the crest of the ridge on the left flank of the Guard and began to pour
volleys into the massed columns of the 4th Chasseurs. When they
followed with a bayonet charge, the Chasseurs wavered, then slowly gave
ground. Up went the cry no member of the Grand Army ever thought to
hear: 'La Garde recule!' ('The Guard is retreating!')
Almost by a magical preestablished harmony at this very moment the
Prussians finally broke through on the French left. 33,000 fresh troops
came flooding on to the field. Napoleon had been bolstering the spirits of
his men by the blatant lie that the men they could see on their right were
Grouchy's 33,000, not the Prussians. When they realized the awful truth,
the men became demoralized and panic-stricken. 'Treason,' came the cry.
'We are betrayed.' Some still thought that the Prussians who opened fire
on them were Grouchy's men, now suborned by the Bourbons. But
whether they thought of them as Prussians or renegade Frenchmen, the
effect was the same: first a catastrophic plummeting of spirits, then panic
and finally rout.
It was not more than ten minutes after the arrival of the Prussians that
Wellington rode to the crest of the Mont-St-Jean ridge and waved his hat
three times in a prearranged signal to order a general advance. The entire
Allied army descended from the ridge like a torrent. Napoleon ordered
his veterans of the Old Guard to form square and try to rally the fleeing
troops, but they were swept aside in the melee. Three battalions of the
Old Guard then took up station at La Belle Alliance, covering the flight
of their Emperor and their comrades. Their commander, General
Cambronne, was called on to surrender but refused, according to the
legend with one word: Merde. The Allies brought up big guns and
mowed down the valiant Guard where they stood.
There was now no possibility of rallying the army. Scenes of the
utmost chaos were witnessed as the defeated Grand Army streamed away
southwards. Lobau's men fell back in good order from their position on
the right, avoiding encirclement by the Prussians. Sauve qui peut was the
watchword as Prussian cavalry pursued the vanquished throughout the
night. At 9 p.m. Wellington met Blucher at La Belle Alliance, and both
hailed each other as the victor. 'Quelle affaire!' Blucher remarked (the
only French he knew). Wellington's comment as he surveyed the heaps of
dead is well known: that next to a battle lost the saddest thing he knew
was a battle won. The day after the battle he wrote: 'It was the most
desperate business I was ever in: I never took so much trouble about any
battle, and never was so near being beat. Our loss is immense, particularly
the best of all instruments, the British infantry. I never saw the infantry
behave so well.'
marcin
(Marcin)
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