus detached under GROUCHY:

The Seventh Infantry Division, under Lieutenant General GIRARD (belonging to the Second Corps) having suffered very severely in the Battle, was left upon the Field.

NAPOLEON's instructions to GROUCHY were extremely simple and concise: "Pursue the Prussians, complete their defeat by attacking them as soon as you come up with them, and never let them out of your sight. I am going to unite the remainder of this portion of the Army with Marshal NEY'S Corps, to march against the English, and to fight them if they should hold their ground between this and the Forest of Soignies. You will communicate with me by the paved road which leads to Quatre Bras." No particular direction was prescribed, because the Emperor was totally ignorant of the real line of the Prussian retreat. At the same time he was strongly impressed with the idea that BLÜCHER had retired upon Namur and Liege, with a view to occupy the line of the Meuse, whence he might seriously endanger the

298

Napoleon's advance on Quatre Bras.

June 17.

Right of the French Army, as also its main line of operation, should it advance upon Brussels.

GROUCHY did not hesitate to remark to the Emperor, that the Prussians, having commenced their retreat at ten o'clock the previous night, had gained several hours' start of the troops with which he was to follow them; that although the reports received from the Advanced Cavalry conveyed no positive information as to the direction in which the great mass of the Prussian Army had effected its retreat, appearances as yet seemed to justify the supposition that BLÜCHER had fallen back upon Namur; and that as he would thus have to pursue in a direction contrary to that which NAPOLEON was himself going to take, with very little chance of being able to prevent the execution of any dispositions the Prussians might have resolved upon when quitting the Field of Battle, he begged to be allowed to follow the Emperor in his projected movement upon Quatre Bras.

NAPOLEON declined to entertain this proposition, repeated the Order he had already given to him, adding that it rested with him (GROUCHY) to discover the route taken by the Prussians, whose defeat he was to complete by attacking them the moment he came up with them; while he himself would proceed to fight the English.

The Order was immediately given for the advance of the troops previously assembled near Marbais, preceded by SUBERVIE'S Division of Light Cavalry, as Advanced Guard. By the time they reached Quatre Bras, which was about two o'clock, the whole of WELLINGTON'S Infantry had crossed the Genappe, and was retiring along the high road to Brussels, protected by the Cavalry, which was now pressed by the French, in the manner described in the preceding Chapter.

June 17.

Marshal Grouchy's dispositions.

299

The march of the French troops through Bry, in the direction of Quatre Bras, became known to the Prussians through Lieutenant Colonel SOHR, who still held his Cavalry Brigade, even at this time, posted in rear of Tilly. Shortly afterwards, some of the French Cavalry having approached, he began to retire slowly towards Mont St Guibert, and, as he frequently formed up, in wait for the Enemy, he did not reach that point until the evening of the 17th. Here he found Lieutenant Colonel LEDEBUR, who had arrived with his Detachment, and had received Orders to maintain the Defile.

Upon the departure of NAPOLEON, GROUCHY ordered VANDAMME and GÉRARD to get their Corps under arms, and to move them, in the first instance, to the junction of the Gembloux road with that to Namur; and having subsequently received intelligence that a considerable body of Prussians had passed through the former town, he desired that those two Corps should continue their movement upon that point. In the mean time, he repaired to the Advanced Posts of EXCELMANS' Dragoons, which were by this time beyond Gembloux. It was part of this Cavalry which followed Lieutenant Colonel SOHR, on the left. They merely threw out Skirmishers against him; and, as night set in, they abandoned the pursuit in this direction.

The Corps of VANDAMME and GÉRARD did not reach Gembloux until very late in the evening. The former was posted in advance, the latter, in rear, of the town; near which also, and on the right bank of the Ormeau, was stationed the Sixth Light Cavalry Division, under General VALLIN, who succeeded to the command, upon Lieutenant General MAURIN being wounded at the Battle of Ligny. The First Brigade of Lieutenant General CHASTEL'S Tenth

300

Grouchy's report to Napoleon.

June 17.

Cavalry Division, consisting of the 4th and 12th Dragoons, under General BONNEMAIN, was pushed on to Sart à Wallain, and the 15th Dragoons (from General VINCENT's Brigade of the Ninth Cavalry Division, under Lieutenant General Baron SOULT), were detached to Perwès. From both these points, reports were sent into Gembloux that the Prussians had retired upon Wavre.

PAJOL, with his Light Cavalry and TESTE's Infantry Division, had returned from St Denis, between Namur and Gembloux, to the original position occupied by the latter in the morning, at Mazy, in the immediate vicinity of the Field of Ligny; a movement for which no satisfactory cause has ever been assigned.

The extent of of information obtained by GROUCHY concerning the Prussian retreat, and the nature of the dispositions which he adopted in consequence, will be best explained by the following despatch which he addressed to the Emperor :

"Gembloux, le 17 Juin,

à dix heures du soir. "Sire,―J'ai l'honneur de vous rendre compte que j'occupe Gembloux et que ma Cavalerie est à Sauveniéres. L'Ennemi, fort d'environ trente mille hommes, continue son mouvement de retraite; on lui a saisi ici un parc de 400 bétes à cornes, des magasins et des bagages.

"Il paraît d'après tous les rapports, qu'arrivés à Sauvenières, le Prussiens se sont divisés en deux Colonnes l'une a dû prendre la route de Wavre, en passant par Sart à Wallain, l'autre Colonne parraît s'être dirigée sur Perwès.

["Gembloux, 17th June, at ten o'clock in the evening. “Sire,—I have the honour to report to you that I occupy Gembloux, and that my Cavalry is at Sauvenières. The Enemy, about thirty thousand men strong, continues his movement of retreat. We have seized here of his, a pen of 400 horned cattle, magazines and baggage.

"It would appear according to all the reports, that, on arrival at Sauvenières, the Prussians divided themselves into two Columns: one of which took the road to Wavre, passing by Sart à Wallain; the other Column would appear to have been directed on Perwès.

Grouchy's report to Napoleon.