Oh dear, old age is a curse, I keep putting my memory down and then forgetting where! Yesterday, in wondering who exactly chose the field at Waterloo, and when, I wrote this:
'General knowledge'(!) has it that Wellington noted it whilst recce-ing south of Brussels in 1814 - but as far as I can tell he wasn't in Belgium in 1814!I then went on to moan and groan that 'SoD' had nicked most of my history books. He then came back at me - kids have no respect for their elders these days! - and produced some obscure references to a book called The Road to Waterloo: 1815 by Gregor Dallas. That rang a bell in the empty chamber of my memory so I cruised my book shelves once more - and there it was. And, mea culpa, to my surprise, Wellington was in the Low Countries in early 1814 and 'SoD' was right when he said that the allies still harboured fears of French mischief even though Bonaparte was off the scene. I must have read the book about 15 years ago but as I have trouble remembering what the 'Memsahib' said five minutes ago it's hardly surprising that I had forgotten the details - although I knew that someone had recced the battlefield before the clash of arms. Also, and this produced a wry smile from me, in 1814 the western leaders were worried about Russian ambitions towards the Netherlands! - and today we worry about what they're up to in Ukraine!
Anyway, as a result of these tensions, Wellington, who was briefly in the Low Countries in August 1814, conducted a quick, one week, reconnaissance of the borderlands with France. From Gregor Dallas's book (see above), Picador edition: pp. 84/5:
Riding out at dawn and halting at sunset, Wellington, with Colonels Chapman and Pasley of the Engineers, and Colonel Smyth [...] travelled the plains south of Brussels between 14 and 20 August 1814. In a dawning's mist, this tiny group would have been seen from a distance as an inconsequential dot on a land scribbled in the signatures of men and epochs, the straight Belgian roads drawn across the stubbled rye fields, punctured now and then by houses, hamlets, and high stone farm walls.
" The face of the country is generally open, and affords no feature upon which reliance can be placed to establish any defensive system," Wellington wrote in his report to Bathurst the following month. He emphasised the vital role of the United Netherlands played as " a bulwark to Europe" and as a " secure communication with England and the north of Germany." He argued that " strong places are but little useful" in a flat country such as this, and used the example of of the out-flanking operations of the French in 1792-4 as proof; he should know, for they were his first unhappy experiences of military action. He warned that " in these provinces no position can be taken with an army which is not liable to be turned."
There were, however, some " good positions" for an army to make a stand, such as at La Trinite, or at Renaix, or the several points around Mons, or the " the highgrounds of Blaton"; There were some hills above Nivelles that deserved consideration, and between Nivelle and Binch " there were many advantageous positions." And finally, immediately south of the little town of Waterloo, " the entrance of the Foret de Soignes, by the high road which leads to Brussels from Binch, Charleroi, and Namur, would if worked upon, afford others." [My emphasis]
There you have it! The field of Waterloo spotted by the dear old 'Duke of Boot' nearly a year before the battle. And the damn book with the answer to my original question was sitting on a shelf before my very eyes - 'I should have gone to Specsavers'! Good job it wasn't me doing that recce! Mind you, the last, perhaps bitter, word should go to Bonaparte who once said that 'time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted'!
Thanks to all my faithful researchers - and, JK, 'the cheque's in the post'! Also, another problem has been solved. I'm off to France at the end of May and I have been at a loss as to which book to take - now it is obvious that only Mr. Dallas's epic tome will fill the time required. Mind you, I might have to put it in a plain brown wrapper in case some bitter French waiter tries to exact revenge against a ' rosbif' by spitting in my cassoulet!
