meanwhile the french had not confined their efforts to the isolated forts, if they may be so called, on wellington's center and left center. after a tremendous artillery duel d'erlon's men had been formed up for that massed attack for which the emperor was famous, and with which it was expected the english line would be pierced and the issue decided. the emperor, as has been noted, had intended the attack on hougomont as a mere feint, hoping to induce the duke of wellington to reinforce his threatened right and thereby to weaken his left center. it was no part of the emperor's plan that an attempt to capture hougomont should become the main battle on his own left that it had, nor could he be sure that even the tremendous attack upon it had produced the effect at which he aimed. nevertheless, the movement of d'erlon had to be tried.
it must be remembered that napoleon had never passed through the intermediate army grades. he had been jumped from a regimental officer to a general. he had never handled a regiment, a brigade, a division, a corps—only an army, or armies. perhaps that was one reason why he was accustomed to leaving details and the execution of his plans to subordinates. he was the greatest of strategists and the ablest of tacticians, but minor tactics did not interest him, and the arrangement of this great assault he left to the corps and its commander.
giving orders to ney and d'erlon, therefore, the emperor at last launched his grand attack. one hundred and twenty guns were concentrated on that part of the english left beyond the westernmost of the two outlying positions, through which it was determined to force a way. under cover of the smoke, which all day hung thick and heavy in the valley and clung to the ridges, d'erlon's splendid corps, which had been so wasted between quatre bras and ligny, and which was burning to achieve something, was formed in four huge parallel close-ranked columns, slightly écheloned under donzelot, marcognet, durutte and allix. with greatly mistaken judgment, these four columns were crowded close together. the disposition was a very bad one. in the first place, their freedom of movement was so impaired by lack of proper distance as to render deployment almost impossible. unless the columns could preserve their solid formation until the very point of contact, the charge would be a fruitless one. in the second place, they made an enormous target impossible to miss. the attack was supported by light batteries of artillery and the cavalry in the flanks.
other things being equal, the quality of soldiers being the same, the column is at an obvious disadvantage when attacking the line. it was so in this instance. although it was magnificently led by ney and d'erlon in person, and although it comprised troops of the highest order, the division commanders being men of superb courage and resolution, no valor, no determination could make up for these disadvantages. the tremendous artillery-fire of the french, which did great execution among the english, kept them down until the dark columns of infantry mounting the ridge got in the way of the french guns which, of course, ceased to fire.
the drums were rolling madly, the frenchmen were cheering loudly when the ridge was suddenly covered with long red lines. there were not many blue-coated allies left. many of them had already laid down their lives; of the survivors more were exhausted by the fierce battling of the preceding days when the belgians had nobly sustained the fighting traditions of a race to which nearly two thousand years before caesar himself had borne testimony. as a matter of fact, most of the allies were moved to the rear. they did not leave the field. they were formed up again back of the battle line to constitute the reserve. the english did not intend to flee either. they were not accustomed to it and they saw no reason for doing it now.
wellington moved the heavy cavalry over to support the threatened point of the line and bade his soldiers restrain their fire. there was something ominous in the silent, steady, rock-like red wall. it was much more threatening to the mercuric gallic spirit than the shouting of the french was to the unemotional english disposition. still, they came intrepidly on.
meanwhile, renewed attacks were hurled against the château and the farmhouse. ney and d'erlon had determined to break the english line with the bayonet. suddenly, when the french came within point-blank range, the english awoke to action. the english guns hurled shot into the close-ranked masses, each discharge doing frightful execution. ney's horse was shot from under him at the first fire. but the unwounded marshal scrambled to his feet and, mounting another horse, pressed on.
the slow-moving ranks were nearer. at point-blank range the english infantrymen now opened fire. shattering discharges were poured upon the french. the fronts of the divisions were obliterated. the men in advance who survived would have given back, but the pressure of the masses in their rear forced them to go on. the divisions actually broke into a run. again and again the british battalions spoke, the black muskets in the hands of the red coats were tipped with redder flame. it was not in human flesh and blood to sustain very long such a fire.
it was a magnificent charge, gloriously delivered, and such was its momentum that it almost came in touch with the english line. it did not quite. that momentum was spent at last. the french deployed as well as they could in the crowded space and at half-pistol-shot distance began to return the english fire. the french guns joined in the infernal tumult. the advance had been stopped, but it had not been driven back. the french cavalry were now coming up. before they arrived that issue had to be decided. the critical moment was at hand, and wellington's superb judgment determined the action. he let loose on them the heavy cavalry, led by the scots grays on their big horses. as the ranks of the infantry opened to give them room, the men of the ninety-second highlanders, mad with the enthusiasm of the moment, caught the stirrup-straps of the horse and, half running, half dragged, joined in the charge.
the splendid body of heavy cavalry fell on the flank of the halted columns. there was no time for the french to form a square. nay more, there was no room for them to form a square. in an instant, however, they faced about and delivered a volley which did great execution, but nothing could stop the maddened rush of the gigantic horsemen. back on the heights of rossomme napoleon, aroused from his lethargy at last, stared at the great attack.
"mon dieu!" he exclaimed as he saw the tremendous onfall of the cavalrymen upon his helpless infantry, "how terrible are those gray horsemen!"
yes, they were more terrible to the men at the point of contact than they were to those back of la belle alliance. no infantry that ever lived in the position in which the french found themselves could have stood up against such a charge as that. trampling, hacking, slashing, thrusting, the horses biting and fighting like the men, the heavy cavalry broke up two of the columns. the second and third began to retreat under an awful fire. but the dash of the british troopers was spent. they had become separated, disorganized. they had lost coherence. the french cavalry now arrived on the scene. admirably handled, they were thrown on the scattered english. there was nothing for the latter to do but retire. retire they did, having accomplished all that anyone could expect of cavalry, fighting every step of the way. just as soon as they opened the fronts of the regiments' in line, the infantry and artillery began again, and then the french cavalry got its punishment in its turn.
it takes but moments to tell of this charge and, indeed, in the battlefield it seemed but a few moments. but the french did not give way until after long hard fighting. from the beginning of the preliminary artillery-duel to the repulse of the charge an hour and a half elapsed. indeed, they did not give way altogether either, for donzelot and allix, who commanded the left divisions, were the men who finally succeeded in capturing la haye sainte. and both sides suffered furiously before the french gave back.
there was plenty of fight left in the french yet. ney, whatever his strategy and tactics, showed himself as of yore the bravest of the brave. it is quite safe to say that the hero of the retreat from russia, the last of the grand army, the star of many a hotly contested battle, surpassed even his own glorious record for personal courage on that day. maddened by the repulse, he gathered up all the cavalry, twelve thousand in number, and with kellerman, greatest of cavalrymen, to second him and with division leaders like milhaud and maurice, he hurled himself upon the english line between hougomont and la haye sainte. but the english made no tactical mistakes like that of ney and d'erlon. the artillerists stood to their guns until the torrent of french horsemen was about to break upon them, then they ran back to the safety of the nearest english square.
the english had been put in such formation that the squares lay checkerwise. each side was four men deep. the front rank knelt, the second rank bent over at a charge bayonets, the third and the fourth ranks stood erect and fired. the french horsemen might have endured the tempest of bullets but they could not ride down the chevaux de frise, the fringe of steel. they tried it. no one could find fault with that army. it was doing its best; it was fighting and dying for its emperor. over and over they sought to break those stubborn british squares. one or two of them were actually penetrated, but unavailingly.
men mad with battle-lust threw themselves and their horses upon the bayonets. the guns were captured and recaptured. the horsemen overran the ridge, they got behind the squares, they counter-charged over their own tracks, they rode until the breasts of the horses touched the guns. they fired pistols in the face of the english. one such charge is enough to immortalize its makers, and during that afternoon they made twelve!
ney, raging over the field, had five horses killed under him. the british suffered horribly. if the horsemen did draw off to take breath, and reform for another effort, the french batteries, the english squares presenting easy targets, sent ball after ball through them. and nobody stopped fighting to watch the cavalry. far and wide the battle raged. toward the close of the day some of the english squares had become so torn to pieces that regiments, brigades and divisions had to be combined to keep from being overwhelmed.
still the fight raged around hougomont. now, from a source of strength, la haye sainte had become a menace. there the english attacked and the french held. off to the northeast the country was black with advancing masses of men. no, it was not grouchy and his thirty-five thousand who, if they had been there at the beginning, might have decided the day. it was the prussians.
they, at least, had marched to the sound of the cannon. grouchy was off at wavre. he at last got in touch with one of blücher's rear corps and he was fighting a smart little battle ten miles from the place where the main issue was to be decided. as a diversion, his efforts were negligible, for without that corps the allies outnumbered the french two to one.
telling the troops that the oncoming soldiers were their comrades of grouchy's command who would decide the battle, napoleon detached the gallant lobau, who had stood like a stone wall at aspern, with the young guard to seize the village of planchenoit and to hold the prussians back, for if they broke in the end would be as certain as it was swift. and well did lobau with the young guard perform that task. bülow, commanding the leading corps, hurled himself again and again upon the french line. his heavy columns fared exactly as the french columns had fared when they assaulted the english. but it was not within the power of ten thousand men to hold off thirty thousand forever, and there were soon that number of prussians at the point of contact. frantic messages from lobau caused the emperor to send one of the divisions of the old guard, the last reserve, to his support.
it was now after six o'clock, the declining sun was already low on the horizon, the long june day was drawing to a close. the main force of the prussians had not yet come up to the hill and ridge of mont st. jean. wellington, in great anxiety, was clinging desperately to the ridge with his shattered lines wondering how long he could hold them, whether he could sustain another of those awful attacks. his reserves, except two divisions of light cavalry, vivian's and vandeleur's, and maitland's and adams' brigades headed by colborne's famous fifty-second foot, among his troops the de luxe veterans of the peninsula, had all been expended.
lobau was still holding back the prussians by the most prodigious and astounding efforts. if napoleon succeeded in his last titanic effort to break that english line, blücher would be too late. unless night or blücher came quickly, if napoleon made that attack and it was not driven back, victory in this struggle of the war gods would finally go to the french.
hougomont still held out. the stubborn defense of it was wellington's salvation. while it stood his right was more or less protected. but la haye sainte offered a convenient point of attack upon him. if napoleon brought up his remaining troops behind it they would only have a short distance to go before they were at death's grapple hand to hand with the shattered, exhausted, but indomitable defenders of the ridge.
