Posted 10 years ago
vetraio50
(751 items)
Septimus and Clara Miller visited Waterloo in 1907 and collected cards of the sites where key moments of the Battle took place in Belgium almost a century beforehand. In this case it is the site in Wellington’s defence of the road to Brussels on 18 June 1815: la Ferme de la Haie Sainte - the Holy Hedge Farm.
I like that ghostly figure to the left and the crows on the roof that look to have been 'added' to the scene! And look at the bend of those trees!
La Haie Sainte was a walled farmhouse at the foot of a ridge. Wellington had the majority of his troops hidden from sight behind this ridge. The site has changed little over the last 200 years and the Farm is still occupied.
Much was decided there on 18 June 1815!
“Both Napoleon and Wellington realized the strategic value of the position and it was fought over and around most of the day.
At 13:00, the French Grand Battery of heavy artillery opened fire before d'Erlon's Corps (54th and 55th Ligne) marched forward in columns. The French managed to surround La Haye Sainte and despite taking heavy casualties from the garrison, they attacked the centre left of Wellington's line. As the centre began to give way and La Haie Sainte became vulnerable, Picton's division was sent to plug the gap. As the French were beaten back from La Haie Sainte, the heavy cavalry brigades under Somerset and Ponsonby attacked. This action relieved the pressure on the fortress farm.
At 15:00, Napoleon ordered Marshal Ney to capture La Haie Sainte. While Ney was engaged in the glorious but futile 8,000 man cavalry attack, unsupported by infantry or cannon, on Allied squares on the Brussels side of the ridge, he failed to take La Haie Sainte.
At 17:30, Napoleon re-issued orders for Ney to take La Haie Sainte. The French had worked up close to the buildings by this time.
At 18:00 Marshal Ney, heavily supported by artillery and some cavalry, took personal command of an infantry regiment (13th Léger) and a company of engineers and captured La Haie Sainte with a furious assault.
"The light battalion of the German Legion, which occupied it, had expended all its ammunition" and had to retreat.
Allied forces were unable to counterattack immediately, as they were in squares over the ridge. The French brought up guns to fire from its cover, but riflemen of the 1/95 in the "sand pit" to the east of the farm, picked off all the gunners, so the guns were ineffective.
At 19:00, thanks to the French garrison in La Haie Sainte, the Imperial Guard was able to climb the escarpment and attack the Allies on the Brussels side of the ridge.
This final attack was beaten back and became a rout around 20:10 as the French forces realised that with the arrival of the Prussians from the east, they were beaten. During the French retreat, La Haye Sainte was recaptured by the Allies, some time before 21:00.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Haye_Sainte
This is a bi-lingual postcard published by a Belgian firm E. Grégoire c.1905 E.G. Series 5 No.48.
Many thanks MOON!
Many thanks MIKELV!!!
Many thanks MANIKIN!
Great postcard!!
Many thanks SEAN!!!
Your very welcome Kevin!!
Many thanks PHIL, AGHCOLLECT, VIOLET ORANGE, KAREN 'n ANTIQUEROSE too!
Many thanks KAREN!
Not sure as such. Little is known about E. Grégoire. I believe the card is c. 1905. But some of the publishers used older photos.
All of the cards that I have been posting are part of a collection I bought some months ago. There was an earlier collection of cards posted last year. But this years cards have all been from that one album.
One card gave away the identity of the people who collected these cards.
Septimus and Clara Miller of Melbourne, Australia.
Their journey was well documented in the press in Australia, Canada, the USA and England. Miller was a well known identity here in Australia.
So far I have just posted cards from their visit to England and Belgium. There are more than 340 in total.
The millers were visiting the site of the Battle of Waterloo. Very much like we are visiting the sites of the battles in WWI these days ..... a century after the event.
Strangely the English were very slow in recognising the importance of these sites in Belgium.
The French began the process actually.
It became a very fashionable thing in France to visit the sites of Napoleon's victories and defeats. I have a little more to add about this in a week or so.
The site you see on the card remained unchanged. It is a great survivor.
This is what it looks like today:
http://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferme_de_la_Haie_Sainte
No it is based on a photo of the battle site taken round 1900.
Some illustrations of the battle are here.
http://bcosenza.free.fr/hsaint.htm
I changed the wording of the sentence .... Perhaps I led you astray?
Many thanks ICOLLECTGLASS ... Sometimes I need to edit more carefully.
Apologies for the lack of clarity again!
Many thanks MIKELV 'n GEO too!!!
Many thanks TOM, MOON, WALKSOFTLY 'n RADEGRUNDER too!
Many thanks BLUNDERBUSS 'n TREY too!!!!!
Many thanks VINTAGEFRAN!
Hi V, This Farm house appears in a sketch book i have from the late 1890s of someone revisiting Napoleonic battle fields. Its was great to research & learn about them. nice to see it in a photo & read the history behind it. Thanks.
Its here..i think theres a sketch showing 'the great cross of French memory' i read about, in the distance, i knew nothing about this or the battles until looking into the sketches, very interesting & over shadowed these days, by the Great War.
Oops, here's the link to the note book, i see you saw it already. It shows some other Napoleonic battle fields,
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/99454-army-officers-note-sketch-book-c-1890s
Many thanks =^/!!!!
Many thanks GARY!!!
Many thanks ELISABETHAN!!!!
Many thanks TED STRAUB!!!!!
Many thanks PETEY !!!!
Many thanks NORDICMAN !!!!!
Many thanks NH10 ! ! !! !!! !! ! !