The 1st corps, under Lieut.-Gen. Ziethen, occupied with its 1st brigade, under Gen. Heinmetz; the whole of the village of great St. Amand, on the right bank of the Ligne; with its 3d brigade, under Gen. Sagow, the village of little St. Amand, situated between great St. Amand and Wagnele; with its fourth brigade, under Gen. Henkel, the large village of Ligny on both banks of the rivulet; the 2d brigade remained in reserve to the other three on the heights near Bry; the reserve cavalry of this corps, under Gen. Roeder, was drawn up on the heights immediately behind great St. Amand ; the artillery was chiefly placed in battery on the height between St. Amand and Ligny, so as to flank with its fire both of these villages, in the event of their being attacked.
The four brigades of the 2d corps, under Major-Gen. Pirch, were drawn up in columns on the heights behind Bry, with their right wing, formed by the 5th brigade, under Gen. Tippelskirk, resting on Bry; their left, formed by the 8th brigade, under Col. Langen, upon Sombref; their right centre, consisting of the 7th brigade, under Gen. Brause; and their left centre formed by the 6th brigade under Gen. Kraft. The reserve cavalry of this corps, under Gen. Jurgas, with the artillery, were posted in rear of its right wing.
The 3d corps, under Gen. Thielmann, had its four brigades distributed as follows. The 12th brigade, under Col. Stulpnagel, communicating with the left of the 2d corps, in front of Sombref, with its outposts along the rivulet from Ligny to that village; the 9th brigade, under Gen. Borcke, in the village of Sombref, and on the Ligne in its front; the 11th brigade, under Col. Leuen, occupied the villages and banks of the Ligne to the left of Sombref; the 10th brigade was in reserve on the heights near the junction of the roads leading from Fleurus and Nivelles to Namur, The reserve cavalry of this corps, under Gen. Hobe, was chiefly in its rear, extending a considerable way along the great Namur road, having its right towards Sombref.
The 4th corps of the Prussian army under Gen. Bulow, was not able to arrive on the scene of action, from its distant cantonments.
The French army arrived early in the morning on the plain of Fleurus, its light troops driving the outposts of the Prussians down into the valley of the Ligne. Napoleon, who now discovered the Prussian army drawn up in the order above stated, immediately conceived the project of cutting off the retreat of a great portion of it, and thus by a decisive advantage over half the troops defending Belgium, he might be enabled to move with his main force against the army of the Netherlands. The exposed situation of the Prussian right wing presented great facilities for its being turned by part of the troops under Marshal Ney, who in his position of Frasnes was already in some degree in rear of the Prussians, and whom Napoleon supposed had more than adequate forces to repulse the allies from Quatre Bras, and thus be enabled to move with the greater part of his troops directly in rear of the Prussian army. Could this project have been executed, the destruction of the Prussian army would have been inevitable, and near forty thousand prisoners might have been taken; and Napoleon, ever desirous of grasping at the utmost possible advantage which might be gained by his arrangement of battle, decided on attempting it: he therefore directed the corps of infantry and cavalry under Marshal Grouchy to change their front, which till now had been facing Sombref; the right was brought forward towards the Ligne, and the left pivoted upon Fleurus, so that the general direction of the French line became parallel with that of the Prussian army. Napoleon then gave directions for the attack. –– Marshal Grouchy, with his right Wing*, was to attack Sombref;
* It must be observed, that the right wing of the whole French army is here considered as an independent army, and without any reference to the left wing under Marshal Ney.
Gérard, with the centre, the village of Ligny; and Vandamme, with the left, the village of St. Amand. The division of Gen. Girard, which had been retained here, was to act in support of the left of Vandamme’s corps, thus forming the extreme left of the line of battle. –– The imperial guards were placed in reserve on the height before Fleurus; orders were sent to expedite the march of the 6th corps, under Count Lobau, upon Fleurus; and an aide-de-camp of Napoleon was sent to Marshal Ney, to inform him of the intended attack upon the Prussians, ordering him at the same time to manœuvre * so as to envelope their rear,
and an hour afterwards this order † was reiterated,
urging its immediate execution. –– Soon after three o’clock the attack commenced by Gen. Le Fol’s division of Vandamme’s corps moving down on the village of St. Amand, whilst the division of Gen. Girard turned the village by its left and attacked the Prussian infantry posted in the ravine, and in the village of little St. Amand; almost immediately after the corps of Gérard attacked the village of Ligny, the artillery engaged along the whole line, and the battle assumed the most animated character. The French batteries were advantageously posted on the heights behind the villages of St. Amand and Ligny, and, owing to the long slope of ground on which the Prussian columns were posted, the fire of the French artillery was very destructive, the shot bounding en ricochet into the Prussian reserves on the heights. The French reserves were posted under cover of the inequalities of the ground, so that they suffered comparatively less. The enemy succeeding in gaining possession of the village of St. Amand, after a severe conflict, especially about the burial-ground and church, situated on the side nearest to Ligny: the enemy pursued his success by establishing his light troops across the rivulet, and at length was enabled to form on the left bank. The division of Gen. Girard advanced to attack the Prussians, who were now reinforced by the 2d brigade of Gen Ziethen’s corps, and a most obstinate engagement ensued; the French endeavouring to force their way up the heights towards Bry, this attempt was supported by part of the corps of Vandamme and by his reserve cavalry; but Marshal Blucher, seeing the impending danger, himself led an attack with two brigades against the enemy, and succeeded in driving back the French troops beyond the ravine. In this sanguinary conflict the French Gen. Girard was killed, whilst leading on his division: he was esteemed one of the most intrepid and skilful officers in the French army, and his division, following the example of its brave leader, was almost entirely destroyed. The 5th Prussian brigade had meantime been moved down from Bry; it now crossed the ravine near little St. Amand, and endeavoured to act on the flank and rear of Vandamme’s corps; but the enemy succeeded in checking their advance, and a combat, without decisive result, was kept up on this side till late in the evening. In the centre the battle was still more obstinate, the French and Prussian troops alternately getting possession of the village of Ligny, and for four hours the firing was unremitted, regiment after regiment being sent to keep up the attack with unabating vigour, till at length, about seven in the evening, the French succeeded in establishing themselves throughout the whole of that part of it situated on the right bank of the rivulet; and by means of the shelter which it afforded, they were enabled to form their columns for passing the rivulet and attacking the Prussians, who were posted in great force on the heights above the village, (called the heights of the mill of Bussy). Marshal Grouchy in the meanwhile was engaged on the extreme right against the 3d corps of the Prussian army; but this was not the key to the position, and here the combat was less severe: Gen. Thielmann, with a view to turn the rear of the corps of Gérard when engaged at Ligny, sent a body of cavalry, with some artillery, by the great road which leads from Sombref towards Fleurus; but they had barely time to deploy and place the guns in battery, when Marshal Grouchy detached a part of his heavy cavalry and charged the Prussians, who retreated in disorder across the ravine, leaving some guns in the enemy’s possession. Napoleon, finding that the indecision of Marshal Ney had destroyed his grand project of turning the Prussian right wing, determined on piercing the centre and carrying the position by main force: he ordered the imperial guard to march down to Ligny, and was making preparations for his final attack, when news was brought to him that a corps, supposed to be part of Lord Wellington’s force, was in march directly towards the rear of Vandamme’s corps; it was soon discovered that this was the 1st corps under Count d’Erlon, who had been informed of the order conveyed to Marshal Ney, directing him to march to the support of Napoleon: Count d’Erlon had consequently moved from the high road between Gosselies and Frasnes upon the Roman road leading towards Wagnele, and his advance had just come in sight of the field of battle when he received counter-orders from Marshal Ney; who, finding his efforts to drive the English army from its position at Quatre Bras unavailing, began to need support, and immediately sent an order for its return.
Napoleon, now seeing that further delay was useless, formed the columns of attack. The division of General Pecheux, of Gérard’s corps, consisting of the 30th, 63d, and 96th regiments, led the attack, by the right of Ligny: it was supported by the two divisions of infantry of the old imperial guard, with the cavalry of the guard, and the divisions of cuirassiers of Generals St. Alphonse and Delort under General Milhaut. This mass of troops advanced up the heights towards the Prussian centre. Marshal Blucher, with his cavalry, made several efforts to check the advance of the enemy; in one of these attempts his horse was killed, and a charge of French cavalry passed over him. In the confusion which ensued he was unnoticed, and the Prussian cavalry had the good fortune to recover their chief, but the French infantry continued to gain ground. The imperial guard advanced with unshaken firmness, and the division of grenadiers under Count Friant advanced its right, and marched to the left in the direction of the mill of Bussy near Bry. The Prussian cavalry charged them, but they formed squares and repelled the attack. Every part of the Prussian army had been more or less engaged in defending the villages; nearly the whole reserves had been sent to St. Amand, and they now found themselves unable to sustain the overwhelming attacks of the enemy’s guards which came fresh into action; the centre of their position was pierced, and retreat became unavoidable. The corps of Ziethen and Pirch fell back upon Tilly, that of Thielman retired late in the night upon Gembloux: rear guards retained possession of Bry and Sombref nearly till dawn of morning of the 17th, the main body of the army having kept its ground till nine o’clock at night.