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OUR BATTLES IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARSIn March of this year Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France gathering popular support as he travelled slowly from the coast to Paris. Whole regiments that were sent to intercept and arrest him defected to his cause. An allied army was assembled in Belgium which included the 28th who had hurried across the sea from Ireland where they had been stationed for several years. Napoleon was aware that he had only a short time to obtain a quick victory whilst the allies were still bickering about who should do what and before the allied army grew to an overwhelming size. He therefore marched towards Brussels on the 15th June. He met the Prussian army at Ligny driving them off and nearly destroying them completely. Wellington had decided to stop the French advance at Quatre Bras some 25 miles south of Brussels and on 16th June at the crossroads the battle was joined. The 28th in square against cavalry valiantly resisted every effort to break them and eventually Marshall Ney, the French Commander was forced to withdraw. During the height of the battle Sir James Kempt, the Brigade Commander rode into the 28th's square, doffed his hat and cried 'Bravo 28th, The 28th are still the 28th and your conduct this day shall never be forgotten'.
After the battle of Quatre Bras the 28th joined the main army at Waterloo. Wellington had chosen the location for it's suitability to his now well known tactic of hiding the exact number and strength of his force by screening parts of it behind dips and rises in the land. As a bonus this also served to protect some units from direct damage from artillery. He intended to deny the battlefield to the enemy until Blucher's Prussians could recover from their mauling at Ligny and come up to re-enforce him. As he said afterwards, "It was a damned serious business, the nearest thing you ever saw in your life". During the course of the evening Napoleon was informed that the Prussians would shortly arrive, and in desperation he flung in the last of his reserves, the famed Imperial Guard. Unfortunately the ploy failed and the Guard were repulsed with heavy loss. Wellington took of his hat and waved it as a signal for a general advance. The French army was broken and fled the field. Napoleon went into exile once again this time to remain there until his death.
The 28th North Gloucestershire Regiment is proud to count Waterloo amongst it's many battle honours and equally proud to have been the only regiment mentioned by name in Wellingtons Waterloo Despatches.
http://www.28thglos.co.uk/images/28thFigure.png
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