"Quatre Bras Dutch and Belgium troops" Topic

Did they fight in 2 or 3 ranks? Bowden says 2…

While their initial regulations mirrored the French system of three ranks, an order was issued just prior to the Hundred Days campaign by the Prince of Orange (who was also a general in the British Army) to adopt the British practice of forming in two ranks when in a line formation.

Did they follow regulations? You'd need an eye witness to that & I don't know of any.

This is already said time and again: Belgium troops did not exist before at least 1830. That part of the army was made of South-Netherlands troops. The whole Dutch army was based on the French system (many soldiers of the Kingdom of Holland had fought in the French army, especially in Spain). Especially the officers had much experience with the French army and regulation, and while troops were in contact sometimes French officers recognized their former brothers in arms and shouted to switch sides. I am sure that regulations were only followed if the commanding officers were able to use them (not too much stuck in the "former" methods). The Prince of Orange, after all, was not an experienced commander.

"1815 Précis de la campagne de 1815, dans les Pays Bas" by E, van Loben Sels (ADC to Prince Frederic) confirms Ochoin comments. Page 64 says the order of 24 April 1815 was for the infantry to fight in two ranks. From a very quick glance at the account of Quatre Bras there is no mention of whether the Dutch were deployed in two or three ranks.

Certainly "Reglement op de exercitie en de manoeuvres van de infanterie 1813" based on the French was for 3 ranks:
link

Reglement op de exercitien en manoeuvre van de infanterij 1815
Volume 1 link
Volume 2 link (although plates are not folded out – it appears these are for 3 ranks)

Thanks, PoE.

However, I certainly appreciate Porthos' comments. What appears in regulations may, or may not, be what actually occurred.

I gather there's no primary source eye-witness to settle the matter?

From "Wellington's Hidden Heroes _ The Dutch and the Belgians at Waterloo" by Veronica P. M. Baker-Smith but attribution is to Mike Robinson's book on "The Battle of Quatre Bras" (Spellmount, Stroud) 2009 and partially to Christemeijer (ed.), "Herinnering van een oud strijder, (Utrecht) 1865":

"For the first two hours the Prince of Orange was in sole command of the dangerously extended line, and he acquitted himself well. The force and speed of the French attack left two Nassau battalions in an exposed position well to the southwest and parallel to the French advance. As the centre wavered, he quickly ordered them to thread their way north through the concealing woodland, thus shortening the defensive line and enabling them to reinforce the centre. He had stationed himself just behind Stevenart in a fully exposed position, and to safeguard the struggling battery, he calmly sent orders for his last reserve – the 7th Line battalion – to back him up. Then, according to a veteran, he encouraged the 5th militia and 27th Jäger to advance: ‘[Hij] stelt zich aan het hoofd van Westernberg's bataillon, en wekt door zijne toesprak den moed dier jonge soldaten.' ([He] placed himself at the head of Westernberg's battalion and roused the courage of the young soldiers with a stirring speech.)130 The print shows the first French advance, as the Prince, with Westenberg on the left, encourages his men forward past the wreckage of an artillery battery.

Only nineteen out of these four hundred and fifty recruits had ever seen action before. Nevertheless they pressed forward under the severest bombardment. Colonel Westenberg afterwards attributed their courage to the presence of the Prince, which may well have been a factor; but he himself had, in French service, been an officer of the Pupilles de la Garde Imperiale, so had experience of leading and inspiring young soldiers, which he was renowned for doing with intelligence and humour. In response to the cry of ‘Lang Leve de Koning', they marched steadily on over their wounded and dying companions, and established a new forward line by the farm of Gemioncourt, well south of the crossroads. They deployed in the two-deep British line adopted in drills by the Prince, but without reinforcement this was pathetically inadequate. (The Nassauers, incidentally, still adhered to the continental tradition of a three-deep line.) They were exposed on two sides to hundreds of experienced French tirailleurs dodging through the tall rye as they aimed for the officers without whose support and encouragement the battalion wavered. A charge of French Lancers with their nine-foot spears followed; the sight terrified the young Dutch troops though despite their confusion they recalled enough drill to form a ragged square where they learnt, in Robinson's words, ‘a valuable lesson about the impotence of cavalry against steady infantry'."