At Mons:
The
Cavalry continued its withdrawal in good order up the main road to
the north. Both MajGen. Dornberg of the 3rd Cavalry
Brigade and Colonel Bussche of the Hanoverian CavBde opted to leave
one single squadron of hussars to their rear, to force the pursuing
troops to deploy in regular intervals. They were ordered to fall back
once the enemy made a move against them.
There
were very few forces to support them, however. The 3rd
Netherlands Division was to the east
at La
Louvières (covering this road from the south) while the 3rd
British Division was at Soignies to the far north of Mons. Being of
superior rank Major-General Dornberg assumed local command of the
available cavalry (the 7th Cavalry Brigade had been
ordered east to support the 3rd Netherlands)
and
lacking further orders presumed that he would keep delaying the enemy
for as long as possible, without actually engaging in a full blown
fight.
At Chatelet:
The
sound of the guns near Charleroi had not gone unnoticed. But GLt.
Zieten II had more to worry about than just the situation at
Charleroi. There was cavalry deploying to his front SE of Chatelet,
and he could also see infantry moving down the road behind them!
Soon
the French would also attack here – and not just to his west.
Les
Frogs, however, were not his only problem. Most brigade commanders of
his corps had deployed to the rear for the night – and due to the
terrible weather in the past few days he had also agreed to the
suggestions of his staff to rotate some of his units from the front
line.
This
presented him with a nightmare of command and control issues on the
morning of the 15th of June.
The
best example for the conundrum he found himself in, was the village
of Chatelet and its surroundings:
Like
Charleroi it was divided into two parts, connected by a bridge
leading across the river Sambre. Two strong formations of skirmishers
from IR 24 (1st Inf Bde), totalling some 375 rifles, had
deployed in the southern part of the village. Their orders were to
slow down any enemy by engaging them into house to house fighting –
using their superior fire power and accuracy.
The
rest of IR 24, meaning its 3 line battalions, was deployed on the
northern side of the bridge. It was an average unit that could depend
on a strong fusilier battalion. Two corps artillery brigades had
deployed on the western edge of town, one of them equipped with
twelve pounders, but that was about it when it came to units at his
immediate disposal. In the rear he would run across units form the
3rd, the 1st and the 4th InfBde –
all intermingled and without precise orders on where to deploy and
where to concentrate and join up with their respective commands.
The
rest of 1st Brigade, for example, was set up to the north
of Charleroi – far off to west of units like the IR 24, which were
a part of this very brigade.
“Why
have I allowed this madness to happen”, mumbled G Lt. Zieten II,
but now it was too late for curses, something had to be done.
The
main body of the 3rd InfBde was deployed to defend the
only other crossing over the Sambre in the immediate area: near
Pont-de-Lupe. This was a particularly strong position, but it would
be rendered useless should either Charleroi or Chatelet, or worse,
both fall to the French.
Charleroi:
GM
Pirch II was in serious trouble. The impetuous assault by the
Engineers of the Guard were followed up closely by units of what
seemed to be the Young Guard. Realizing what was going to happen, he
immediately rode up to the commanding officer of the
Fusilier-Battalion of IR 6, which was waiting in line at the main
bridge across the river Sambre.
“Why
has that bridge not been rigged for destruction? What is going on
here, Major?”
“Sir, I beg to
report!”
“Well, go on
then....”
“Sir, the recent rain
has left the Sambre with more water than ever before. Thus we were
unable to reach the pylons or even think of mounting any sort of
explosives to them. We have the barrels standing by right over in
this store house, however, Sir!”
“Rains eh? DO I LOOK
LIKE I CARE ABOUT WATER, MAJOR???? You will fix this situation right
away – whatever you do – blow that bridge up at once! AT ONCE,
MAJOR!”
“Yes, Sir, of course,
Sir!... Very good, Sir!”
The
Major in question, whose name shall not be mentioned here, was left
with a rather difficult situation to say the least. How was he
supposed to blow up the bridge, without attaching explosives to the
pylons, which was still impossible due to the strong current of the
river itself?
He was
at a loss – but he had to do something or face a possible
court-martial for disobeying a direct order.
Thus
he decided to present GM Pirch II with a jolly good show and assure
him that he did everything humanly possible to destroy that bridge.
He
immediately had the stored gun powder brought up to the bridge –
and he would simply have the barrels piled up there, ignite them and
hope for the best.
When
he was about to put his brilliant plan into action new enemies
suddenly showed up on the other side of the bridge. Information had
been scarce from the skirmishers deployed “over there” - but so
much was now clear – the fight wasn't going very well. How else
would those units have been able to get into position near the
crossing already?
Nevertheless
he decided to go forth with the plan – groups of 5 soldiers were
formed up to carry a barrel each onto the bridge – all this, of
course, under the ever increasing fire of the units now deployed in a
strong line on the other side of the river!
Not
elan, not panache, not courage was going to help this ill-conceived
plan succeed. Most of the men were cut down before they could get
their barrel set up – others were killed because the gun-powder
actually ignited while they were still carrying the barrel.
One
final push to get the bridge destroyed was led by the Major himself –
bravely he charged with his sword held high and quickly he was cut
down by another volley from the French.
GM
Pirch II was at the scene while his final attempt to get the bridge
destroyed failed miserably. Now he was only left with one feasible
option: retreat.
In
order to retrieve and preserve his cannon and also get the rest of
the brigade to the north and momentary safety, he ordered the
remaining Fusilier-battalion to stay their ground and defend the
bridge for as long as possible and to only fall back step by step,
fighting for every house in the process.
He
would lose one of his better units in doing so, but he would
hopefully gain enough time to get most of his men out of Charleroi.
This proved to be only another assumption which was soon to be left
very much in doubt, since he received news that there was French
cavalry to his west already across the river Sambre!
In
order to counter this new threat in the west he ordered some 100
Jägers to take up a position in a few farm houses on the road
leading east into Charleroi – hoping they would delay the enemy
over in this sector at least as long as the Fusiliers would do in the
town itself!
Finally
he also dispatched another courier to GenLt. Ziethen I:
Sir,
I have to inform you
that lacking any new orders I have decided to abandon Charleroi in
order to save most of my command. I am leaving back a rear-guard to
delay the enemy and make him fight for every inch of this town, but I
must fall back to the north or face immediate destruction, Sir!
We have identified the
Young Guard, some Cavalry to the south and west of the town and
number of batteries.
Your humble servant
GM Pirch
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