Upon assumption of the throne, Napoleon found that he was left with little by the Bourbons and that the state of the Army was 56,000 troops of which 46,000 were ready to campaign.[1] By the end of May, the total armed forces available to Napoleon had reached 198,000 with 66,000 more in depots training up but not yet ready for deployment.[2]
For the defence of France, Bonaparte deployed his remaining forces within France observing France's enemies, foreign and domestic, intending to delay the former and suppress the latter. By June, they were organised as follows:
15th Infantry Division (Commanded by General Rottembourg)[5]
16th Infantry Division (Commanded by General Albert)[5]
17th Infantry Division (Commanded by General Grandjean)[5]
On 20 June 1815 Rapp's three infantry divisions contained 28 Battalions.[6] These 28 Battalions consisted of both Line and Light Infantry Regiments. Belonging to the above three Infantry Divisions were the following Line Infantry Regiments: 18th (3 Battalions),[7] 32nd (2 Battalions),[7] 36th (2 Battalions),[7]39th (2 Battalions),[7] 40th (2 Battalions),[7] 57th (3 Battalions),[7] 58th (2 Battalions),[7] 101st (2 Battalions),[8] 103rd (2 Battalions) [8] and the 104th (2 Battalions).[8] The 7th Light Infantry Regiment (3 Battalions) [8] and the 10th Light Infantry Regiment (3 Battalions) [8] also belonged to Rapp's Infantry Divisions.
7th Cavalry Division (Commanded by General Merlin) [5]
National Guard Brigade (Commanded by General Berckheim) [11]
The 3rd, 4th, and 5th Battalions of the National Guard of the Bas-Rhin [8] and the 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions of the National Guard of the Haut-Rhin.[8] Two National Guard Lancer Cavalry Regiments also appear to have been attached to Berckheims command – a Haut-Rhin National Guard Lancer Regiment (137 men) [8] and a Bas-Rhin National Guard Lancer Regiment (405 men) [8]
VII Corps[13] – Armée des Alpes (Suchet).[14] Based at Lyons, this army was charged with the defence of Lyons and to observe the Austro-Sardinian army of Frimont. Its composition in June was:
22nd Infantry Division (Commanded by General Pacthod) [15]
67th Line Infantry Regiment (3 Battalions) [15] and the 6th Light Infantry Regiment (2 Battalions).[15] The two battalions of the 6th Light Infantry Regiment had been detached to Marshal Brune's II Corps of Observation – see below
2nd Brigade (Commanded by Brigadier General Revest [fr]) [15]
42nd Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions) [15] and the 53rd Line Infantry Regiment (2 Battalions) [15]
15th Cavalry Division (Commanded by General Quesnel) [15]
I Corps of Observation – Armée du Jura[14] Based at Belfort and commanded by General Claude Lecourbe, this army was to observe any Austrian movement through Switzerland and also observe the Swiss army of General Bachmann. Its composition in June was:
18th Infantry Division (Commanded by General Abbé) [18][19]
II Corps of Observation[13] – Armée du Var.[24] Based at Toulon and commanded by Marshal Guillaume Marie Anne Brune,[25] this army was charged with the suppression of any potential royalist uprisings and to observe General Bianchi's Army of Naples. Its composition in June was:
Belonging to the above two infantry divisions were the following Line Infantry Regiments: 9th (3 Battalions),[7] 13th (2 Battalions),[7] 16th (2 Battalions),[7] 35th (2 Battalions)[7] and 106th (2 or 3 Battalions).[8] The 14th Light Infantry Regiment (2 Battalions) also belonged to one of these divisions.[8] Attached to Brune's army were two battalions of the 6th Light Infantry Regiment detached from Marshal Suchet's VII Corps.[8]
Cavalry: 14th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment;[27][28]
IV Corps of Observation[13] – Army of the Pyrenees occidentales.[24] Based at Bordeaux and commanded by General Bertrand Clauzel, this army observed the western Spanish frontier. Its composition in June was:[27]
27th Infantry Division (Commanded by General Fressinet)[27][5]
Army of the West[13] – Armée de l'Ouest[24] (also known as the Army of the Vendée). Commanded by General Jean Maximilien Lamarque, the army was formed to suppress the Royalist insurrection in the Vendée region of France, which remained loyal to King Louis XVIII during the Hundred Days. The army contained line units as well as gendarmes and volunteers. Its composition in June was:
One Un-numbered Infantry Division (Commanded by General Brayer);[33]
3rd Battalion of the 8th Light Infantry Regiment,[33] a Battalion of the 27th Line Infantry Regiment,[33] 1st Battalion of the 47th Line Infantry Regiment[33] and Foot Gendarmes (170 men)[33]
2nd Young Guard Tirailleur Regiment (2 Battalions) [33] and the 2nd Young Guard Voltigeur Regiment (2 Battalions) [33]
One Un-numbered Infantry Division (Commanded by General Travot);[33]
1st Brigade (Commanded by Colonel Levavasseur) [33]
Parisian Gendarmes (80 men),[33] Marine Artillerymen (240 men),[33] 15th Line Infantry Regiment (2 Battalions),[33] 43rd Line Infantry Regiment (2 Battalions) [33] and the 2nd Battalion of the 65th Line Infantry Regiment [33]
2nd Brigade (Commanded by Colonel/General Prevost) [33]
3rd Battalion of the 14th Line Infantry Regiment,[33] 26th Line Infantry Regiment (3 Battalions) [33] and some volunteer Vendee Chasseurs (28 men) [33]
Cavalry: The 4th Squadrons of the 2nd Hussar Regiment, 13th Chassuers à Cheval Regiment, 4th, 5th, 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th Dragoon Regiments [28]
Artillery: Three foot artillery batteries (24 guns);[13]
The forces at the disposal of the Seventh Coalition for an invasion of France amounted to the better part of a million men. According to the returns laid out in secret sittings at the Congress of Vienna the military resources of the European states that joined the coalition, the number of troops which they could field for active operations—without unduly diminishing the garrison and other services in their respective interiors—amounted to 986,000 men. The size of the principal invasion armies (those designated to proceed to Paris) was as follows:[35]
I
Army of Upper Rhine—(Schwartzenberg) consisting of :
Austrians
150,000
Bavarians
65,000
Württemberg
25,000
Baden
16,000
Hessians, etc.,
8,000
I
Army of Upper Rhine—(Schwartzenberg), Total
264,000
II
Army of Lower Rhine—(Blücher) Prussians, Saxons, etc.
155,000
III
Army of Flanders—(Wellington) British, Dutch, Hanoverians, Brunswickers
Dutch light cavalry observed the frontier into the west of Leuze and Binche
The Netherlands Corps, commanded by Prince Frederick of the Netherlands did not take part in early actions of the Waterloo Campaign (it was posted to a fall back position near Braine), but did besiege some of the frontier fortresses in the rear of Wellington's advancing army.[38][39]
A Danish contingent known as the Royal Danish Auxiliary Corps commanded by General Prince Frederick of Hessen-Kassel and a Hanseatic contingent (from the free cities of Bremen, Lübeck and Hamburg) later commanded by the British Colonel Sir Neil Campbell, were also on their way to join this army,[40] both however, joined the army in July having missed the conflict.[41][42]
Wellington had very much hoped to obtain a Portuguese contingent of between 12,000 and 14,000 men that might be boarded on ships and sent to this army.[43][44] However, this contingent never materialised, as the Portuguese government were extremely uncooperative. They explained that they did not have the authority to send the Prince Regent of Portugal's forces to war without his consent (he was still in Brazil where he had been in exile during the Peninsular War and had yet to return to Portugal). They explained this even though they themselves had signed the Treaty of 15 March without his consent.[45] Besides this, the state of the Portuguese army in 1815 left much to be desired and were a shadow of their former self with much of it being disbanded.[46]
The Tsar of Russia offered Wellington his II Army Corps under general Wurttemberg,[47] but Wellington was far from keen on accepting this contingent.
Fearing that Napoleon was going to strike him first, Blücher ordered this army to march north to join the rest of his own army.[50] The Prussian General Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf initially commanded this army before he fell ill on 18 June and was replaced temperately by the Hessen-Kassel General von Engelhardt (who was in command of the Hessen division) and then by Lieutenant General Karl Georg Albrecht Ernst von Hake.[51][52] Its composition in June was:[53][54][b]
Hessen-Kassel Division (Three Hessian Brigades)- General Engelhardt
Hessian 1st Brigade (5 battalions) – Major General Prince of Solms-Braunfels
Hessian 2nd Brigade (7 battalions) – Major General von Muller
Hessian Cavalry Brigade (2 regiments) – Major General von Warburg (Prussian)
Hessian Artillery (2 six-pounder batteries) – Najor von Bardeleben (Prussian)
Thuringian Brigade – Major General Egloffstein (Weimar)
1st Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 battalions):
2nd Provisional Infantry Regiment (3 battalions)
3rd Provisional Infantry Regiment (5 battalions including the Oldenbug Line Infantry Regiment (2 battalions))
This army was composed entirely of Swiss. The Swiss General Niklaus Franz von Bachmann commanded this army. This force was to observe any French forces that operated near its borders. Its composition in July was:[58]
This was the second largest of Austria's contingents. Its target was Lyons. GeneralJohann Maria Philipp Frimont commanded this army. Its composition in June was:[59]
This was the smallest of Austria's military contingents. Its targets were Marseilles and Toulon. General Frederick Bianchi commanded this army.[d] This was the Austrian army that defeated Murat's army in the Neapolitan War. It was not composed of Neapolitans as the army's name may suggest and as one author supposed.[60] There was however a Sardinian force in this area forming the garrison of Nice under Giovanni Pietro Luigi Cacherano d'Osasco[61] which may have been where the other part of this misunderstanding had arisen. Its composition in June was:[62]
This was Great Britain's smaller military expedition. It was composed of British troops from the garrison of Genoa under General Sir Hudson Lowe transported and supported by the Mediterranean Fleet of Lord Exmouth to Marseilles to aid a French Royalist uprising. The British landed about 4,000 men in Marseilles, made up of soldiers, marines and sailors.[63]
Both Wellington's Despatches and his Supplementary Despatches show that neither of the Spanish armies contained any Portuguese contingents nor were they likely too, (See the section Portuguese contingent below), however both Chandler and Barbero state that the Portuguese did send a contingent.[24][65]
Netherlands reserve army
In order to support the Netherlands field army, plans had been made on 24 May to raise a reserve army. It wasn’t until 19 July until the organisation of the army was laid out: it was to consist of 30 infantry battalions, 18 cavalry squadrons, and four artillery batteries. The infantry was organised from the newly acquired Swiss regiments and newly raised Belgian Militia battalions; the cavalry from the reserves of all nine cavalry regiments, including the colonial hussars and Belgian Militia Carabiniers. By then, the Coalition armies had already set up camp around Paris. The army, existing largely only on paper, was disbanded after three months.[66] Only the 43rd National Militia Infantry Battalion, part of the 4th Infantry Brigade (2nd Infantry Division), was deployed in the observation of Bouillon.[67][68]
Commander: Lieutenant-General baron Tindal, Quartermaster / Adjudant-general: Major General D.L. Vermaesen:[66]
2nd Infantry Division, Lieutenant general Cort Heyligers
Cavalry Division, Lieutenant general baron Evers (formed partially)
Prussian Reserve Army
Besides the four Army Corps that fought in the Waterloo Campaign listed above that Blücher took with him into the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Prussia also had a reserve army stationed at home in order to defend its borders.
Royal Danish Auxiliary Corps and Hanseatic Contingent
A Danish contingent known as the Royal Danish Auxiliary Corps commanded by General Prince Frederick of Hessen-Kassel and a Hanseatic contingent (from the free cities of Bremen, Lübeck and Hamburg) commanded by the British Colonel Sir Neil Campbell, were also on their way to join Wellington's army,[40] both however, joined the army in July having missed the conflict.[50][42]
Portuguese contingent
Wellington had very much hoped to obtain a Portuguese contingent of 12–14,000 men that might be boarded on ships and sent to this army.[43][44] However, this contingent never materialised, as the Portuguese government were extremely uncooperative. They explained that they did not have the authority to send the Prince Regent of Portugal's forces to war without his consent (he was still in Brazil where he had been in exile during the Peninsular War and had yet to return to Portugal). They explained this even though they themselves had signed the Treaty of 15 March without his consent.[45] Besides this, the state of the Portuguese army in 1815 left much to be desired and it was a shadow of its former self with much of it being disbanded.[46]
Russian 2nd (Reserve) Army
The Second Russian Army was behind the First Russian Army to support it if required.
Imperial Guard Corps
I Army Corps
II Army Corps, commanded by General Wurttemberg
I Grenadier Division
I Reserve Cavalry Corps
Russian support for Wellington
The Tsar of Russia offered Wellington the II Army Corps under General Wurttemberg from his Reserve Army,[47] but Wellington was far from keen on accepting this contingent.
Notes
^General Georg von Pirch is known as "Pirch I", because the Prussian army used Roman numerals to distinguish officers of the same name, in this case from his brother, seven years his junior, Otto Karl Lorenz Pirch II (Thiers 1865, p. 573 (footnote)).
^A third brigade, the Mecklenburg Brigade commanded by General Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin is included in Plotho, but not by Hofschröer & Embleton (Plotho 1818, p. 56; Hofschröer & Embleton 2014, p. 42).
^Although Siborne estimated the number at 264,492, David Chandler estimated the number 232,000 (Chandler 1981, p. 27)
^Chandler places the army under the command of General Onasco,(Chandler 1981, p. 30) but Plotho and Vaudoncourt name the commander as General Bianchi (Vaudoncourt 1826, Book I, Chapter I, p. 94.; Plotho 1818, Appendix pp. 76–77).
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