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Good Morning Motlies. Here is another installment of History on your doorstep.
During the 1990´s I lived in Belgium, residing some 20 km South Of Brussels in 2 small towns called Rixensart and Limal. Now when I lived in Rixensart, every day I would drive the same country road to get to the highway, and on my route was a railway bridge with an old farmhouse next to it. On the wall of the farmhouse was a plaque, and when I was forced to wait for some one opposite to cross the bridge, I could read the plaque, which refered to the Battle of Waterloo-
Now, Waterloo is about 8 miles West of this Bridge, and is well known for its famous monument . an image of which can be found here. So why a plaque on a farmhouse wall?
Well it turns out that the Battle of Waterloo was not one plain vanilla battle, but was a series of battles over four days, fought at Quatre Bras, Wavre, Limal ande Waterloo itself. After Napoleon defeated Wellington at Quatre Bras ( which is now a highway Junction for the Brussels Ring and E411), Wellington withdrew his British and Dutch forces West to Waterloo, while Blucher took his Prussian foces South to Wavre, which sits on the the Dyle river. Napolean, meanwhile regrouped his forces at Gembloux - West of Wavre, and South of Waterloo.
Now, each force considered their options - and the Prussians under Blucher decided to rejoin Wellington at Waterloo, while leaving a quarter of their force - some 17000 men, as a rearguard to hold back Napolean´s counterattack. The French dedicated some 33000 troops to overcome the Prussians.
Then began the 2 day battle of Wavre fighting over the bridges that crossed the River Dyle. Now, today it is interesting to realise how a tiny river can be of strategic importance. Here is a photo of the Dyle in Wavre
First the French tried to take the bridge in Wavre, and each time they succeeded in crossing it they were forced back. Then they tried to take a bridge upstream at Bierges, but the Prussians weakened the structure, and shot any engineers who tried to repair it, Finally the French were successful at crossing the Dyle at Limal,and the final battle of Wavre took place in the fields behind the farmhouse on my commute, which the French forces won. But it was a Pyrrich victory, because meanwhile Wellington, with the help of 3 Prussian divisions, numbering 45000 troops, had defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, so in under one hour the French forces withdrew from the land they had captured.
Amore detailed account can be found on Wiki