I will start looking at the overall strategic view before zooming in to each theatre.
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| End 18th April |
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| 19th April |
Continued -
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| 20th April |
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| 21st April |
NORTH WEST
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End 18th April. Grouchy is content for the respite to recover his own force and to decide what to do next. |
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| 19th April Grouchy moves his army out towards the north-south road giving him more options on the next move. |
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| 20th April A messenger arrives at Grouchy's camp informing him of Napoleon's victory against the Prussians. He can expect to be joined by Napoleon in a few days and to prepare for that. For the allies, Colville's Division is making for the ports in the UK to embark for Holland. |
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| 21st April Embarkation begins as various transport vessels continue to arrive (N8 and N3). |
NORTH EAST
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| End 18th April Over half the day remained following the 3rd Battle of Ainsworth. The Prussian 2nd Corps (green 2) halted to reform the battered force upon confirmation they were not being pursued. Blucher moved to an uncontested bridge (green 1 and 4) while to their rear a force of Nassauers have landed to reinforce him (light green 2). Buying himself some time, Napoleon now had some difficult choices to be made. Messengers arrived from the south informing him of the catastrophic defeat in the south putting at risk France itself. The early successes in all 3 sectors have come to nought and a strategic rethink is required. Realistically, his only chance now of avoiding defeat is to destroy the allied forces in detail while they are still separated. A decision is made to join Grouchy with the intention of destroying the Anglo/Dutch force before tackling the Prussians again with his enlarged command. Messengers are sent to Soult in the south to use every opportunity to delay Wellington as much as possible until he could be joined from the north. |
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| 19th April Napoleon's army moves through the large town of Brandfort seeking to move around the large impenetrable wooded swamp to the west. |
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| 20th April Good progress is made. |
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| 21st April Napoleon sees an opportunity of delaying any Prussian pursuit by holding a gap between an impassable wood/swamp and a mountain range (see main map above). He detaches the 2nd Corps with Jerome Napoleon's 6th Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division (blue 3) moving to hold the southern road. A narrow gap between swamp ground is to be held by Bachelu's 5th Division. Napoleon will continue with the Old and Middle Guards, Heavy Cavalry of the Guard, the 3rd Corps and 3rd Cavalry Corps (blue 1) to join Grouchy. |
SOUTH
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| End 18th April After the defeat in the Battle of Loverna, Soult's Army of the South is split in two. The 4th Corps with the 2nd Cavalry Corps (blue 4) are pursued by the Anglo/Portuguese under the command of Wellington. To the south, the heavily depleted 6th Corps with the 5th Cavalry Division, under the command of Soult, is pursued by the Spanish. |
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| 19th April Both French forces continue to retreat unable to rally at this stage due to the close pursuit. To the south, the overall Spanish commander, Morillo, approaches from the south with the 1st Division and a small cavalry force. |
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| 20th April The rout continues. Soult threatened from both south and north diverts his force along the only possible route along the road to the east. The Spanish merge and continue the pursuit. |
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| 21st April Both French forces are now able to test to rally. Soult fails and continues eastwards with the Spanish in hot pursuit. Gerard in the north successfully rallies and decides to make a stand at a river crossing. Messengers have been arriving from the north with orders from Napoleon, essentially notifying Soult that they are on their own and to hold out as long as they can. The scene is set for the next action, the Battle of Sandowa where a heavily outnumbered French force attempts to hold a river line against Wellington. |
NEXT: THE BATTLE OF SANDOWA
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