June 14.

General Zieten's dispositions.

97

The vigilance which was thus exercised along both the Anglo-Allied and Prussian line of Outposts, obtained for WELLINGTON and BLÜCHER the fullest extent of information which they could reasonably have calculated on receiving respecting the dispositions of the Enemy immediately previous to an attack. They had been put in possession of the fact that considerable masses of French troops had moved by their right, and assembled in front of Charleroi. Still, this baring of the frontier beyond Tournai, Mous, and Binche, of the troops which had previously occupied that line, and their concentration in front of Charleroi, might be designed to mask the real line of operation, to draw the Anglo-Allied troops towards Charleroi, upon which a feigned attack would be made, while the real attack was intended to be by Mons. Hence no alteration was made by the Duke in the disposition of his forces; but the Prussian Field Marshal immediately ordered the concentration of his own troops at a point where they would be at hand in case Charleroi should be the real line of attack, and whence they could far more readily move to the support of WELLINGTON, should that attack be made by the Mons road.

ZIETEN's position, and his line of Advanced Posts, have already been described. His Right Brigade (the First), having its Head Quarters at Fontaine l'Evêque, held the ground between Binche and the Sambre; his Centre Brigade (the Second) lay along the Sambre, occupying Marchienne au Pont, Dampremy, La Roux, Charleroi, Châtelet, and Gilly; a portion of his Third Brigade occupied Farciennes and Tamines on the Sambre, while the remainder was posted in reserve between Fleurus and the Sambre; and his Left Brigade (the Fourth) was extended along this river nearly as far as Namur. The Reserve Cavalry of the First Corps

151. W.L. Siborne.

G

98

Advance of the French Army.

June 15.

had been brought more in advance, and was now cantoned in the vicinity of the Piéton, having Gosselies for its point of concentration.

In this position, ZIETEN, without making the slightest alteration, remained fully prepared for the expected attack on the morrow.

While NAPOLEON was occupied in prescribing his intended order of attack, he received a despatch from Count GÉRARD announcing that Lieutenant General DE BOURMONT, and Colonels CLOUET and VILLOUTREYS, attached to the Fourth Corps, had deserted to the Enemy-a circumstance which induced the Emperor to make some alteration in his dispositions.

The morning of the 15th had scarcely broken, when the French Army commenced its march towards the Sambre, in three Columns, from the three bivouacs already mentioned as having been taken up during the previous night. The Left Column advanced from Solre sur Sambre, by Thuin, upon Marchienne au Pont; the Centre from Beaumont, by Ham sur Heure, upon Charleroi; and the Right Column from Philippeville, by Gerpinnes, upon Châtelet.

As early as half past three o'clock in the morning, the head of the Left Column came in contact with the Prussian troops in front of Lobbes, firing upon, and driving in, the Picquets of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of Westphalian Landwehr, commanded by Captain GILLHAUSEN. This Officer who was well aware that the French troops that had assembled, the night before, in great force in his front, intended to attack him in the morning, had posted his Battalion so as to afford it every advantage to be derived from the hilly and intersected ground it occupied. The French, however, inclined more to their right, and joined other troops advancing along the road to Thuin, which lay

June 16.

Commencement of hostilities.

99

on his left. Shortly after, they drove back an advanced Cavalry Picquet; and, at half past four, commenced a fire from four guns upon the Outpost of Maladrie, about a mile in front of Thuin.

This cannonade, which announced the opening of the Campaign by the French, was heard by the Prussian troops forming the Left Wing of STEINMETZ's Brigade; but the atmosphere, which was extremely thick and heavy, was most unfavourable for the conveyance of sound; so much so, that the greater portion of the Right Wing of the Brigade remained for a considerable time in ignorance of the Enemy's advance.

The firing, however, was distinctly heard at Charleroi; and ZIETEN, who, by the reports which he forwarded on the 14th to WELLINGTON and BLUCHER, had fully prepared these Commanders to expect an attack, lost no time in communicating to them the important fact, that hostilities had actually commenced.

Shortly before five o'clock, he despatched Courier Jägers to their respective Head Quarters, Brussels and Namur, with letters containing the information that since half past four o'clock, he had heard several cannon shots fired in his front, and at the time he was writing, the fire of musketry also, but that he had not yet received any report from his Outposts. To BLÜCHER he at the same time intimated that he should direct the whole Corps to fall back into position; and, should it become absolutely necessary, to concentrate at Fleurus. His report to the Duke of WELLINGTON arrived in Brussels at nine o'clock in the morning; that to Prince BLÜCHER reached Namur between eight and nine o'clock. The former, while it placed the British Commander on the qui vive, did not induce him to adopt any particular measure -he awaited further and more definite information; but the latter satisfied the Prussian Field Marshal that he

100

Prussian Outposts driven in.

June 15.

had taken a wise precaution in having already ordered the concentration of his several Corps in the position of Sombref.

The Prussian troops at Maladrie checked, for a time, the advance of the French upon Thuin, and maintained their ground for more than an hour, with the greatest bravery. They were overpowered, and driven back upon Thuin. This place was occupied by the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Westphalian Landwehr, under Major MONSTERBERG, who, after an obstinate and gallant resistance, during which the Battalion suffered an immense loss, was forced to retire, about seven o'clock, upon Montigny, where he found Lieutenant Colonel WOISKY, with two Squadrons of the 1st West Prussian Dragoons.

The French succeeded in taking this village, and the retreat was then continued in good order, under the protection of WOISKY's Dragoons, towards Marchienne au Pont; but before reaching this place, the latter were attacked, and completely overthrown by the French Cavalry; and the Infantry getting into disorder at the same moment were partly cut down, and many were taken prisoners. Indeed so severe was the loss which the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Westphalian Landwehr suffered in this retreat, that the mere handful of men which remained could not possibly be looked upon as constituting a Battalion in the proper meaning of the term. It was reduced to a mere skeleton. Lieutenant Colonel WOISKY was wounded on this occasion; but continued, nevertheless, at the head of his Dragoons.

Captain GILLHAUSEN, who, as before stated, commanded the Prussian Battalion posted at Lobbes, as soon as he had satisfied himself that Thuin was taken, saw the necessity of effecting his own retreat, which he did, after the lapse of

June 15.

Retreat of Zieten's troops.

101

half an hour, drawing in his Picquets, and occupying the Bridge over the Sambre with one Company. He then fell back, and occupied the Wood of Sar de Lobbes, where he received an Order, as soon as the Post of Hoarbes was also taken by the Enemy, to continue his retreat, taking a direction between Fontaine l'Evêque and Anderlues.

The Post at Abbaye d'Alnes, occupied by the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Westphalian Landwehr, under the temporary command of Captain GROLLMANN, also fell into the hands of the French, between eight and nine o'clock.

As soon as the Commander of the First Prussian Brigade-General STEINMETZ was made acquainted with the attack upon his most Advanced Posts along the Sambre, he despatched an Officer of his Staff-Major ARNAULDto the Dutch-Belgian General VAN MERLEN at St Symphorien, situated on the road between Binche and Mons, to make him fully acquainted with what had taken place, and with the fact that his Brigade was falling back into position. On his way, Major ARNAULD directed Major ENGELHARDT, who commanded the Outposts on the right, to lose not a moment in withdrawing the chain of Picquets; and on arriving at Binche, he spread the alarm that the French had attacked, and that the Left of the Brigade was warmly engaged, which rendered it necessary that the Right should retire with the utmost expedition. Until this Officer's

arrival, the Prussian troops in this quarter were wholly ignorant of the attack; the state of the atmosphere, to which allusion has already been made, having prevented their hearing the slightest sound of any firing. They had a much greater extent of ground to pass over in retreat than the rest of the Brigade, and yet, by the above unfortunate circumstance, they were the last to retire.

ZIETEN, having ascertained, about eight o'clock, that the