📜 Hundred Days News, 26 May 1815 Preparations are underway for a meeting between the two commands. The Prussians want clarity: when will hostilities begin? Wellington wants to wait for French troops to be drawn away or for the Austrians to be ready. 20 days until my hike🦵

In the clip we see Wellington tracing the flight of the shell as it hits the ground. It is true that round shot was visible to the naked eye, but the wound sustained by Uxbridge came allegedly from case shot. So where did he get hit? 🧵 1/6

📜 Hundred Days News, 24 May 1815 Wellington writes to Hardinge that he has invited Blücher to Brussels later this week. Blücher is eager to begin operations: the army is at full strength, supplies are tight, and Prussian finances are strained. 22 days until my hike🦵

As ridiculous as this scene looks, it is based on true events. One of the last cannon shots fired that day struck Uxbridge's right leg. It had to be amputated above the knee. 119 years after the battle they were still causing uproar. 1/7🧵

📜 Hundred Days News, 22 May 1815 Supplying the Prussian army remains a major issue. Gneisenau complains: they did not come uninvited, but if their help is no longer wanted, they’ll withdraw. Not exactly the smoothest of coalitions.

“Will it never stop raining?” People ask me what weather I want for the Waterloo hike. They are usually surprised when I say: rain on the 17th. A heatwave is coming in Belgium, so I believe rain by mid-June is statistically inevitable. Spoken like a true weather forecaster.

A few days ago I posted that courier relay stations were being set up by the Prussian army. But what did that actually entail? Lines of communication established in any potential theatre of war. Stations were established in small or large towns and important points.1/5🧵

This is me last year on the 18th of June, hours into the final stretch toward La Belle Alliance. The wagon train picked up my backpack. The pack was on my back for some 130km. Books, laptop, camera, food, water, raingear. My family said I wouldn't make it with that weight. 🧵1/3

📜 Hundred Days News, 18 May 1815 Steinmetz inspects his outposts for the first time since taking command of the 1st Brigade. Landwehr regiments are reduced from four to three battalions to concentrate strength ahead of the coming campaign.

Shock and horror. Landser Grey is more green. I see it working for German WW2 but not these Prussians. Seems also hard to find online so I hope to do a quick stop during lunch.

Napoleon never seriously threatened Wellington's left flank at Waterloo. But the ground east of Papelotte and Smohain offered a route. Could he have turned the position there instead of battering the center? Maybe. If three things went right. 1/5🧵

I have begun painting. I’m using Army Painter Insane detail brush as anything else seems rather big. The fact it’s called insane detail also doesn’t give me a lot of confidence. I’ve done flesh, hair of those I won’t give back hair and the musket and backpack.

📜 Hundred Days News, 16 May 1815 Strategy shapes deployments, but so do food and water. Supplying the Prussian army strains Belgium. Coordination with the Dutch authorities and population proves difficult, hurting Prussian popularity

📜 Hundred Days News, 14 May 1815 All Prussian corps commanders are busy setting up courier relay posts to get orders and intelligence quickly to and from the new HQ at Namur. Steinmetz takes command of the 1st Brigade of I Corps.

My plan for 17 June is probably ridiculous, but check-in is at 16:00. This gives me a lot of time after the night march. I will explore where Bülow’s corps spent the night and then the ground of the battle. By evening I will have a better understanding And sleep very well.

I’d say both are black? Now I am scared to apply them. Never used xpress before.

📜 Hundred Days News, 12 May 1815 A French column crosses the German border near Longwy but is driven back by Prussian uhlans. The first prisoner of the war is taken: a French chasseur.

A batch of old postcards of La Belle Alliance. And they taught me something I had missed. The Dutch name was not a literal translation and it is far more beautiful. 'Schoon Verbond' which would be something like 'Noble Bond'. 🧵 1/2

📜 Hundred Days News, 10 May 1815 This is what the start of a campaign looks like. Zieten warns Wellington of French troops south of Mons and Charleroi. Dörnberg reports the mail from France has stopped. Operational silence. Now it is up to scouts and spies.

It is done. The stays for the Waterloo 2026 hike are booked. No way back now. Vorwärts!

15 June 2025. 40 km into my Waterloo hike, legs aching, still an hour away from my destination. Messaged my hosts about the delay. They offered to pick me up by car. I said no. Had to finish on foot. 1/4 🧵

📜 Hundred Days News, 8 May 1815 After Saxon troops mutinied, Blücher ordered their flag burned. Borstell refused to do it. Not because he supported the mutiny. Because burning a flag was dishonorable, whether Saxon or Prussian. He lost his corps over it. 1/2

I've been mapping out units for my upcoming Waterloo hike. Most campaign maps simplify for clarity. But that simplification changes how you understand the campaign. Here's what gets hidden. 1/4 🧵

📜 Hundred Days News, 6 May 1815 Blücher enforces discipline: four Saxon soldiers are executed, with three more condemned. The Prussian high command relocates from Liège to Namur. General Zieten remains in Charleroi, establishing forward outposts

Route for 15 June: following Zieten's 2nd Brigade from the Sambre toward Fleurus. Not as scenic as last year. Charleroi has swallowed most of the small villages. But the fighting around Gilly happened somewhere in there, and I want to walk it.

📜 Hundred Days News, 4 May 1815 Saxon troops mutiny at Liège. Blücher barely escapes. Their units are disarmed, the Guard's standard burned, and General Borstell is removed from command for refusing orders. The coalition cracks from within.

Still on the sprues, still without colour. I read the WG tutorial, but even as a novice I think I want a little more detail. Other tutorials go the complete opposite way and treat them almost like 28mm figures. Any tips for a sensible middle ground?

📜 Hundred Days News, 2 May 1815 With rumours swirling, Wellington puts the Prince of Orange on alert and leaves for Tienen to meet Blücher. There is also news from Vienna: the Saxon units must be reorganised. The news does not land well.

In the Waterloo campaign, marching was not just movement between battles. It was the battle before the battle. On 15 June, men on both sides were already being tested: marching, screening, falling back, pushing forward, and trying to reach the right place before the next fight.

📜 Hundred Days News, 30 April 1815 Rumors of Napoleon near the border and the Guard on the move prompt Wellington to issue a defense plan. Troops are to concentrate, but his army covers a large front. While the strategy was sound, it would have consequences in June.

Fichermont was where some of the first shots of Waterloo were fired. The château is gone now, demolished in 1965. Most visitors never even make it to that corner of the battlefield. In my postcard collection I found what once stood there. 1/4 🧵

📜 Hundred Days News, 28 April 1815 Stewart writes to Wellington: Capturing Paris would end Napoleon’s career. It mattered more than defeating his army in the field. Armies could retreat, new troops formed. Without Paris: no government, treasury, legitimacy, or throne.

Some shots from yesterday’s tour. People who had listened to me talk about Napoleonics before and decided it was time to see it for themselves. All Belgians. First time at Waterloo. Seeing the battlefield click into place for them was probably the best part of the day.

“Next to a battle lost…”

Getting ready for tomorrow’s battlefield tour. Pulled everything “Waterloo” off the shelf. Stack is ready… but I’m sure I’m missing something. What’s the one Waterloo book you’d add?

After Ligny, Blücher was injured and the Prussian was army retreating. Gneisenau had to make a choice: fall back east toward safer lines or stay with Wellington and keep the campaign alive. He did not trust Wellington easily, and recent events gave him reasons for caution 1/7🧵

Wellington and Blücher had to coordinate in 1815, but even that was not straightforward. Their headquarters were about 60 km apart, and there was no shared language between the two staffs. Even passing on information could become a problem. 1/3 🧵

Old postcards of La Haye Sainte. The farm is instantly recognizable. Same white wall, same gate, same roofline. But look closer and the landscape is already changing. By 1900, Waterloo had become a tourist destination. 1/4 🧵

Intelligence in 1815 was never straightforward. No satellites, no radio, no instant overview. The Allies had to piece things together through patrols, spies, deserters and newspapers. Did they actually fail to read Napoleon’s intentions? 1/4 🧵

📜 Hundred Days News, 20 April 1815 The Allies in Vienna set 1 June as their offensive start date. Communications go out. Napoleon still holds the initiative. 1/2 🧵

No Napoleonic Wars tonight. Instead I was defending Wake Island in the Pacific. Japanese infantry swarmed my right flank and centre, and for a while it looked like the line might crack. But the dice and card gods smiled on me.

Last June I walked 45 km retracing 15 June 1815. The first 35 km were manageable. The last 10 were hard. I was following Steinmetz’s brigade as it raced across the Belgian countryside. By the end I had a better sense of the demands of the day. 🧵1/5

December 24, 1914. A German soldier stands at the Prussian memorial on the Waterloo battlefield and writes a postcard. On the front, beside the monument, he writes: “Here we are.” He is stationed in Maransart, just east of where the Prussians broke through at Plancenoit a century earlier. 🧵1/2

Won another postcard auction. Doubled my collection in one go. Barely any duplicates, which is good luck. Among them are these postcard books, you were meant to tear out the cards you wanted to send, but most people kept them intact. A hundred years later, I'm glad they did.

Next week (the 26th), I'll change hats, or shakos, and guide a group around the Waterloo battlefield. 12 km, 6 hours, from Hougoumont to Papelotte and Plancenoit. Every position matched to period maps, every sightline walked. It'll be in Dutch, but if you're nearby and want to join, let me know.

In Vienna in April 1815, the Allies were debating the next move. Austria wanted time to mobilize and Schwarzenberg in overall command. Russia feared that a swift offensive might leave Alexander on the sidelines in Napoleon’s final defeat.

Gneisenau’s plan in April 1815 aimed straight at Paris. The idea was simple: keep advancing on a wide front, one army in reserve. If Napoleon struck one army, he could not stop the others.

Wellington drafted a plan in April 1815 to target Napoleon’s army. The Allies had already taken Paris in 1814. It had not been enough. 1/2 🧵

📜 Hundred Days News, 12 April 1815 Napoleon had just handed Gneisenau proof that Austria, Britain, and the Bourbons had signed a military alliance against Prussia and Russia in January. The coalition assembling against France was already plotting against itself. 1/4 🧵

📜 Hundred Days News, 11 April 1815 Blücher formally assumed command of the Army of the Lower Rhine. At 72 years old, the marshal now had full authority over Prussian forces in the field. Wellington had his counterpart.