A Close Run Thing (44 page)

They trotted all the way to the centre. ‘Guns may gallop, Captain Lankester,’ Vivian had called as they began. ‘Cavalry proceeds at a trot lest those that do not know us should conceive that we might be affeard. Lord Uxbridge says the Cumberland Hussars have already left the field – and they supposedly steady Brunswickers!’

‘There is no one better than Sir Hussey for a show such as this,’ said Lankester, falling in alongside Hervey and First Squadron. ‘He will handle the brigade as if on review. And I should do so myself, mark you, for I warrant that such a show will be all that keeps some of those Dutch in place.’

A harsh judgement, thought Hervey, for it soon became apparent that even the King’s Germans were shaken. As the brigade reached the crossroads above La Haye Sainte they formed into line, the Sixth extending in two ranks on the right behind General Colin Halkett’s Hanoverians, just to the west of the crossroads, with the remainder of the brigade to the rear of Colonel Ompteda’s ravaged German legionaries. The Dutch battery which had been working feverishly as they arrived fell silent, smoke obscuring their line of sight; and then, as the acrid black fog cleared, Hervey had his first glimpse of the inferno which the slopes had become, a sight which horrified the recruits
and
veterans alike. And not only the sight, for every sense was assailed. It was hotter here by ten degrees or more. The powder-smoke was so thick he could taste it, and the noise was truly deafening. Horses went rigid with terror. Even Jessye would not respond to the leg, Hervey having to dig in his spurs for the first time he could ever remember. Had they been fretting on that flank for want of this? He could scarcely credit it. Cannon shot flew thicker than he had heard even musketry before. And there were so many bodies – men and horses – that he could but marvel at the steadfastness of these men to his front. How had they borne it? He thought of waves beating against a sea wall – breaking, receding, but each time washing away more of the wall so that the time must come when it would be gone, and what lay beyond inundated. The smoke cleared again, and he raised his telescope. The tall bearskins were unmistakable: the Garde Impériale were advancing.

Lankester trotted along the Sixth’s front, as cool as if he were at morning exercise. ‘Once the infantry have fallen clear of us to the rear we shall charge those columns,’ he called to each of his squadron leaders, still certain the Hanoverians would break at any moment. ‘Keep an eye on their cavalry supports,’ he urged. ‘Nall is hit, Hervey: you are now the senior, mind.’

‘The fortunes of war,’ sighed Hervey. A cornet less than a year ago, a stop on promotion – and now within a mere stunning-shot of command of the regiment. And Lankester, by exposing himself thus, was
doubling
, perhaps trebling, the chance of such a shot.
Must
he place himself broadside to the enemy? But what, then, was the alternative – a covered approach along the rear of his squadrons, trusting his orders to the trumpet? That was not the way.

Hervey saw the roundshot hit the ground five yards to Lankester’s off-side as he rode back. It threw up a fountain of earth, bounced with barely diminished velocity and struck the captain’s bay, easily the finest-bred horse in the regiment, squarely in the flank with an audible thud. The third of the four men Hervey most admired in the regiment went down like a skittle at a fair. He shut his eyes and groaned, just as when Edmonds had fallen, but this time he hesitated for barely a second before pressing Jessye towards where the manual told him the commanding officer must stand: centre, one horse’s length in front of the regimental guidon, and a place he never dreamed he would know except in the pages of that drill-book. But how long might it be before Rook, commanding Third Squadron, would in turn have to ride up to take that place? Would he at least remain long enough to lead the charge to stop the waves? What should he now do? What orders should he give? The instinct to grasp at the familiar was strong. One order, at least, might be useful – if unorthodox. ‘Shorten stirrups!’ he called. They could at least have the benefit of reach if they were to go at these infantrymen. The order was repeated along the ranks, for it had no trumpet call (
besides
, seconds before, his trumpeter had slumped forward in the saddle, his shoulder carried away by a bullet from the cloud of
tirailleurs
preceding the Garde).

Jessye scarcely moved a muscle as Hervey pushed his left leg forward, lifted the sheepskin and felt for the buckle. Two holes would do (he was already riding one hole shorter than the adjutant would have approved). Then the same on the off-side, all the time without taking his eyes from the field ahead. He leaned forward to check the girth, hoping it would need no tightening – he had pushed her hard, and she might well be tucked up. But, no, it was tight enough, though he need not have worried about her standing still if he had to take in the girth a hole, too, for she was as steady as he had ever known. Indeed, she seemed in some kind of trance, and so did the rest of the regiment’s horses as he glanced behind him. There was not even the usual napping that accompanied any parade in close order. It was as if they were paralysed by the abyss into which they looked. Would they answer to the leg when the time came?

He waited. It was all he could do now. Nor was he sure whether he was meant to charge when he judged it the moment, or whether the order was to come from Vivian. But if he did not charge,
then
what …? He resolved to trust his judgement and answer for it later – if there
were
a later. Better a rebuke from Wellington for excess of ardour than to be remembered as another Sackville (would the cavalry ever expiate the shame of
Lord
George Sackville at Minden? Even the Marquess of Granby, going bald-headed for the French days later, had not expunged the stain). But how might he lead a charge with this shaken infantry brigade in front? And it was not only the living who barred their way: for a hundred yards beyond the Hanoverians the field was strewn with dead and wounded – men and horses. No momentum could be had through such a charnel house surely. All he might do was keep his gaze fixed forward, lest looking about should weaken his resolve, and trust that he might have a right instinct in this.

The Garde were magnificent. They marched for so long astride the high road, straight towards the weakest part of the line, that it seemed nothing could stop them – not grape, not musketry, not the boldest cavalry charge ever. But then, astonishingly, they veered to the left so that the main weight of the attack must pass to the west of La Haye Sainte and to where the Guards stood, backed by Vandeleur’s brigade. But
was
that where the Guards were? It was where they were
meant
to be, yet he could not see them. They had surely not withdrawn? Must Vandeleur face the attack himself? Could this account for the Garde’s change of axis, the threat of the sabre preferred to the volleys of the infantry? But the Garde’s flank battalions were still bearing down steadily on the Hanoverians, and the Legion now began pouring volley-fire into the densely packed columns of bluecoats. Each discharge felled them in whole ranks, like a scythe through corn, but
still
they came on. It was impossible that the Hanoverians, whose own ranks stood sorely depleted, should hold once they clashed bayonet to bayonet. Hervey steeled himself to the order: ‘Sixth Light Dragoons, Draw swords!’ he shouted, his voice stronger and clearer than he expected. Then, quietly, he nodded to the trumpet-major beside him (all of whose trumpeters had been carried from the field, and his own trumpet-arm was bound to his chest): ‘“Walk-March” as soon as the Germans have cleared our front, please!’ And the trumpet-major took up his bugle, knowing he would need its extra octave to sound the call above the noise.

But the Germans stood.
How
, he would never know, especially once Halkett himself had fallen. Their last volley tore into the blue files point-blank and, like a prizefighter swaying after a body-blow, the columns wavered. A reserve brigade of Dutch-Belgians, in the short blue jackets that made them look as if they were his own regiment dismounted, marched resolutely forward to the left of the remains of the Hanoverians and added their muskets to the curtain of fire that prevented the élite of the Grande Armée from gaining the ridge. He felt shame that he had ever joined in the scorn heaped on the allies before the battle. But, glancing across to where he supposed Vandeleur must soon take the main weight of the assault, something seemed amiss. ‘What is that, Trumpet-Major?’ he gasped, peering through his telescope. ‘The smoke is so bad. Is it the duke?’

‘I can’t tell, sir,’ replied the trumpet-major.

‘Yes, yes – it is the duke. He waves an arm, but I cannot see whom he beckons …’

Hervey saw soon enough, for as if from nowhere, from out of the ground even, appeared the Guards. There must be a thousand – no,
more
– a red fortress not twenty yards in front of the French! Maitland’s brigade had lain concealed until this moment. ‘Oh! the steadiness, the nerve!’ Hervey cried aloud.

Their fire was continuous for half a minute. Never had he seen drill so rapid:
Load … present … fire!
Again and again. The French fell in their hundreds. Then the guardsmen were rushing forward, bayonets glinting in the evening sun which filtered through the smoke, and he saw the duke waving his hat in the air. He looked towards Vivian, in front of the brigade, the general’s voice audible even above the musketry which the infantry were still pouring after the recoiling French columns: ‘Come now, my boys, will you follow me?’

And then loud cheering, with ‘Ay, to hell, Sir Hussey!’ along the length of the brigade. They surged forward, gingerly at first, picking a way through the standing remains of the King’s Germans and the dead and dying of both sides beyond, until the slope began to give them impulsion.

At the bottom they set about a reserve battalion of the Garde trying desperately to form square. Their sabres made light work of the attempt, and Hervey rallied them quickly to push on to the batteries beyond,
for
the guns had begun a brisk fire again now that the Garde had cleared their line. As they raced up the slopes he knew it was over, with nothing in sight but a few
chasseurs
scarcely capable of defending themselves let alone mounting any counter-charge. Half a mile beyond La Haye Sainte, astride the high road, he led his squadrons straight at a battery of big 12-pounders – ‘les belles filles de l’empereur’. He could see the gunners had no fight left in them: they ought to have been able to get off a round of grape in the last fifty yards, but instead they raced for their horses or cowered under the guns. The Sixth fell on them with rare savagery, the drivers – mere boys – crying and hiding their faces as the sabres cut at them, the troopers standing in the stirrups to put extra force into the downswing. No one who did not raise his hands in complete surrender was spared, and some who did found it too late.

Hervey still had the regiment in hand (by some marvel, for blood had brought them to a frenzy), and they rallied quickly to the trumpet. Horses were blowing hard as they pushed on up the slope through what remained of Bonaparte’s army swarming from the field. Everywhere there was shouting – ‘sauve qui peut’. And ‘trahison’, too. Why? (He could not imagine what part treachery had played in their defeat.) As they broached the crest, whence Bonaparte had surveyed the field for much of the day, he could see the solid blue line of Prussian infantry sweeping over the ridge to the east and down into the valley that had almost seen him
dead
. He quickened the pace yet further, for he could see Prussian hussars nearing and he was determined to gain the crest first.

There was no sign of Uxbridge, nor of Vivian even. Smoke drifted everywhere, and the light was fading. Should he now drive on down the road towards Rossomme? Every instinct was to do so, but with no one following him up …? It was as well that he hesitated, for Sir John Vandeleur would have need of him. ‘Where are the Prussians?’ shouted the general as he emerged from the smoke.

Hervey pointed to the hussars approaching from Plancenoit to the north-east. ‘I think they will be from General von Bülow’s corps, sir.’

Vandeleur looked surprised by his knowing. ‘Lord Uxbridge is wounded. Are you the foremost squadron?’ he asked.

‘I fear we are the foremost
regiment
, sir,’ replied Hervey to the new commander of the duke’s cavalry.

‘Great heavens! I had not supposed Vivian’s brigade to be so thinned. Hold here; we are all blown. I have not the slightest idea what has become of Vivian himself. I must have the Prussians take on the pursuit.’

‘I speak German, sir, if it would help,’ said Hervey hesitantly.

‘Help? I should say it will!’ replied Vandeleur, turning to his staff. ‘None of
us
have a damned word of it!’

Help it did, for Vandeleur would no more have recognized Prince Wilhelm at the head of von Bülow’s cavalry than he would an officer in another brigade.
And
now was not the time for discourtesies (Sir John was notoriously short on ceremony). He managed to give, with Hervey as interpreter, a passable account of the last hour’s fighting, and the prince agreed to take up the pursuit.

‘One more matter, General,’ said Wilhelm, his hard Berlin consonants commanding absolute attention. ‘Marshal Blücher and the Duke of Wellington must seal this arrangement. I propose they rendezvous in this very place, at this inn – La Belle Alliance – an apt name for the battle itself, think you not?’

Vandeleur looked at Hervey, who did not wait to translate for him: ‘We may arrange the rendezvous, your Highness,’ he began instead, ‘but the duke is very particular about naming his battles.’

The army slept that night where it halted, on the battlefield itself, surrounded by the dead and dying, their exhaustion utter. The campfires which, as a rule, lit up after battle, like so many stars in a clear sky, were few and far between. Everywhere men just lay down and slept.