Haie Sainte Farm

In the second part of the afternoon of 18 June 1815, fighting raged around La Haie Sainte. It was that during that afternoon that Field Marshall Ney led his 10.000-strong French cavalry on major repeated charges against the British defensive square which resisted the onslaught. Meanwhile, the Prussians had joined the battlefield to Napoleon’s right, and fighting of a rare intensity would take place in the village of Plancenoit, where it was the French who resisted against the attacks of the significantly numerically superior Prussian troops.

The battle was not yet won or lost yet for anyone, but time was short for Napoleon, who risked being squeezed, even though Haie Sainte farm fell into French hands for a while.

Napoleon then sent his Imperial Guard into battle in an attempt to gain victory over Wellington, but the latter, with unwavering determination, did not give up any ground. On the contrary, his troops inflicted terrible losses on the elite of the Napoleonic army, who eventually retreated, a move that caused the French to collapse.

Around 9:30pm, Wellington and Blücher met at La Belle Alliance to savour their decisive victory over the French emperor together.