Search results
- This article examines claims that the Duke of Wellington received a message from Prussian General Zieten at 9 a.m. on 15 June 1815 informing him of the French attack but took no action all day long. Contemporary evidence from various sources shows that in reality such a message only arrived late in the day, around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m.
www.researchgate.net/publication/280576380_Back_to_the_Sources_General_Zieten's_Message_to_the_Duke_of_Wellington_on_15_June_1815(PDF) Back to the Sources; General Zieten's Message to the ...
Most historians now believe that Zieten did not send a message to Wellington based solely on the initial sounds of firing at 4:30 a.m., but instead waited until reports from the front arrived at his headquarters.
The first intimation which the Duke of Wellington received on 15 June, of hostilities having commenced, was conveyed in the report already alluded to, as having been forwarded by General Zieten, shortly before 05:00, and as having reached Brussels at 09:00.
- 8-15 June 1815
- In and around Charleroi, Belgium
As early as 1819 Prussian generals claimed that Zieten had sent warning to Wellington as soon as the French attack began, and that the courier had reached Brussels by about 9 o’clock that morning, only for Wellington to ignore the report.
3) Zieten to Wellington, around midnight 14 June. He reported a large number of camp fires to his front, indicating the concentration of French forces there. This, and other information coming from the Prussian headquarters in Namur indicated that Zieten expected to be attacked at dawn on 15 June.
Ziethen refused to inform Wellington of the large French encampment at Beaumont on 13 and 14 June, or to send him a message post-haste regarding the initial French attack early on the fifteenth . . .'
debate over the 'early message to Wellington' sent (or not sent) by Zieten on 15 June 1815 (see Note 1660, JSAHR 81, Spring 2003, 62-3, and Note 1680, JSAHR 81, Autumn 2003, 286-8), both sides have set out their positions in the JSAHR and elsewhere, analysing in detail the contents and timings
People also ask
Did Zieten send a warning to Wellington?
Did Wellington hear the French attack on Zieten's Corps?
What if Zieten sent a 445 message to Wellington?
When did Zieten write to Wellington?
Was Wellington misled by his staff?
Why did Wellington assemble at Zottegem?
Zieten did send reports to Wellington, but these are not in Wellington's records. If Zieten had stopped corresponding with Wellington at this time then he would have done so in breach of direct orders from his commander and made himself liable to court martial.
