The Waterloo Campaign, 1815

The Russian Army.

The main body of the Russian Army, commanded by Field Marshal Count Barclay de Tolly, and amounting to 167,950 men, crossed the Rhine at Mannheim, on the 25th of June; and followed the Army of the Upper Rhine. The greater portion of it reached Paris and its vicinity by the middle of July.

Operations of the Army of Italy.

The Army of Italy, composed of Austrian and Sardinian troops, and amounting to 60,000 men, was under the command of General Baron Frimont. It was destined to act against the Army of the Alps, under Marshal Suchet, posted in the vicinity of Chambery and Grenoble. It is uncertain what was the amount of force under Suchet, it having been estimated from 13,000 to 20,000 men; but the Corps of Observation on the Var, in the vicinity of Antibes and Toulon, under Marshal Brune, amounted to 10,000, and was not occupied with any Enemy in its front.

Baron Frimont's Army was divided into two Corps: the one under Lieutenant Field Marshal Radivojevich, was to advance by the Valais towards Lyons; and the other, which was in Piedmont, under Lieutenant Field Marshal Count Bubna, was to penetrate into the south of France, through Savoy.

Marshal Suchet had received Orders from Napoleon to commence operations on the 14th of June; and by rapid marches to secure the mountain Passes in the Valais and in Savoy, and close them against the Austrians. On the 15th, his troops advanced at all points for the purpose of gaining the frontier from Montmeilian, as far as Geneva; which he invested. Thence he purposed to obtain possession of the important Passes of Meillerie and St Maurice; and in this way to check the advance of the Austrian Columns from the Valais. At Meillerie the French were met and driven back by the Advanced Guard of the Austrian Right Column, on the 21st of June. By means of forced marches the whole of this Column, which Baron Frimont himself accompanied, reached the Arve on the 27th of June.

The Left Column, under Count Bubna, crossed Mount Cenis on the 24th and 25th of June. On the 28th, it was sharply opposed by the French at Conflans; of which place, however, the Austrians succeeded in gaining possession.

In order to secure the passage of the Arve the Advanced Guard of the Right Column detached, on the 27th, to Bonneville, on its left; but the French, who had already fortified this place, maintained a stout resistance. In the mean time, however, the Austrians gained possession of the passage at Carrouge; by which means the French were placed under the necessity of evacuating Bonneville, and abandoning the Valley of the Arve. The Column now passed Geneva, and drove the Enemy from the Heights of Grand Saconex and from St Genix. On the 29th, this part of the Army moved towards the Jura; and, on the 1st July, it made its dispositions for attacking the redoubts and intrenchments which the French had thrown up to defend the Passes. The most vigorous assault was made upon the Pass of Les Rousses; but the Austrians were driven back. Reserves were then brought up; and the French having quitted their intrenchments to meet the latter, and a good opportunity having offered for a flank attack upon them with Cavalry and Artillery, the Pass was captured by the Austrians: and the French were compelled to abandon both it and the other Passes of the Jura. The Austrian Advanced Guard pursued the Enemy, and reached, in the evening, St Claude, on the road leading to the left from Gex; and St Laurent, in the original direction of the attack, beyond Les Rousses.

In the mean time, the Austrian Reserve Corps, under Lieutenant Field Marshal Meerville, was directed to advance, and to throw back the French upon the Rhone. The latter, in retreating, destroyed the Bridge of Seyselle; and, by holding the Fort of l'Ecluse, closed the road from Geneva to Lyons. A redoubt had been constructed in front of the Fort, and completely commanded the approach. It was gallantly stormed and carried by the Regiment of Esterhazy. The Fort itself was now turned by the Reserve Corps along the left bank of the Rhone, with the design of forcing the passage at the Perte du Rhone. Here the French had constructed a tête de pont; which, however, they were forced to abandon in consequence of a movement made by the First Corps under Lieutenant Field Marshal Radivojevich. On retiring, they destroyed the very beautiful stone bridge then existing; and thus rendered it necessary for the Austrians to construct temporary bridges over the extremely narrow space between the rocks which confine the stream at this remarkable spot. The Advanced Guard of the Reserve Corps, under General Count Hardegg, first crossed the Rhone, and found the Enemy posted at Charix, in rear of Chatillon, on the road to Nantua. Count Hardegg immediately attacked him; and, after encountering an obstinate resistance, forced him to retire.

The troops of the First Austrian Corps, which, in the mean time, were left in front of the Fort l'Ecluse, had commenced a bombardment; and this, after twenty six hours' duration, considerably damaged the Fort. A powder magazine exploded, which caused a general conflagration; to escape which the garrison rushed out, and surrendered at discretion to the Austrians: and thus, in three days, the high road from Geneva to Lyons was opened to the Army of Italy.

On the 3rd July, General Bogdan, with the Advanced Guard of the First Austrian Corps, having been reinforced by Lieutenant Field Marshal Radivojevich, attacked the Enemy with much impetuosity at Ojanax, beyond St Claude; where the French General Maransin had taken up a favourable position, with 2,000 men. The Austrians turned his Left Flank, and forced him to retire. The Corps reached Bourg en Bresse on the 9th July.

On the 10th July, a Detachment, under Major General von Pflüger, was pushed on to Maçon on the Saône; and gained possession of the tête de pont constructed there, and of the place itself.

On the 7th July, the Second Corps, under Count Bubna, reached Echelles. A Detachment, consisting principally of Sardinian troops, under Lieutenant General Count Latour, had been directed to observe Grenoble; in front of which its Advanced Guard arrived on the 4th July. On the 6th, the suburbs were attacked; and the communication between this place and Lyons was cut off. The garrison, consisting of eight Battalions of the National Guard, offered to capitulate on the 9th, on the condition of being permitted to return to their homes. That a vigorous defence might have been maintained was evident from the fact of the Austrians having found in the place fifty four guns and eight mortars, and large quantities of provisions.

Count Bubna's Corps and the Reserve Corps, by simultaneous movements, assembled together in front of Lyons on the 9th. An Armistice was solicited by the garrison on the 11th July, and granted upon condition that Lyons and the Intrenched Camp should be evacuated; and that Marshal Suchet should retire with his Corps behind the Loire, keeping his Advanced Posts within a stipulated line of demarcation.

Having secured possession of the line of the Rhone as far down as its junction with the Isère, as also of that part of the Saône between Maçon and Lyons; the Army of Italy now proceeded towards the upper line of the latter river, leaving the Second Corps, under Count Bubna, at Lyons, in front of Marshal Suchet. The First Corps marched upon Chalons sur Saône, in order to gain the tête de pont at that point. At this time, the Fourth Division of the Army, under the French General Lecourbe, was at Salins, between Dôle and Pontarlier: and as Besançon had not yet been invested, Baron Frimont detached a part of the Reserve Corps, under General Hecht, to Salins; whilst General Fölseis, detached from the First Corps towards Dôle. The Advanced Guard of the First Corps had arrived in front of the tête de pont at Chalons, and had completed its dispositions for attack; when the place surrendered. By the advance, at the same time, of Hecht upon Salins, and of Fölseis from Dôle upon Besançon; the retreat of the French General Laplane was completely cut off. This led to a Convention which stipulated the dissolution of the National Guards, the surrender of all the Officers, and the abandonment of one of the Forts of Salins to the Austrians.

On the 20th, the First Corps d'Armée advanced from Chalons sur Saône as far as Autun; and Besançon having in the mean time been occupied by the Austrian troops of the Army of the Upper Rhine, a junction was effected with the latter by the Army of Italy by Dijon.

The Sardinian General d'Osasca, who had been detached to Nice, concluded on the 9th of July an Armistice with Marshal Brune, who commanded the Army of the Var, in front of the Maritime Alps; and thus terminated all hostilities on that side of France.

The foregoing Outline will suffice to show the nature, extent, and interconnection of the operations of the Allied Armies which invaded France along her eastern and south-eastern frontier; and at the same time afford a clear proof that amongst the more immediate consequences of the decisive Battle of Waterloo and speedy capture of Paris must be ranked that of their having been the means of averting the more general and protracted warfare which would probably have taken place, had a different result in Belgium emboldened the French to act with vigour and effect in other parts of the country.

The reduction of the Fortresses left in rear of the British and Prussian Armies, adjoining their main line of operations, and which was confided to Prince Augustus of Prussia, with the Second Prussian Corps d'Armée, assisted by the British Battering Train, was effected in the following manner:—

Prince Augustus had made every preparation for commencing the siege of Charlemont and its connecting Forts, the two Givets and the Mont d'Hours, on the 8th of September, when the Commandant, General Burcke, foreseeing that the occupation of the detached Forts would divide his force too much, entered into negotiations, and surrendered those works on the 10th, withdrawing his troops into Charlemont; the bombardment of which was to have opened on the 23rd of September: but, on the 20th, Prince Augustus received information from Paris that hostilities were to cease throughout the whole of France.

APPENDIX.

[Captain Siborne also included in this Appendix a number of State Papers, Military Orders, and Statistical Returns, in French and English; of which a List will be found at pages 42 to 44. These are omitted in this Fourth Edition, simply from want of space.—E.A.]

VI.

Effective Strength and Composition of the Anglo-Allied Army under the Command of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington.

Total Strength.

VIII.

Effective Strength and Composition of the Prussian Army under the Command of Field Marshal Prince Blücher von Wahlstadt.

Grand Total—116,897 men and 312 guns.

IX.

Effective Strength and Composition of the French Army, under the Command of Napoleon Buonaparte.