"Duchard's Artillery at Waterloo" Topic

Hi,

I am looking for any primary source information about the Old Guard artillery during the defeated attack of the Imperial Guard at Waterloo – can anyone point me towards some?

There is this:

link

There is indeed…..

The Internet has incredible potential (not yet achieved) but there is the awful "dumbing down" of Social Media-inspired sites.

My understanding (I know nothing about this I stress) is that IGHA played a major part in the final attack (well documented), but IG Foot Artillery were less evident. Do I even recall that IG 12pdrs never actually came into action at all, all day? Or is that just my age?

They do seem to have been engaged at least later in the day according to one participant. The Guard Lancer officer Antoine De Brack recalled that a badly handled battery of Imperial Guard 12 pdrs actually caused heavy casualties among his own regiment.

"At last a battery of the Guard was sent over to support us: but instead of the Light Artillery it belonged to the Foot Artillery Reserve of twelve-pounders. It had the utmost difficulty in moving forward through the mud and only took up position behind us after endless delay. Its first shots were so badly aimed that they blew away a complete troop of our own regiment."

De Brack quoted in 'The Red Lancers' pg 109 by Ronald Pawly 1998

I suppose from an artillery viewpoint, a Lancer is just that idiot who keeps moving your aiming post.

Artillery cockups of this nature seem to have been quite commonplace. Mercer's worst losses at Waterloo were to a Prussian artillery battery to his east that somehow thought his troop, to their west and facing south, was French.

Yes, I think that 'blue on blue' was quite common- the red coated Legion Hanoverienne was shot up by its own side in a Peninsular battle IIRC.
But there's no suggestion of mistaken identity in De Brack's account though- just poor gunnery by the Imperial Guard Artillery.

As always, I imagine we downplay the incredible amount of smoke on a battlefield of the day

I don't know whether De Brack is downplaying it or not in his account.
There were certainly particular places and times on all black powder battlefields when smoke was completely obscuring, and other times and places when vision was virtually clear- due to local geography and wind factors. At this particular time and place- who knows?
But the actual eyewitness in this case just refers to poor gunnery.

Wellington comment on the Waterloo painting

Good Good not to much smoke.

Musketballs:

I suppose from an artillery viewpoint, a Lancer is just that idiot who keeps moving your aiming post.

That'll teach them to leave their prisms behind. Anyway, they should have fallen back on using La Belle Alliance as a GAP. :)