NEW PLATES COMING SOON!

Apologies for my online inactivity. I can reassure you that offline, I’ve been hard at work and will be posting several more Anglo-Allied contingent plates this week – so watch this space.

It would appear the site has attracted a healthy following including both the Napoleonic purist and the gamer and so I’ve spent the last week wrestling with the dilemma of endeavouring to satisfy both. Thanks for all the comments to date either direct to my email or on the Quatre-Bras forum. Do keep them coming. A special mention must go to the “Napoleonic Series Discussion Forum” and its’ astute & wise membership – whilst inspirational in its comments, I now find myself more deeply immersed in a subject that I thought could be dealt with far more simply.

The key element behind realising this project has to be the “Order of Battle” for Quatre-Bras, in effect the troop strengths for units before hostilities began – something that I imagined would be simple to ascertain yet I couldn’t more wrong. To my amazement most Waterloo Campaign OOBs deviate from one historian to the next. On reflection, the QB OOB seems to have undergone an historical version of Chinese whispers resulting in highly contradictory figures whatever their source material. Despite my own rather predictable sources – Haythorntwaite, Hofschroer, Fortescue, Chartrand and the recent work by Adkin, all they seem to have done is confuse the issue further. So I have been advised to read Bas and Wommersom’s volume I on Quatre-Bras – supposedly a definitive source as well as Alain Arcq "Les Quatre-Bras 16 Juin 1815" – sadly both are rather hard to get hold of. Back to the point of a core source for troop strengths at the onset of the campaign, I’m amazed there is no one definitive source that everyone else quotes. OK, troops get sick, desert, miss boats, get lost etc. but that still doesn’t explain why no two OOBs are the same and that doesn’t even take into account the different names used for the units present, i.e. 27th Jägers, Bataljon Jagers No.27, 27th Dutch Jaeger, 27th Jager, 27th (Dutch) Chasseurs – need I continue! The deeper I dig, the more complex it becomes and the more frustrated I become with the damn academics behind them! Sure, that’s the beauty of history, I hear you say but I disagree. It would appear that the French and British 19th century historians have a lot to answer for, who, like Wellington continued to bend the truth or worse still, simply lie! What we are left with is a welter of conflicting stories, views and opinions that, rather than shedding new light, simply cast us deeper into the shadows – “Quelle Affaire!”

So I will ask you directly, “Is there a near definitive source for Anglo-Allied unit strengths at the onset of the Waterloo Campaign?” And if so, do enlighten me because without this I cannot begin!

JC

PS. Here's my Anglo-Allied OOB (June 15) - a working draft and a bit of a mess but interesting reading nonetheless.

ANGLO-ALLIED FORCES PRESENT AT THE BATTLE OF QUATRE BRAS 34,219

C-in-C: Field Marshal Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
STAFF:
COS: Colonel Sir William de Lancey (QMG, acting COS)

Quartermaster-General: Sir George MurrayDeputy Quartermaster-General: Sir Alexander Dickson, RHAAssistant Quartermaster-Genera: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Broke
Adjutant-General: Major-General Sir Edward Barnes

Foot Artillery Command: Colonel Sir George Adam Wood RA
STAFF: 2 field officers, 1 surgeon, 1 sergeant, 1 veterinary surgeonHorse Artillery Command: Colonel Sir Augustus Frazer RHA
King's German Artillery: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Julius Hartmann

ADCs:Colonel Charles Fox Canning [Regt?]
Colonel James Stanhope [Regt?]Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon (92nd Highlanders]
Major Henry Percy [Regt?]Captain Lord Arthur Hill [Regt?]
Sir James Shaw Kennedy
Colin Campbell
------------------------

I Corps: GOC H.R.H Majoor-General Prince William of Orange
STAFF:
cos: Generaal-Majoor Baron J.V. Constant-Rebecque
ADCs: Lieutenant-Colonel Baron Tripp [60th Foot]Captain Lord John Somerset Captain The Honourable Francis Russell
Extra ADCs: Captain The Earl of March [52nd Foot]Captain Viscount Bury [1st Foot Guards]Lieutenant Sir Harry Webster [9th Light Dragoons]
Lord March (Duke of Richmond's son) [Regt?]
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1st Division GOC Major-General Sir George Cooke 4,675 ~ Gentlemen Sons
STAFF:
ADCs: Captain G. Disbrowe [1st Guards]
Ensign Augustus Cuyler [2nd Guards (Coldstream)]
--------------------------
1st Brigade GOC Major-General Sir Peregrine Maitland 2,087
Brigade Major: Captain J. Gunthorpe [1st Guards]
ADCs: Ensign James, Lord Hay [1st Guards]
2/1st Foot Guards - Major Henry Askew 1,021 The Tow-Rows
3/1st Foot Guards - Major Hon. William Stewart/ Captain F. Powell 1,066 The Tow-Rows
2nd Brigade GOC Major-General Sir John Byng 2,148
2/2nd (Coldstream) Guards - Major A. G. Woodford 1,044 The Coldstreamers
2/3rd (Scots) Guards - Major Francis Hepburn 1,104
Division Artillery GOC Lieutenant-Colonel S. G. Adye 440
Sandham’s Battery, RFA 5 x 9-pdrs / 1 x 5.5-in. howitzer Captain Charles F. Sandham (215)
2nd Horse Battery KGL x 9-pdrs / 1 x 5.5-in. howitzer (225) Brevet Major (Captain) Heinrich Jakob Kuhlmann Kühlmann
1 captain, 3 subalterns, 1 surgeon, 4 sergeants, 3 corporals, 6 bombardiers, 72 gunners, 58 drivers, 6 craftsmen, 164 horses 5 six-pounder cannon, one 5.5-inch howitzer.
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3rd Division GOC Major-General Count Sir Karl von Alten 6,251 ~ Fighting Division
STAFF:
COS: Colonel August von Berger
ADCs: Major A. Heise [2nd Light Battalion KGL]
Lieutenant W. Havelock [43rd Regiment of Foot]
--------------------------
5th Brigade GOC Maj-Gen. Sir Colin Halkett 2,422
2/30th Regiment of Foot (Cambridgeshire) - Lieutenant-Colonel Morris William Bailey 657 The Three Tens 615 635 635
33rd Regiment of Foot (Yorkshire West Riding) - Lieutenant-Colonel William Keith Elphinstone 603 - Wellington’s old regiment The Havercake Lads 561 561 576
2/69th Regiment of Foot (South Lincolnshire) - Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Morice / Major G. Muttlebury 558 The Up & Downs ~ The Old Agamemnons 516 - 565
2/73rd Regiment of Foot (Highland) - Lieutenant-Colonel William George Harris 604 – 562 562 498657
1st Hanoverian Brigade GOC Major-General Graf von Kielmansegge 3,414
Field Battalion of the Grubenhagen Regiment (Leichte) - Lt-Col. Wurmb 661
Field Battalion of the Bremen Regiment (Leichte) - Lt-Col. Langrehr 552
Field Battalion of the Lüneburg Regiment (Leichte) - Lt-Col. von Klencke 635
Field Battalion of the Osnabruck Regiment (Herzog von York) (Leichte) - Maj. Baron Bulow 647
*Verden Field Battalion - Maj. de Schkopp 573
*Field Battalion of the Calenberg Regiment - Maj. de Schkopp 573
Kielmansegge Feldjäger-Korps (? Companies)– Capt. von Reden 340
Division Artillery GOC Lieutenant-Colonel J. S. Williamson
Lloyd’s Battery, RFA 5 x 9-pdrs / 1 x 5.5-in. howitzer Major W. Lloyd (200)
Cleeve’s Battery, 1st/4th? Foot Battery, KGL 5 x 9-pdrs / 1 x 5.5-in. howitzer Captain Andreas Cleeves (215)
Captain, 4 subalterns, 1 surgeon, 4 sergeants, 3 corporals, 5 bombardiers, 65 gunners, 2 buglers - train: 3 sergeants, 5 corporals, 98 drivers, 15 craftsmen, 124 horses with 5 six-pounder cannon, one 5 .5-inch howitzer
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2nd NETHERLANDS DIVISION
GOC Lt-Gen. Baron Henri-Georges de Perponcher-Sedlnitzky 7,936?
STAFF
Chief of Staff: Colonel Baron P.H. van Zuylen van Nyevelt
Adjutants: Majoor J. van de Poll
Kapitein F.P. de Smeth van Deurne [Regt?]
ADCs: Majoor G.G. Taets van Amerongen [Regt?]
Kapitein F.B. von Gagern [Regt?]
Luitenant Chalmers [Regt?]
1e Luitenant-ter-zee C. Hoynck van Papendrecht [Regt?]
Commandant of Artillery: Majoor C. van Opstall
Commandant of Police: Kapitein A. J. Gobelet
--------------------------
1st Brigade GOC Generaal-Majoor W.F. Graf van Bijlandt 3,233
Brigade-Majoor: Kapitein Ph. J. van Zuylen van Nyevelt
Adjutant: Kapitein P. Rendorp
ADCs: Kapitein G.J. van Hogendorp, 1e Luitenant C.F. van Haren
--------------------------
Bataljon van Linie No.7 (Dutch/Belgian?) Luitenant-Colonel F. C. Vandensande 701
Bataljon Jagers No.27 (Dutch) Luitenant-Colonel W. J. Grunebosch 809
Bataljon Nationale Militie No.5 (Dutch) Luitenant-Colonel J. J. Westenberg 482
Bataljon Nationale Militie No.7 (Dutch) Luitenant-Colonel H. Singendonck 675
Bataljon Nationale Militie No.8 (Dutch) Luitenant-Colonel W. A. de Jongh 566
2nd Brigade GOC Colonel H.S.H Prinz Bernard von Sachsen-Weimar [1] 4,477
Brigade-Majoor: Hauptmann A. Coustol / Majoor F. Sattler
Adjutant: Hauptmann Baron von Gagern
ADC: Major L. Vigelius
--------------------------
CO Majoor F. Sattler? / Colonel F W van Goedececke 2,738?
1/2nd Nassau-Usingen Majoor J. F. Sattler /Kapitein Busgen 903
2/2nd Nassau-Usingen Majoor Ph. von Normann 903
3/2nd Nassau-Usingen Majoor G. Hegmann 903
CO Colonel H.S.H Prinz Bernard von Sachsen-Weimar 1,593?
1/Regiment Oranje-Nassau No.28 Luitenant-Colonel W.F. von Dressel 795
2/Regiment Oranje-Nassau No.28 Major P. Schleyer 796
Freywillige Oranische Jager-Kompanie (Volunteers Jaegers – Nassau) Captain E. Bergmann 177
Division Artillery GOC Major van Opstal
Bijleveld’s Battery, HA (Dutch) Kapitein A. Bijleveld 6 x 6-pdrs / 2 x 5.5-in. howitzer (107)
***Some sources state Bijleveld had 2 x French 24-pounders***
Bijleveld’s Artillery Train - 1e Luitenant van der Hoeven (111** / 112***)
13 x artillery ammunition caissons
6 x wagons
Stievenert’s Battery, FA (Belgian) Kapitein E. J. Stevenart 6 x 6-pdrs / 2 x 5.5-in. howitzer (119)Stievenert’s Artillery Train - 1e Luitenant van Gahlen (128 / 139***)13 x artillery ammunition caissons 16 x infantry ammunition caissons 7 x wagons
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NETHERLANDS CAVALRY DIVISION
3pm 2ND Light Brigade - van Merlen 1,082
--------------------------
2nd (Dutch-Belgian) Light Cavalry Brigade - Generaal-Majoor J.B. van Merlen
Regiment Lichte Dragonders No.5 Luitenant-Colonel E.A.J.G. de Merex (647 in 4 sqn.)
Regiment Huzaren No.6 (Dutch) - Luitenant-Colonel W. F. Bereel (439 in 3 sqn.)

Petter’s 1/2 HA (Dutch) 3 x 6-pdrs / 1 x 5.5-in. howitzer
----------------------------------------------------------

RESERVE CORPS – Duke of Wellington
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5th division – Picton 5,467 ~ Pioneers
--------------------------
8th Brigade – Kempt 2,644
1/28th Foot (North Gloucestershire) 594 The Slashers
1/32nd Foot (Cornwall) 712
1/79th Foot (Cameron Highlanders) 749
1/95th Rifles - 6 Coys 589 The Rifles ~ Manningham’s Sharpshooters ~ The Sweeps ~ The Grasshoppers ~
9th Brigade – Pack 2,323
3/1st Foot (Royal Scots) 648 ~ Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard
1/42nd Foot (Royal Highland) 561 ~ The Forty-Twa
2/44th Foot (East Sussex) 485 ~ Little Fighting Fours
1/92nd Gordon Highlanders 629 ~ Gay Gordon’s
Division Artillery
Roger’s Battery, RFA 5 x 9-pdrs / 1 x 5.5-in. howitzer (263)
Braun’s Battery, Hanoverian FA 5 x 6-pdrs / 1 x 5.5-in. howitzer Captain Wilhelm Braun (237)
----------------------------------------------------------
6th division – Cole ~ The Marching Division
--------------------------
4th Hanoverian Brigade – Best 2,742
Verden Landwehr Battalion 661
Lüneburg Landwehr Battalion 664
Osterode Landwehr Battalion 717
Münden Landwehr Battalion 700
----------------------------------------------------------
Brunswick CONTINGENT: Duke of Brunswick 6,066?
--------------------------
Advanced Guard - von Rauschenplatt 675
Jäger Battalion 675
Light Brigade - von Buttlar 2,688
Light Btn. "Leib" (Garde) 672
1st Light Battalion "Leib" 672
2nd Light Battalion "Leib" 672 / 688
3rd Light Battalion "Leib” 672 / 691
Line Brigade - von Specht 2,016
1st Line Battalion 672
2nd Line Battalion 672
3rd Line Battalion 672
Divisional Artillery
von Moll’s Brunswick FA 8 x 6-pdr (205)
von Heinemann Brunswick HA 8 x 6pdr (167)
Cavalry Brigade 990
2nd Hussar (Brunswick) 690 / 727
Uhlans (Brunswick) 232 / 246
Field Gendarmes or Polizei Huzaren (Brunswick) 17
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