I thought some of the members might enjoy a short account I found in the diary of Wilhelm Walther, a former officer in the 5th Line Battalion of the King's German Legion, concerning the demise of Baron Christian von Ompteda at Waterloo.
John
The Last Days of Colonel and Brigade Commander Christian Baron von Ompteda, Colonel-in-Chief of the 5th Line Battalion of the King's German Legion. His account reads (translated from German):
'The brigade commanded by Colonel C. von Ompteda consisted of the 1st and 2nd Light Battalions and the 5th and 8th Line Battalions of the King's German Legion. They were part of the Division of General C. von Alten and the Corps of the Prince of Orange.
On moving into position at Waterloo, the brigade was placed on the centre right of the line of battle in such a way that the right flank of the 5th Line Battalion linked up to Kielmansegge's Brigade and the left flank of the 8th to the Brussels Highway, with the two light battalions pushed out along the highway towards the farm of la Haye Sainte, and the orchard and hedges near it.
It was relatively quiet that evening, with just a few cannon shots interrupting the deep peace. Night came and the exhausted men tried to doze in the open on the saddened ground, with nothing to cover them but their clothes. After spending a short time in la Haye Sainte, the Colonel stayed most of the night by the watch-fire of the 5th Line Battalion, sheltering beneath his blue greatcoat. The writer of this letter would rather have put a wool blanket over his shoulders to better protect him, if he had not been already convinced that the men – on orders from high – had been forbidden to use their sleeping blankets this night. At serious rest in immersed in deep thoughts, he sat there in silence, like one of Offian's heroes, whose spirits were bringing over the images of the events of the coming day!
Both sides spent the morning hours of 18th June conducting reconnaissance and preparing for the battle. The first cannon shots were fired around midday, the first enemy attacks on the right flank of the allied army, in particular on the Hougoumont château followed shortly afterwards. When this attack failed, the enemy undertook a second on la Haye Sainte; that is on the positions of Ompteda's brigade. Their infantry columns pushed forward in such strength against the farm buildings, those in between them and the plateau to the fore of a small slope that the two light battalions of the brigade deployed there were insufficient to withstand. The 8th Line Battalion behind this position was then ordered to charge forwards. The enemy infantry was pushed back, but then a body of enemy cavalry hidden until then behind the ridge mentioned suddenly moved forwards and attacked the light infantry behind the hedges and tress along with the 8th Battalion and caused a bloodbath. The commander of the 8th Battalion, Colonel Schroeder, was killed here. Nevertheless, with the help of Uxbridge's cavalry brigade, this second enemy attack was also thrown back victoriously. Around this time, a horse was killed under Colonel von Ompteda and his ADC went to get him another.
The battle raged on, the enemy continued their attacks and about half an hour later, an English ADC ordered the 5th Line Battalion to move forwards against the enemy infantry. The commander of the battalion, Lt.-Colonel W. von Linsingen, formed into line from square and advanced. Hardly had they reached the sunken road into which they were descending, when enemy cavalry behind the ridge mentioned – only on its other side – advanced and broke into the battalion's right flank and would have undoubtedly rolled it up when the Life Guard regiment that had rushed up, charged into the rear of the enemy cavalry, cut them down and chased them away.
Shortly after this event, Colonel von Ompteda, who still did not have a mount, returned the 5th Line Battalion now reformed in square in its previous position. Here, he requested Lt.-Colonel von Linsingen to temporarily give him command of the battalion. A little later, an ADC coming from the direction of la Haye Sainte again called out, ‘5th Battalion, deploy and advance!'
The colonel left the square and went forward to him to ask, speaking in a friendly tone in English, ‘would it not be advisable to go forwards in square and to form line when close to the enemy?' He then pointed out that enemy cavalry was hidden nearby, but was given a curt reply, ‘God d*mn it, my order is to order you to deploy immediately!' so Ompteda about faced in military fashion and ordered the battalion to form line and advance. His concern was immediately confirmed. Hardly had the battalion formed line and started moving when the cavalry behind the ridge attacked, but fortunately this time square could be formed before the enemy came into contact. Around this time, when the commander of the severely threatened garrison of la Haye Sainte requested reinforcements from the brigade commander, as he could not hold his position much longer and had almost run out of ammunition. Ompteda then, with a heavy heart, detached the Schützen company of the 5th Line Battalion, which he was commanding himself at that moment, to la Haye Sainte. The battalion so lost its grenadier company, which was helping to keep the Brussels road open, having been ordered to do so the day before and was still doing, and thus also lost its other flank company, which was the strongest of them all. The battalion that was already in great demand and that had suffered great losses was reduced in size to a small group of men. Ompteda suffered because of this, but he could see the importance of la Haye Sainte, which was right in front of him.
Note: The writer of this letter now departed with the Schützen company of the 5th Battalion and had, until now, either seen what he has described, or heard it himself. The remaining account comes from the credible statements of his comrades.
Enemy artillery fire, which was terrible at that moment, soon killed the commander of the Schützen Company, Captain C. von Wurmb, and 13 men, as they were on their short way to la Haye Sainte. While he was here, a cannonball landed in the middle of the Duke of Wellington's staff, knocking some of his officers off their horses. The Duke looked down at them for a moment then calmly put his glass to his eye again.
From this moment onwards, the brigade had to suffer unhindered artillery and small-arms fire from the enemy for about one hour, but was spared his cavalry, which remained behind the ridge mentioned earlier, with only the occasional officer or troopers coming up to the battalion, as if they wanted it to fire prematurely. One of these officers however paid for his bravery with his life when struck by the bullet of just one Schützen. In the meantime, Ompteda had remounted on his ADC's horse, as his batman had yet to find one of his own reserve horses, and was with the 5th Battalion, whose command he had however returned to Lt.-Colonel von Linsingen. The about 6 o'clock, when the final enemy attack with all arms took place, a mounted senior officer, which several of our officers thought was the Prince of Orange, Commander of 1st Corps, came up to von Ompteda and ordered him to have the 5th Battalion again advance with the bayonet. Ompteda pointed out the enemy cavalry nearby, which were evidently waiting for such a move and would this time be likely to wipe us out, as we had lost our last support, the Guard Cavalry Regiment, which had been ordered to the right flank. However, the senior officer in question thought the enemy cavalry there were Belgians, which lead to a long dialogue. After he had however been convinced of the accuracy of Ompteda's assurance, he cut him short and said, ‘and nevertheless, I must repeat my order to carry out a bayonet attack in line.' Ompteda then gave the order to form line and advance, certainly knowing that he had to sacrifice his battalion for a higher reason.
The battalion reached the other side of the sunken road in front of them and was met with murderous small-arms fire from the enemy. Ompteda placed himself at their head and rode at the enemy, represented on the plateau by all arms, crying out ‘follow me, brave comrades!' The battalion however only followed him a short distance. The commander von Linsingen was trapped under his wounded horse, his ADC shot dead, several other officers badly wounded and the much weakened battalion was attacked and cut down by cavalry, so only a small part of it got back to the sunken road.
Meanwhile, two enemy guard dragoons had attacked Colonel von Ompteda, who was well to the fore and who nobly defended himself against their sword-blows. He was however killed by the bullet of a light infantryman, who had placed his bayonet on his chest. This man of high character and spirit, who had given his fatherland important service so met a hero's death! Did he perhaps – enraged by the events of the day and the anticipated fate of his battalion – seek it? Who can say?
His body was found late in the evening of this glorious but terrible day not far from la Haye Sainte. He had been robbed, but was still in his uniform, and the next morning was buried along with ten other officers of his brigade (and with Lt.-Colonel von Wurmb of the Hanoverian Army) in a common grave on which a suitable monument now stands!
Honour be to his memory and may his ashes rest in peace!
Hanover, February 1863
Wilhelm Walter, Lt.-Colonel (ret.)'
gets started with Flintloque.
