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With the Prussian retreat from Ligny, Wellington's position at Quatre Bras was untenable. The next day he withdrew northwards, to a defensive position that he had reconnoitred the previous year—the low ridge of Mont-Saint-Jean, south of the village of Waterloo and the Sonian Forest. [41]
The baffled and starving French invasion forces retreated after six months. Wellington's pursuit was hindered by a series of reverses inflicted by Marshal Ney in a much-lauded rear guard campaign. [125] In 1811, Masséna returned toward Portugal to relieve Almeida; Wellington narrowly checked the French at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. [126]
Wellington's army consisted of four combat arms: Infantry, cavalry and artillery. Engineers also played a valuable role in the Peninsula, such as the building of the Lines of Torres Vedras – a defensive line of forts built to protect Lisbon [ 68 ] – and making preparations for any sieges throughout the war. [ 69 ]
The Duke of Wellington Describing the Field of Waterloo to George IV is an 1840 history painting by the British artist Benjamin Robert Haydon. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It depicts a scene in 1821 when George IV was escorted around the site of the Battle of Waterloo , six years after it was fought, by the victorious Allied commander the Duke of Wellington .
The various Guards battalions sustained heavy losses, but by 6.30 p.m. Wellington's position had strengthened. [17] By 9 p.m., Ney had withdrawn his men, and Wellington held the field. The French had lost 4,000 men, the Allies 4,800. [18] Wellington held Quatre Bras, but the Prussians were not so successful at Ligny, and were forced to retreat.
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The French drove in Coalition outposts and secured Napoleon's favoured "central position" – at the junction between Wellington's army to his north-west, and Blücher's Prussians to his north-east. Wellington had expected Napoleon to try to envelop the Coalition armies by moving through Mons and to the west of Brussels. [ 19 ]
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