Battle of Waterloo Tour Pt.5 – Hougoumont Farm – A Battle Within a Battle

Battle of Waterloo Tour Pt.5 – Hougoumont Farm – A Battle Within a Battle

Hello and a warm welcome to Dodger trips I’m Dodger today I’m continuing my tour of the waterl battlefield I’ve just been up the Lion’s Mound up there and now as I Pan the camera around facing the French formations and it was over this land that the mass Cavalry Charges

Came over in this land here the Allies formed into squares the hundreds and hundreds of men who lost their lives on this Farmland now at the end of the last video I mentioned that there’ been torrential rainfall the night before and come morning time on the 18th of June

Napoleon who didn’t have time to spare didn’t didn’t have time to waste had to wait until 11:30 to allow the D the ground to dry so his artillery could be maneuvered so his Cavalry could move and this here after some heavy rainfire is the land and maybe this is Ain to

What the french were having to deal with on that morning even allowing a couple of hours for it to dry out you couldn’t really it wouldn’t really dry out would it it looks very clear but obviously the the British they were entrenched they’ got their defensive formations fortified the flanks Fortified the

Center with the farm houses but it was 11:30 before the opening Salvo of the battle of War saloo began when Napoleon’s artillery opened fire as I’ve mentioned Wellington very cleverly had his men on the other side of the British Ridge so he was able to

Shield and combat a lot of that fire the the the impact of that artillery fire now Napoleon as a military Cadet excelled in the the skills and the tactics of artillery and he played great emphasis on the role artillery could play in a battle but but the artillery opened up the

Battle and the first masked infantry formations made a be line the French made a be line for hamont Farm now that was a it was a it was a faint by Napoleon what he wanted to see Wellington do was draw troops from his Center to go and reinforce

Hugon but Wellington didn’t fall for that trick his formation stood the ground and the foot guys in hamont farm were left to deal with the French advance so we’ll we’ll see a little bit more as we get through get to the woods and The Farmhouse comes in into

View so just on this track to hamont have come across this information board the charge of the French cavalry welcome to the site of the famous batttle of watero it was here on Sunday the 18th of June 1815 that almost 200,000 men face each other in a battle for more than 10 hours

With 35,000 horses and Under Fire from 500 cannons we are standing where the principal line of English defense was located deployed by the dukee of Wellington over more than 2 miles from 400 p.m. onwards 7 or eight charges of more than 8,000 French Cavalry led by Marshall nay assaulted this line from

The south mainly here for 2 hours under artillery fire from the Allies however they were unable to break the English Army’s defensive Square formations each of these squares was made up of around 600 men in three lines shoulder Tosh shoulder all pointing their muskets and B bayet outwards so up

Up this slope came the French Cavalry from across the valley 8,000 you just can’t imagine the sheer size of 8,000 horses shoulder to shoulder charging across and the Allied formo were ready for them here ready to receive those are those Cavalry Charges repulsing them time and time

Again I think in the animals of history there were very few CS where a British Square did break under Cavalry assault especially the French Cavalry assault as I’ve already mentioned was without artillery support without infantry support this Stone marks the last position of G troop Royal Horse artillery commanded by Captain AC Mercer

During the Battle of waloo from here the troop took a conspicuous part in defeating the attacks of the French cavalry wow you know really from the age when I could start going to the library on my own maybe like when I was like 9 8 N9 or

10 could get on me push back and go to the library and check out books of my own I very much remember the books about the of water were right there at the top of my list once I was getting to that sort of age 9

10 I’d grown up in the 60s been into cowboys and Indians um obviously had those sort of figures then William Britain plastic figures then discovered sort of air fix the little air fix uh figures that you got in a box you get about 5050 in a

Box um and and buying some of some of the Napoleonic ER troops airfix also did a a plastic kit where he could build a waterl farmhouse that’s what it it didn’t actually say laain or hont it it was just watero Battlefield H watero Farmhouse and I remember getting one of them and building

It and then in a few years go by and I get into sort of like maybe 12 13 and you start discovering Napoleonic wargaming but this time there were figures made out of metal and I think they’re 20 mm 25 mm High there was never any hope that I was

Going to get have enough money to to buy enough of those to recreate the B of the water BL but that was always a dream and I continue to be interested in the battle I mean I did read the books but the pictures the paintings depicting the

Fighting I would just stare at those for you know inordinate length of time just staring at the detail in the pictures trying to imagine what it was like and now I’m here walking this field I mean it’s it’s took what what am I now 60 65 it’s took

50 5 well 55 years you could say to get here it was always on me to-do list and I don’t know why I’ve never done it before now but I’m here and uh I’m just trying to take it all in cuz you just kind of think that places like

This you’re only ever going to come here ones out you although you know there’s no reason why he couldn’t come again the chances are with everything all the other places in the world you’ll only come here once so it looks like we’re starting to see some signs for

Hugo keep saying it correctly over over and again hugar hugar Farm looks like there’s a track that leads around so I don’t know which is actually the entrance we’ll see see if we can figure it out so this is an information board about the English

Lines here you are in the lane along the ridge held by Wellington’s troops to defend Brussels Wellington chose to position his forces here the line of ridges offered cover for his men and made it more difficult for enemy troops to attack since they were obliged to Tire themselves out climbing the

Slopes moreover heavy rain in the night had turned the terrain muddy and difficult for for heavily burdened exhausted soldiers to negotiate it was along this Lane that the attack of the Imperial Guard the French Army’s Elite Battalion was Unleashed shortly after 7:30 the Imperial Guard was forced to

Pull back which was the signal for the rest of the French army to retreat at about 8:00 p.m. the Duke of Wellington was able to advance his troops to Victory the whole of the line will advance I think W are something similar here we got sign which is the way

In that private privy private maybe we’ll walk walk down cuz I think there’s some other signs further down here so maybe that I don’t know if that’s private or not but we’ll continue down we’re walking down the road still to Hugon which I guess is down at the bottom

Here got a Motorway on the right or a main road very noisy but here in the woods now the French infantry started the battle proper with the first assault on hamont farm and they made the way through woods and I think the farm actually had an hrid as

Well and I believe there’s only one tree Still Standing that was here at the time of the battle so we’ll continue on can’t be too far away now just catching a glimpse of the farm there it [Applause] is looks like there might be a walking trail around the

Perimeter let’s see what this in board has to say you are standing in front of hamont farm chosen by Mel Wellington to complete his defense system in the west it was against this farm that Napoleon launched his first attack at about 11:30 a.m. headed by his brother Jerome with

The aim of making Wellington withdraw from the center of his line of defense the Allies resisted and the jke did not fall into the Trap the British GS did not give the French troops the opportunity to infiltrate the farm and the assaults continued relentlessly for more than 9

Hours thus Hugon became the sight of a battle within the battle at the turning point of the fight reinforcements and Munitions entered by the northern gate from the Allies Main Line situated 500 M away this gate was not barricaded unlike the other entrances this is probably why about 40

French soldiers succeeded in forcing their way into the farm until 10 Brave English and Scottish soldiers managed to close the gate again this marked the decisive episode in the defense of hamont farm and in the words of the dukee of Wellington the success of the battle turned upon the closing of the

Gates at hugor so I wonder if that is the gate that it’s talking about because this is facing the Allied lines I think there’s another grander Gate House further around but we’ll find out hopefully the truth of that so yeah there’s a sign here hamont to walk

Around I can hardly believe I’m here you know it is so wonderful to me I I say I devoured you know many a book about watero when I was a school kid but not not much since so anything that I’m relating is sort of school boy

History so you can always find out more C yourself if you want to do a bit of research but here we are at the gate and there’s a welcome board that’s just a just a general map of the area showing the highlights in memory of the officers and

Men of the second Battalion who died defending this fight June the 18th 1815 third Regiment of foot guards so this is the gate not the original gate but the gate where the gate was sighted and a few French soldiers managed to gain entry into the courtyard but we’re repulsed and there’s a famous

Painting I think it’s entitle closing the gates at Hugon I’ll put it up on the screen Just see if you can see over the wall it’s supposed to be open but I don’t that wasn’t very of was [Applause] it that’s a memorial to Clos in the gates I’ll be very disappointed if not able to go in cuz I come specifically at the

Weekend cuz the museums at this time of year are only open weekends didn’t come during the week hopefully the entrance is around here but it’s not looking good I’m guessing that that tree there a very sparsely branched tree is a tree that look down upon the battle of watero new

Roof there was various fires broke out during the battle as you can imagine troops firing from them positions up there in the those windows in memory of General Bing 18th of June 185 this is the wall that would have been the main barricade against the French forces that came through the woods to

Attack the farm it would have been men on ramps on the other side the put holes in the in the walls as firing slits I believe you can stay up there there’s an apartment you can Memorial L of the co stream guards in memory of the officers and Men

Of the second Battalion coing guards who while defending this South Gate from successive attacks throughout the 18th of June 1815 here’s n ticket Cod to enter ticket code 9156 w wow glad that worked oh this is this oh such a strange feeling come over me as I came through the gate there this

Is standing in history you’ve got to assume this is a fragment of a tree that saw the battle in those woods through which the French infantry attacked all the gates open on that side sorry if I don’t speak for a moment I’m just I just want to take this in got to sh

Is a small Chapel there in the center let’s have a look here we are panoramic view so I’ve just come through this this gate house here the gate house there I say I think there’s an apartment above there that you can rent if you wanted to actually

Stay on a piece of waterl History this is all you got to connect to the internet and I haven’t got a I haven’t got a clever phone like that but we’ll walk down to the gate that was a major turning point in the battle if the French had been able to

Occupy the farm on the right of Wellington’s army would have started to roll back the Allied lines and headed towards the center of Wellington’s forces rolled them back up the field this is an old well what stories could you tell well I just wrote some poetry so the the the brick work I’m

Sure they’ve used some original and this newer bricks and the new piece of wood across the top brand new gates but this is where it happened 4y French infantry benett fixed forced the way into this compound and if they’d managed to make a breakthrough others would have followed and quickly

Swamped because the the British were all facing outwards defending the attacks coming in from the woods the chapel that was on fire there was a fierce fire going there and this is a relatively new monument and it depicts closing the gates so again another play on that

Saying from from Wellington next to a battle lost the greatest misery is a battle gained the Army never upon any occasion conducted itself better the British Army closing the gates on War which is we’ve already said closing the gates of Hugon could would have been a decisive Factor Wellington couldn’t afford to

Reinforce the troops in here geese making a noise in the fields there so this is this was the Supply Route keep Munitions coming in keep the Defenders stocked with ammunition from the British line which was along that track we’ve just walked upon but these cobbles what blood has

Flown just can’t imagine it when you see that picture the franticness the determination the grit to close those Gates against overwhelming forces really pushing from the outside so all these trees look new I don’t uh I look old I don’t believe they from the the water Lo battle let’s walk up

Here could bring a conquer home from water a conquer from watero wow yeah souvenir dealo old brick work as we get to see where the orchard was in that area there I believe we’ll see the exterior wall obviously the should come around to try and get an entry into that gate so they

Were attacking from more than one direction but the the vast Superior Superior numbers of French forces came from the Woodland maybe the that provided shelter on the approach what a fantastic piece of history that this is still intact still I mean I it’s just as it as it was really isn’t it

It’s you can see it’s got a brand new RS but the the look of the place the size of the place is exactly and this of course the scene of an intense fire there’s another Memorial on the wall here first Regiment of foot guards in memory of the officers and Men

Of the light companies of the second and third battalions who died defending Hugon this tablet was erected in 1977 by their successors of the first or granadier guards so I normally keep horses grazed in here with these walls that took the brunt of their French attacks we can see over there in the

Distance the lime Mound as we approach there’s memorials in the wall there’s r slits hly broken through in memory of Captain Thomas craw Crawford of the third guards eldest son of the baronet of Kilburn killed in the extreme Southwest angle of this wall this Stone was placed by his Kinsman Sir William

Fraser of M 1889 Scots SCS so I’m walking I’m standing in the footsteps those English regiments of foot what on Earth was it like we’ve not we just can’t imagine it really it’s impossible to imagine it the rifles fighting anger through here the French with the No Doubt with the siege ladders they

Would have used madly trying to get over these walls all the way along the length you can see at intervals so there was through the firing through the through the hall in the wall some some lower than others others that would have been stood on planks or some form of

Platform firing out at the French Onslaught how special to walk in this place but yeah Wellington it was it a request was sent to help reinforce The Defenders here but he said all I can give him is my best wishes John Lucy Blackman waterl 18th of June 1815 There is a a small platform up ahead little better to see over the wall again the rifle slits the noise of battle they would have been here wouldn’t they is isolated really from the rest although they were getting supplies through the were they were isolated it was a pocket of res

Resistance to the French here a battle in its own right that would have no idea of what was going on elsewhere on the battlefield well here we are we get the opportunity I love the old brick work oh this is very precarious wave after wave of the Mast formations of the

French and it’s in front of that tree line where the English line was the front line so it was out on a li a little bit here on the right on right flank I mean from here you can’t see the remainder of the French army so they were just literally

Fighting for their own lives here and this is all they knew of the battle Farmers must have turned up an awful amount of items lost in the during the battle here just try not to put me put foot through the decking continue down the line presumably it’s still uh a farm to some

Extent know was keep horses in here and the signs saying do not feed horses with electric fences the master strs of the French coming towards you and this is all you see of the vast battlefield of water L just through this little allall and how verocious must it been

When the French got up to the walls itself what determination to keep a superior Force at bay through all those hours of the battle there’s a memorial here in the center of this this pasture looks like a French Eagle um a monument the Belgian Society of Napoleon something by the looks of

It to the soldiers of France killed Hugon 18th of June 1815 I don’t know if anybody’s seen that new Ridley Scott film depicting the life of Napoleon simply call Napoleon wackin Phoenix is the star of it I’m sure there’ll be from that film released just before Christmas I’m sure there’s going

To be a heightened interest in in the battlefield and Napoleon’s life Life as we go into the summer months and maybe this will be a a bumpy year for visitors to the battlefield I watched the film and it was okay I would only give it maybe a seven out of

10 and it covered all his life so it was an immense subject to try and cram into whatever it was two 2 and 1/ half hours and I didn’t think the Battle of water l has done that well really for me the ultimate film version has to be the Christopher Plumber Rod stiger

Version the 1970 film waterl and I mentioned there like a sort of 8 n 10 year old getting into the Battle of watero from the the books in the library well I was lucky enough to go see that film on release so I would have been

11 going on for my 12th birthday when that came out in 1970 and I’ve watched it a few times since watched it just recently before this trip and it’s still still a great film for me in fact I’ll probably watch it again when I return back to the UK so there hamont Farm

We’ll have a walk around the the outside where there’s that sort of foot path we’ll go a different way back a restoration of the chapel with a support sop toist International Belgium Global VI for women are these the the CH is this the child brick work from the battle

Obviously the restoration was to preserve what was left you look up above is that just mold from water running down or is it fire stain can’t see him but uh just looking through the gaps is a no doubt the whole service is here maybe on the the anniversary is full of wreaths of

Poppies visitors are earnestly requested to treat this Chapel with respect for within its wall its walls on the memorial many of the Brave Defenders of Hugon passed to their rest so maybe this was like a make you know maybe it was fortified maybe it was fired from or

Maybe it was just used as a place to bring the injured and the dying just search hug mon Farm if you want to find out more fill in the gaps that I’m not able to tell you I’ll certainly be reading a bit a lot more when I get

Back looks from the the brick work there that there’s been a a doorway into the buildings there or a window more visitors coming in I don’t I don’t want to leave this this place really it’s cold I’ll just sit a while I think I think when you’ve wanted to come

Somewhere for almost your entire life when you finally get the chance like I like I’m getting this weekend you just want to take as much of it in as you can you’ll try obviously you try to visualize what things were like on that day in

Here but no no movie No reading about it no paintings are ever going to get near maybe an idea to seek out a book that has actual remembrances by the the people who fought at the Battle journals Diaries reports maybe that’s the the only way that you might get some

Inkling of the verocious fighting and the suffering anyway got a small light aircraft going Overhead so I’ll just sit here a while and and just you know enjoy being here so Sayo a hug Farm I’m going to get didn’t want to leave didn’t think I was going to leave there get to leave seems quite a popular popular route for Walkers and cyclists around this

Track so I’m going to head back that way I think in remembrance of the men that fell at hugar on the 18th of June 1815 this chestnut tree symbol of the wood that stood here was planted to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the duking at Wellington May

2019 oh yeah a single tree but this was a huge Woodland and maybe this is the the tree look how look at the size of it the two trees these trees that saw the action on that day amazing they would have been pummeled by musket fire weren they anywhere and and

Artillery rounds no doubt who knows could the French use the artillery in the with the wood offering almost protection to them approaching The Farmhouse but also to the defenders in a way so what he saying here the hugong Chestnuts a battle ravage Trees I think there’s a quite a wellknown painting as well from The Assault on this side of the the gate house see if we can find that and put that on the screen there we have Hugon Farm been a long time to get here and I’ve literally spent about 30

Minutes but I’ll always remember this visit special place I’ve hope you’ve enjoyed that look around and I’ll see you on the next waterl film I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing this afternoon or the remainder of the day but you’ll see it so join me for the

Next one with you okay till then Dodger and out

The fifth part of this history & travel documentary series chronicling my visit to the Waterloo battlefield. In this historical travel vlog I visit the farm which was the fortified stronghold on Wellington’s right flank. Its defence became a battle within a battle. The Duke of Wellington said closing the gate at Hougoumont was the turning point of the battle. The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most decisive battles in history and so the battle ground is a top tourist destination in Belgium. Join me for a battlefield tour and lots of military history. Welcome to “My Waterloo Campaign – Part Five”.

Napoleon attempted to destroy Wellington’s army before Blucher and the Prussians could arrive. Join me for this history & travel series as I explore the locations, museums and memorials.

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