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After their defeat at the Battle of Ligny (16 June 1815) the Prussians successfully disengaged and withdrew to north west to Wavre where they reorganised and then three corps advance westward to attack the right flank of the French army at the Battle of Waterloo. The French were desultory in the aftermath of Ligny. Napoleon wasted the morning of 17 June by taking a late breakfast and going to see the previous days battlefield before organising a pursuit of the two Coalition armies. He took the reserves and marched with Marshal Ney in pursuit of the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-allied army, and he gave instructions to Marshal Grouchy to pursue the Prussians wherever they were going and harry them so that they had no time to reorganise. Both Napoleon and Grouchy assumed that the Prussians were retreating towards Namur and Liege, with a view to occupy the line of the river Meuse, and so during 17 June Grouchy sent the bulk of his cavalry ranging in that direction as far as Perwez. In his despatch to Napoleon written at 22:00 he was still thought that most of the Prussian army was retreating north-east, although he by then realised that two Prussian corps were heading north towards Wavre. In a second dispatch written four hours later he informed Napoleon that he now intended to advance either on Corbais or Wavre. The problem for the French was that by the end of 17 June, most of Grouchy's detachment was now behind the Prussians, on the far side of the Dyle. This meant that they were incapable of preventing the Prussians moving from Wavre towards Waterloo and too far away themselves to go directly to the aid of Napoleon on 18 June should Wellington turn and fight south of Brussels. On the morning of 18 June those Prussians who had not already done so crossed the Dyle in and around Wavre and headed westwards towards the Waterloo battlefield. Grouchy was at Sart-lez-Walhain when at about 11:30 he and his staff heard the sound of cannonades in the distance, which a local notary said sounded as if it was coming from what is now known as the battlefield of Waterloo. This was in a north-westerly direction, at a distance of about as the crow flies, with no direct roads between Grouchy's position and the battlefield. The distance to Wavre (nor'-nor'-west) was about with some larger minor road leading there. After considering his options, Grouchy decided to advance to Wavre and engage whatever Prussians he found there, and so aid Napoleon by preventing those Prussians from moving towards Waterloo. Grouchy arrived at Wavre at around 16:00 and immediately engaged the Prussian III Corps (Thielemann's), which was acting as the rearguard of the Prussian army and which had been about to leave for Waterloo) in what became the Battle of Wavre. The Prussian advance to the Waterloo battlefield was impeded by the swollen streams, which had turned their valleys into muddy swamps, in particular the valley of the small river Lasne close to Saint-Lambert, but not by any French forces as Napoleon had neglected to send patrols out on his right flank. The Prussian vanguard started to arrive in strength out of the Wood of Paris at around 17:00 on 18 June and were soon attacking the right flank of Napoleon's army engaged in the Battle of Waterloo. ==Ligny to Wavre, 17 June== It was not until the night of 16 June, after Prussian I Corps (Ziten's) and the II Corps (Pirch I's) had retired to Tilly and Gentinnes, that it was decided the Prussian Army should retreat upon Wavre. This decision was communicated in the orders then transmitted from the Prussian headquarters Zieten and Pirch I directing them to bivouac at Bierge and Saint-Anne, in the vicinity of Wavre; as also in the orders forwarded, on the next morning, to the bivouacs of the III and IV corps(Thielemann's and Bülow), at Gembloux and , directing them to fall back, and bivouac at , and near Wavre. Ziten's and Pirch I's corps retired by Mont-Saint-Guibert, in rear of which defile the latter corps remained a considerable time as the rearguard, while the former marched on to Wavre, where it arrived about midday, crossed the Dyle, and took up its position at Bierge. Pirch I followed the same route, but took post on the right bank of the Dyle, between Sainte Anne and Aisémont. With the first glimmering of daylight the troops, which, under the command of General Jagow, had continued in full possession of Brye and its immediate vicinity during the night, began to retire, firstly, in the direction of Sombreffe, and thence to Gembloux, which they reached before the arrival of III Corps (Thielemann's). After the receipt of the order pointing out the direction of the retreat, Jagow conducted these troops, in the course of 17 June, towards their respective brigades. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Waterloo Campaign: Ligny through Wavre to Waterloo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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