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Updated: June 28, 2025
"Here is mine, your excellency," said Gneisenau, raising the finger marking the line of the Rhine. But Blucher hastily pressed it down. "Do not remove that!" he cried; "what is to become of my whole plan if that finger should desert its position? Keep it there, then! Well, here, where I hold my left thumb, at Coblentz, the third column will cross the Rhine.
Not until midday, when the cannonade on the west grew to a roar, did Gneisenau decide to send forward Ziethen's corps towards Ohain, on Wellington's left; but thereafter the defence of the Dyle against Grouchy was left solely to Thielmann's corps. While this storm was brewing in the east, everything in front of the Emperor seemed to portend a prosperous day.
At the close of 1814 he was appointed Quartermaster-General of our forces in the Netherlands and received flattering letters of congratulation from Blücher and Gneisenau, the latter expressing his appreciation of "Your rare military talents, your profound judgment on the great operations of war, and your imperturbable sang froid in the day of battle.
Christian galloped up, and with a grave air handed the short pipe to his master. "Pipe-master," said Blucher, "hold a good many pipes in readiness to-day, for there will be a fight, and you know that our gunners fire more steadily when my pipe is burning well. Well, write now, Gneisenau: 'Precisely at twelve the troops will be put in motion, and descend from Trannes into the plain.
Against the German fleet of five ships the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the protected cruisers Leipzig, Dresden and Nurnberg, accompanied by two colliers the British admiral, besides the Sylph, would go into battle with eight ships of war the battle cruisers Invincible and Inflexible, the former Admiral Sturdee's flagship, the cruisers Kent, Cornwall, Carnarvon, Bristol and Glasgow, and the battleship Canopus.
My heart does not deceive me I am sure!" "No, your heart does not deceive you," said Gneisenau, smiling. "This gentleman is an envoy of the crown prince of Sweden, who promises us his friendship and assistance." "No," said the stranger, slowly and solemnly. "At this hour there must be truth between us. I am not an envoy of the crown prince of Sweden, I am he himself, I am Bernadotte!"
"Yes, I do," said Blucher, casting an anxious glance on the two letters lying on the table. "I do intend to take an airing; good-by, then, Gneisenau!" He turned toward the door, but Gneisenau kept him back. "Your excellency must not ride out to-night," he said; "I implore you not to do so. There is a cold wind, and you must not expose your inflamed eyes to it.
"I come as a messenger from the emperor my master, and the king your master, and am commissioned to inform you of the determination taken at headquarters, and to obtain your consent and cooperation." "Is it a secret mission?" asked Gneisenau. "On the contrary, the whole army will have to hear it tonight," said the general.
Napoleon's spies at Frankfort and on the Rhine heard only the grumbling of Blucher, but they did not see the preparations of Gneisenau. On the 26th of December orders were dispatched to the commanders of the different corps of the great Silesian army, communicating the time and place of crossing the Rhine, and on the 31st every soldier of that army stood on the bank ready for the passage.
The rules of war and the dictates of humdrum prudence certainly prescribed this course for a beaten army, especially as Bülow's corps was known to be on the Liège road. Scarcely had the Prussian retreat begun in the darkness, when officers pressed up to Gneisenau, on whom now devolved all responsibility, for instructions as to the line of march.
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