Battle 1:
The British deployed the Hanoverians and Nassauers in front of Hougoumont. The Guards companies were positioned to defend the flanks of the farm and garrison the buildings and walls. The French First and Second Line were sent to attack the south wall head on, while the First and Second Legere attacked from the southwest. As the attack began to move the Jagers withdrew to the garden where their rifles could be put to good use sniping at the French from the protection of the south wall. The Nassauers tried to slow the French attack but were mauled. The Luneburg Battalion retreated to the farmhouse under cover from the Coldstream Guards.
By the end of turn three all the defenders were inside the walled compound, leaving the French in control of the rest of the battlefield. The French line infantry approached the south wall where they were met by intense rifle and musket fire, suffering heavy losses. The French attack crashed like a wave against the wall, failing to breach the defenses but lapping around to the east and west.
A small group of French infantry managed to scramble over the garden wall in the southeast but the First Guards wiped them out with a bayonet charge. The legere were busy trying to bash in the West Door while taking fire from the Coldstream Guards. They endured the punishment as long as they could before finally retreating, leaving many dead and wounded around the still intact door. The line infantry had moved all the way around the farm to the north wall where they faced a counterattack by the British reserves.
After repulsing the British the French suddenly noticed that the harried British garrison had left portions of the north wall undefended. Over went the French! The British watched with growing alarm as the French tumbled into the garden, lowered their bayonets, and charged. Brutal close combat raged in the garden, but the British didn't have enough men left to drive out the French. This battle was judged to be a narrow French victory.
Battle 2:
The initial deployments were the same as in battle one. The defenders were determined to make a stand out in front of the farm. The French attack hit the Nassauers and Hanoverians head on and crushed them. The few survivors turned around and ran for the safety of the walled farm, with the French in hot pursuit. The French attacked the South Gate and wall. Heavy fire from the British peppered the attackers, driving them back.
The French quickly recovered and renewed their attacks on the South Gate and wall, and also reached the West Door. The French were driven back again from the gate and door, but along the south wall it was the British that buckled this time. The French began crossing the wall into the garden amid cheers of "Vive l'Empereur!" A British drummer boy climbed onto the roof of the chicken coop to sound the alarm, and British reserves streamed into the garden to confront the French and defend the chickens.
One French officer was cornered and called on to surrender. His defiant answer was "your blood will run cold through my hands!" This didn't intimidate the British, but it heartened the French.
The French were also on the move along the east wall, and a few units were moving around the corner to the north to completely encircle the British. The British reserves were finally sent into the battle and they raced the French to the open North Gate. The British won the race, barely, and slammed the gate closed in the face of the onrushing French. The French immediately went to work trying to force the gate open. Meanwhile the French had gained a foothold in the guard where the battle was being fought with the cold steel of the bayonet.
Suddenly the French succeeded in breaching the West door and North gate, and more French charged into Hougoumont. While the French were charging into the farm the Coldstream Guards were charging out through the South Gate in an ill-timed and reckless counterattack. They were cut off, surrounded, and attacked from all sides.
Time was running out for the battle, and it was still unclear whether the French had enough men left to overwhelm the defenders. The battle shifted into "fast forward sudden death overtime" rules. In the end the judge determined that the British would be able to hold the farm, by the narrowest possible margin of victory.
More Battle of Waterloo: Hougoumont 1815
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© Copyright 2003 by Matt Fritz.
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