Battle of Quatre Bras

The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, two days before the Battle of Waterloo. The battle was contested between Wellington's Anglo-allied army and the left wing of the Armée du Nord under Marshal Michel Ney. It took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras

Prelude
Napoleon's strategy had been to cross the border into what is now Belgium, but was then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, without alerting the Coalition and drive a wedge between their forces. He would then destroy the Prussian army before forcing Wellington back to the coast.

However if Wellington's Anglo-allied army could combine with the Prussians, the combined force would be larger than Napoleon's. If Napoleon controlled the crossroads of Quatre-Bras he could prevent Wellington moving south-eastward along the Nivelles-Namur road towards the French and Prussian armies at the Battle of Ligny.

Although the coalition commanders did have an overview of French pre-war movements, Napoleon's strategy was initially very successful.

Wellington's instructions at the start of the campaign were to defend Brussels from the French, but he did not know what route Napoleon might take and had received (false) reports of a flanking manoeuvre through Mons, to the southwest. He first heard of the outbreak of hostilities at around 15:00 on the 15 June from the Prince of Orange, and further confirmation of the French engaging the Prussian I Corps outposts under Lieutenant-General Graf von Zieten at 04:30 at Thuin (near Charleroi) arrived within the next three hours. It was 18:00 that Wellington drafted initial orders to concentrate his army. However, he was still uncertain precisely where to concentrate his army, and it was not until he heard that the front near Mons was clear - around midnight - that he ordered his army to move towards the Prussians.