Ever wondered what the march from Brussels to Quatre Bras was like for British soldiers at the start of the Waterloo campaign?

Last week I decided to don my walking boots and backpack to find out. 1/ The march (for 5th Division) began in Place Royale – but like so many soldiers, I had to walk there from my outlying billet.

Orders to assemble went out at about 9pm on 15 June 1815, with men taking several hours to gather. The infantry marched out at about 3am on the 16th. 2/

18 June 1815. The Battle of Waterloo.

In the early afternoon, Napoleon tried to win the Battle of Waterloo with a huge knock-out blow against Wellington’s left flank. It so very nearly succeeded.

Here is why it did not. 1/ The attack was supported by an overwhelming artillery bombardment by up to 80 guns. But the soft & muddy ground meant that cannon balls could not bounce, & shells were extinguished. The hidden Allied infantry made it difficult to find targets. The artillery did little damage. 2/

18 June 1815. Near Waterloo, Belgium.

As day breaks, the torrential rainstorm of the previous night eases, then stops entirely. In a small shallow valley, a dozen miles south of Brussels, tens of thousands of men wake from a restless night. Today there will be a battle. 1/ It is a cliché to say that few men waking that morning imagined what horrors were to come, but on the French side it is more or less true.

Most soldiers expected Wellington to keep retreating, and hoped to be in Brussels (where they could find proper food & brandy) by midday. 2/

15 June 1815. Southern Belgium.

The Armée du Nord pounds northward to place itself between Wellington and Blücher (see excellent content by @ZwhiteHistory @mcribbHistory).

Confidence and enthusiasm for the emperor are high - but there are already problems in the French ranks 1/ Desertions begin. The most high profile are General Bourmont and his staff officers, but many rank-and-file slip quietly away from the colours too during the day.

In I Corps, half of the infantry regiments lose men to desertion in the campaign's opening hours. 2/

13 June 1815. Northern France.

The Emperor Napoleon has arrived at the army, and issues an Order of the Day. The Armée du Nord is to ready itself for war and move up to the Belgian frontier – but is not to cross until further orders. War is coming… 1/ The army's movement is to be kept as secret as possible. From now on, campfires are to be screened from the enemy. Nobody will be allowed to leave the army’s camps, to prevent any information getting out. 2/

There has understandably been a lot on here over the past couple of days about National Service.

So as a historian who actually studies and writes about compulsory military service, here are a few thoughts on the challenges it poses. A quick 🧵 1/ (N.B. This thread doesn’t give my opinions or deal at all with the politics of it – everyone already has their thoughts on that. This is just a thread of challenges that have historically faced governments imposing universal service.)

May 1815. Northern France.

Napoleon’s Armée du Nord is almost assembled. A few more men will continue to drift in before the campaign, but the infantry battalions are almost at fighting strength.

A bigger problem is that there are not enough generals to lead them. 1/ The senior commanders – d’Erlon, Reille, Vandamme, Lobau – were all experienced generals, but it is telling that Napoleon could not muster enough marshals to be corps commanders.

General Gerard was highly rated. His corps technically formed an independent army until June. 2/

I recently looked at a random sample of 300 conscripts from Napoleon’s army (25e Ligne, nos.6601-6900). All were conscripted in late 1808, in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars.

Shockingly, when the regiment re-enrolled in 1814, not a single man of the 300 remained in the 25e. 1/ Of the 300:
77 transferred to other units
62 died of natural causes
58 deserted
54 were lost in Russia
16 were medically discharged
12 became PoW
7 were hospitalised
5 died of wounds
3 disappeared on patrol
3 were pensioned
2 went to Veteran battalions
1 died in an accident
2/

In Napoleonic Wars, most of those killed in combat were interred on the battlefield where they fell.

A few though were moved elsewhere or taken home for burial – one of whom was Major the Hon. Frederick Howard, 10th Hussars, killed at Waterloo in 1815. A short 🧵1/ The Hon. Frederick Howard, son of the 5th Earl of Carlisle, was commissioned ensign in 85th Foot in 1801, aged 15.

He became lieutenant in the 10th Light Dragoons in Dec 1802, captain by 1804, and from May 1811 was a major in the regiment – now styled 10th Hussars. 2/

“Soldiers of the 5th!”

The epic scene of Napoleon winning over the 5th Line in 1815 has come to symbolise the emperor’s appeal in the army. But who were the real men of the 5th? Were they die-hard Napoleonic veterans?

Naturally, I dipped into the records to find out. A 🧵1/ When they met Napoleon in March 1815 there were 1308 men registered in the 5th Line, excluding those on leave or who had deserted or been discharged (1932 men including them).

What follows is compiled from the individual service records of each and every one of those men. 2/

Some quite interesting information about casualties at the Battle of Waterloo has come out of the regimental registers of the French 17eme Ligne, which was part of Donzelot’s 2nd Division in I Corps. Here’s a short summary of some findings 1/ Entries in the register record 634 men lost in some way on 18 June 1815:
560 ‘Lost, presumed dead or prisoner of war’
2 disappeared
8 missing, later returned
9 prisoners of war
38 killed in action
17 wounded
The register (very unusually) also gives some details of those wounds 2/

Most regimental register entries give a few scant details of a man’s enrolment, unit, campaigns fought, and demise/discharge. Not so for Felix Dieppedalle, who rose to Adjutant Sous Officier in 17eme Ligne – and whose record tells a fascinating (if fragmentary) tale. 1/ Felix Dieppedalle (or Jean Felix, on his initial inscription record) was born in Rouen on 4 August 1782. He was conscripted in 1805 and placed in the Company of Reserve of his department of Seine-Inférieure. He was 165cm tall, just above average for the time. 2/

Just come across the service record of an Egyptian soldier, Solimand Moustapha, who found himself fighting in a French line infantry regiment at Waterloo.

He’d have had a fascinating career - here’s a brief overview. 1/ Solimand (the spelling given on his enrollment record in the 17eme Inf. de Ligne) was born in Egypt in 1786, and joined French service at the age of only 14 on 20 February 1800. 2/

I’ve finally finished analysis of the service records of the infantrymen of Napoleon’s 1st Division in the Waterloo campaign. 7352 soldiers passed through the regiments from the Restoration to Waterloo. Here are some random initial thoughts 1/ Context: Part of d’Erlon’s I Corps, 1st Division comprised two battalions each of the 28th, 54th, 55th and 105th Line infantry – around 4,000 men and officers in the field. They did not come into action until the day of Waterloo, when they were very heavily engaged. 2/