Ligny order of battle

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The following units and commanders fought in the Battle of Ligny 16 June 1815.

Battle of Ligny battle

The Battle of Ligny was the last victory of the military career of Napoleon Bonaparte. In this battle, French troops of the Armée du Nord under Napoleon's command, defeated part of a Prussian army under Field Marshal Prince Blücher, near Ligny in present-day Belgium. The Battle of Ligny is an example of a tactical win and a strategic loss for the French. While the French troops did force the enemy to retreat, the Prussian army survived and went on to play a pivotal role two days later at the Battle of Waterloo, reinforced by the Prussian IV Corps, which had not participated in the Battle of Ligny. Had the French army succeeded in keeping the Prussian army from joining the Anglo-allied Army under Wellington at Waterloo, Napoleon might have won the Waterloo Campaign.

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French Army

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon crop.jpg
Napoleon Bonaparte

L'Armée du Nord (68,000 men) under the command of Emperor Napoleon I.

Emperor of the French title used by the House of Bonaparte

Emperor of the French was the monarch of the First French Empire and the Second French Empire.

Major Général (Chief of staff): Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult.

Marshal of the Empire military rank

Marshal of the Empire was a civil dignity during the First French Empire. It was created by Sénatus-consulte on 18 May 1804 and to a large extent resurrected the formerly abolished title of Marshal of France. According to the Sénatus-consulte, a Marshal was a grand officer of the Empire, entitled to a high-standing position at the Court and to the presidency of an electoral college.

Antoine Drouot French general

General Antoine Drouot, Comte Drout was a French officer who fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Old Guard Division GD Friant
Middle Guard Division, GD Morand
Young Guard Division, GD Duhesme
Heavy Cavalry Division, GD Guyot

* I Corps, [2] commander: GD Drouet d'Erlon (Corps not engaged)

Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte dErlon Marshal of France

Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon was a marshal of France and a soldier in Napoleon's Army. D'Erlon notably commanded the I Corps of the Armée du Nord at the battle of Waterloo.

1st Division, GB Quiot
2nd Division, GD Donzelot
Battle of Quatre Bras battle

The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras and was contested between elements of the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army and the left wing of Napoleon Bonaparte's French Armée du Nord under Marshal Michel Ney. While the battle was tactically indecisive, Napoleon achieved his larger strategic aim of preventing Wellington's forces from aiding the Prussian army at the Battle of Ligny, which the French won the same day.

7th Infantry Division, GD Girard
8th Infantry Division, GD Lefol
10th Infantry Division, GD Habert
11th Infantry Division, GD Berthezène
3rd Cavalry Division, GD Domon
12th Infantry Division, GD Pécheux
13th Infantry Division, GD Vichery
14th Infantry Division, GD Hulot
Cavalry reserve, GD Jacquinot
20th Division, GD Jeanin
III Cavalry Corps, commander: GD Kellermann (at Quatre Bras, except:)
11th Division, GD l'Héritier
IV Cavalry Corps, commander: GD Milhaud
14th Cavalry Division Delort

Prussian Army

Field Marshal Gebhart Leberecht von Blucher FuerstBluecherVonWahlstatt.jpg
Field Marshal Gebhart Leberecht von Blücher

Prussian Army (84,000 men), under the command of Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher

Lieutenant-General (Chief of staff): August von Gneisenau

1st Brigade, Major-General von Steinmetz
2nd Brigade, Major-General Pirch II [lower-alpha 1]
3rd Brigade, Major-General Jagow
4th Brigade major, general Henckel von Donnersmarck
Reserve Cavalry, Lieutenant-General von Röder
1st brigade, von Teskow
2nd brigade, von Lützow
Reserve artillery, von Lehmann
5th Brigade, Major-General von Tippelskirch
6th Brigade, Major-General von Krafft
7th Brigade, Major-General von Brause
8th Brigade, Major-General Bose
Reserve Cavalry Major-General of Cavalry, von Wahlen-Jürgass
1st brigade, von Thümen
2nd brigade, von Schulenburg
3rd brigade, von Sohr
Reserve artillery, von Röhl
9th brigade, von Borcke
10th Brigade, von Kämpffen
11th Brigade, von Luck
12th Brigade, von Stülpnagel
Reserve Cavalry Major-General von Hobe
1st brigade, von der Marwitz
2nd brigade, von Lottum
Reserve artillery, von Mohnhaupt

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Georg Dubislav Ludwig von Pirch Archived 2007-08-15 at the Wayback Machine : "Pirch I", the use of Roman numerals being used in Prussian service to distinguish officers of the same name, in this case from his brother, two years his junior, Otto Karl Lorenz von Pirch "Pirch II"
  1. Pigeard 2005, pp. 518-520.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pigeard 2004, p. 475.
  3. 1 2 3 Pigeard 2004, pp. 475-476.

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Waterloo Campaign: Ligny through Wavre to Waterloo

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References

Further reading