"Worthy of Praise: The Dutch Army in the War of ..." Topic

…Liberation and the Hundred Days 1813-1815

"When the first hastily organized Dutch troops fought off the French at Breda in December 1813, their commander wrote that their behavior under fire had been worthy of praise. In order to prove to the allies the Dutch were willing and able to help drive away the French, a new army had to be built from scratch. When Napoleon returned from exile in 1815 and marched his army into the newly formed Kingdom of the Netherlands, he met a Netherlands contingent of professional soldiers, fully armed, equipped, and dressed, and ready to defend the regained independence…"

Main page

link

Armand

So good to read anything about units other than those of GB or France in the 1815 Campaign. "Dutch" is equated with "Netherlands" in this link and the word "Belgian" never appears once. OK, I accept that, strictly speaking, the country as such did not exist for a while but many such a United Netherlands unit would be less than pleased to be called "Dutch" and their contribution was far greater than anyone, esp the DoW, ever expected. We hear criticism of "Anglocentric" every day, what about "Dutchocentric"?

No…bis repetita…
TMP link

Need to read:

Réponse aux allégations anglaises sur la conduite des troupes belges en 1815 par un officier général
Bruno Renard
Brussels 1855
link

which fortunately for non-French readersT was translated into English by Jonas De Neef:
PDF link

Thanks

Armand

I did think Prince of Essling's post of Renard's translated account of the Belgian contribution to the only important battle of the Napoleonic Wars (stir up) was fascinating, but curiously seemed to downplay the Belgian role! It starts by explaining that they had an excuse for being less than enthusiastic, which seemed to support the traditional "English" xenophobic view. It calls Krahmer's battery "Dutch" although the members were mostly Belgian, whatever the commander's nationality. The Belgian's fought far better than expected against their traditional allies, all seem now to agree. Especially as they were shortly to fight a war against their "United Netherlands" comrades, the "Dutch" (OK, no such nation, to this day, I admit)

Thanks also my good friend…

Armand