The significant and extremely rare Battle of Waterloo King’s German Legion Brigade Commander’s Casualty Waterloo Medal 1815, fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension, awarded to Colonel Charles Du Plat, 4th Line Battalion, King’s German Legion, and commanding the 1st King’s German Legion Brigade. Despite being known on the British Army List by the name given on his medal, he was born Georg Carl August du Plat in March 1770, and anglicised it to George Charles Augustus du Plat. Commissioned by purchase into the Hanoverian Army as a Captain with the 1st Infantry Regiment, owing to the occupation of Hanover by Napoleonic troops and the Convention of Artlenburg, he made his way to Great Britain and became one of the original officers of the King’s German Legion on its formation, being assigned to the 4th Line Battalion. As of June 1805 he had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and given command of his battalion, and then led it during the expedition to Hanover in 1805, the Baltic Campaign in 1807, on and service in the Mediterranean and Sicily between 1808 and 1812, including the expedition to the Gulf of Naples in 1809, and afterwards landed with Lieutenant General Sir John Murray in eastern Spain to occupy Alicante in order to protect Wellingon’s flank. As such he was with the force that defeated Marshal Suchet’s French Army of Valencia and Aragon at the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813, before participating in the unsuccessful siege of Tarragona from 3-11 June 1813. He was nevertheless rewarded with a promotion to Brevet Colonel on 4 June 1813, the second day of the siege, and then given command of the 1st King’s German Legion Brigade from October 1813, and led it into southern France. Remaining in command of his brigade, he took it to the Netherlands in 1814 and there led it throughout the Waterloo Campaign. As the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, his brigade formed part of General Clinton’s 2nd Division that was held in reserve supporting the Guards behind Hougoumont. Sometime between 11.30 am and midday on 18 June, the French began the opening phase with an attack on Wellington's far right at Hougoumont. Prince Jerome, Napoleon's younger brother, was commanding a division to the French left and committed more and more resources to this action throughout the day. This had been planned to be a feint to draw strength away from Wellington's centre. Although the orchard changed hands, a crisis was averted at Hougoumont's north gate and the defenders held fast. A battle within a battle developed around Hougoumont with Du Plat's K.G.L., Hugh Halkett's Hanoverian brigades and Kuhlmann's K.G.L. artillery playing a prominent role in its defence. Du Plat’s brigade became heavily engaged, coming under several attacks from enemy cavalry. At about seven o’clock, the 1st and 3rd Line Battalions, formed in one square, beat off a powerful charge, as did the 4th Line Battalion, which formed another square. The 2nd Line Battalion pushed on towards Hougoumont, while the remaining battalions advanced in line of four deep on the left of the farm. Casualties in the Hougoumont area were circa 10,000 alone and included Colonel Du Plat who was severely wounded in the final push to defeat and pursue Napoleon's Imperial Guard at the end of the battle. Du Plat died of his wounds three days later and, together with Colonel Baron Ompteda, was one of the Legion’s two most senior casualties in the battle.
Waterloo Medal 1815, fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension; (COLONEL CHARLES DU PLAT, 4TH LINE BATT. K.G.L.)
Condition: lightly polished on high-points, otherwise Good Very Fine.
Provenance: ex Dix Noonan and Webb, April 2003, as part of ‘An Important Collection of Medals to the King’s German Legion’, the surname being then incorrectly catalogued as ‘Du Platt’.
George Charles Augustus du Plat, born Georg Carl August du Plat, and who is shown in the British Army lists under the name of Charles Du Plat, was born on 3 March 1770. He was commissioned by purchase into the Hanoverian Army as a Captain with the 1st Infantry Regiment and joined the British Service in the King’s German Legion with temporary rank in the army in November 1803, and by the following year was serving as a Major with the 4th Line Battalion, and was then promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 30 June 1805.
After the occupation of Hanover by Napoleonic troops the Convention of Artlenburg, also called the Convention of the Elbe, was signed on 5July 1803 and formally dissolved the Electorate of Hanover. Consequently, the Elector's army was disbanded. Many former Hanoverian officers and soldiers fled the French occupation of Hanover to Britain; George III, the deposed Elector of Hanover, was also King of the United Kingdom. The same year, Major Colin Halkett and Colonel Johann Friedrich von der Decken were issued warrants to raise a corps of light infantry, to be named "The King's German Regiment". On 19December 1803, Halkett's and von der Decken's levies were combined as a basis of a mixed corps (includes all arms: mounted, infantry, artillery) renamed the King's German Legion. The KGL infantry were quartered in Bexhill-on-Sea and the cavalry in Weymouth, Dorset. Some units were involved in a street fight in Tullarmore, Ireland with a British Light infantry unit in the so-called Battle of Tullamore. The number of officers and other ranks grew over time to approximately 14,000, but during the 13 years of its existence, close to 28,000 men served in the legion at one time or another. Initially, most of the officers were appointed with temporary rank, but in 1812 all the officers of the legion were given permanent rank in the British Army for 'having so frequently distinguished themselves against the enemy. It saw active service as an integral part of the British Army from 1805 to 1816, after which its units were disbanded.
Du Plat first saw active service when in command of the 4th Line Battalion during the Expedition to Hanover in 1805, the last campaign under William Pitt, undertaken after the crushing victory of Trafalgar and, more importantly, the apparent removal of the threat of a French invasion of Britain via Boulogne. With Napoleon’s apparent intention to invade England being abandoned and the removal of his army southwards towards the Danube, Britain had a very large force suddenly freed from the needs of defence and capable of taking action overseas. It could initially make available 2 Divisions of Heavy and Light cavalry (over 9,500 men), 4 Battalions of Guards and 40 of Line infantry, a Light Brigade of 4 Battalions. under Sir John Moore, 6 Brigades of Horse Artillery and 10 of Foot, along with the usual support services, like the Waggon Train and Engineers. These forces could be used to strike at Napoleon on the continent with the aid (as was usual) of Britian’s allies, since Britain did not have the land force to tackle the French alone. The campaign was the first time that the newly-consolidated King’s German Legion saw “active service”.
Expedition to Hanover 1805:
The KGL element of the British force was initially placed under General Sir George Don, who was first sent to Berlin to negotiate with Prussia. Nearly six thousand men were derived from the King’s German Legion – just about their entire available force apart from two battalions based at Gibraltar and others still forming. Delayed by gales, but eventually leaving from Ramsgate for the mouth of the Elbe in November 1805, the expedition immediately came to grief amidst severe storms which scattered the transports – and did far more damage to the force than the French ever did. The KGL Hussars were driven onto the coast of Holland and the Heavy Dragoons forced to return to England (and never rejoined the force), while some of the 4th Line were driven ashore in northern Germany. Others of the KGL were assembled off Heligoland before proceeding to land. Despite these setbacks, on 18th and 19th November most of the British army was landed at Cuxhaven, receiving an ecstatic welcome by the local population who foresaw their liberation from French rule; it established magazines at Cuxhaven and Bremerlehe and then advanced via Dorum to Osterholz and thence into Bremen. Led by the 95th Rifles, it set up its head-quarters at Bremen and then marched to occupy the city of Hanover itself. A Prussian garrison there seemed at first unwilling to allow the British an entry but in the end did so and in fact the Prussians shortly afterwards withdrew from the state of Hanover.
Needless to say, it was a source of great pleasure and pride to the officers and men of the KGL to be involved in what appeared to be the liberation of their own country. One obvious danger, however, was that men who had been away from home and family would take the opportunity to desert. Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of cases of such desertions – but it is also recorded that many who left did return and in fact the KGL eventually benefitted because so many young Hanoverian men were impressed with their look and bearing that they flocked to join and recruitment into the KGL went up sharply! Actual recruiting offices were set up in Stade and Hanover. It has been said that the greatest effect of the Hanover campaign was to increase the size of the KGL.
To face the Austro-Russian coalition, Napoleon had withdrawn the vast majority of the French occupation army from Hanover, leaving only a strong garrison in the fortress-town of Hameln (Hamelin) and a force at Nienburg. The Russians initially led the investment of the fortress and were joined by the 1st KGL Line Brigade and 1st Foot Battery, with a KGL Engineer officer attached and two British infantry battalions. With a main base at Bremen, other British forces were stationed at Delmanhorst and Oldenburg, with others in towns along the river Weser, with their right wing at Blumenthal and their left at Verden; the KGL components were centred around Verden, ready for a planned advance on Nienberg, to deal with the small French presence.
With overall command of the British force placed in the hands of General Sir William Cathcart, (1755- 1843) in November 1805, reinforcements continued to arrive from England – a further 12,000 men, drawn from the 3rd, 5th, 9th, 26th, 36th and 89th Regiments landed in the Weser; many lost significant numbers in the gales and shipwrecks which beset them en route and some were seriously understrength. But in fact, the whole thing was already much too late and they arrived at exactly the time that Cathcart was proposing to withdraw the army altogether. The government’s hopes that, in face of a lack of allied action in the Hanoverian sphere, Cathcart could advance into Holland, were wildly optimistic given that he had severe transport and supply problems in what was a harsh winter and were soon abandoned. Nevertheless, eight more British battalions and reinforcements to the KGL cavalry were sent out in December.
The arrival in Hanover of the KGL was reported in The Times: “In the forenoon [Dec. 13th], the second battalion of the King’s German Legion entered this city, under Colonel Barsse. A vast crowd went out to meet their brave countrymen. Arrived upon the parade [sic] before the palace of the Duke of Cambridge, the Turkish music performed ‘God save the King,’ which was followed by loud acclamations. These troops, intended for the blockade of Hameln, will march to Pattensee in the course of the day.”
The Times reported on Dec. 19: “By accounts from our Army on the Continent, we are informed that Lieut. Gen. Don remained at Verden on the 8th inst. which place is the head-quarters of the British Army. The Guards are quartered in the environs of Bremen. The Russians have left Verden, in order to march to Hameln, which fortress is to be inmediately blockaded by them and the German Legion, under the command of Brigadier-General Decken.” The French are reported to have “thrown” a strong garrison into Hameln, ready to make some show of defence.
Later, it was reported from Hanover, that “on [Dec. 22nd], at two in the afternoon, between five and six hundred men of the garrison of Hameln, with some pieces of cannon, marched towards Springen. The English and Russians, on the first intelligence of this movement, marched to meet them, which gave occasion to a very obstinate action between Hochmuhlen and Alenhagen, which ended entirely in favour of the Russians and English. The French had a number of men killed and wounded, two hundred were made prisoners, and two pieces of cannon taken. They were obliged, towards evening, to retreat, to avoid being entirely cut off from Hameln. The two pieces of cannon, and the prisoners, were brought here to-day.” This was in fact the biggest action of the campaign but Hameln did not fall to the allies; the siege was later taken up by Prussian forces and the British contingent withdrew.
Other than these small actions, the military operations in “the Weser campaign” were not, in the end, very significant; Cathcart apparently “fought a small action at Munkaiser” but there seem to be no details on this in any major source. He was criticised for simply sitting and waiting for allied forces, especially those of Sweden and Russia, to move against Hanover and did nothing to take any firm action himself. But to be fair to him, he had also been ordered, apart from co-ordinating his actions with those of the Allies, not to engage in any campaigning which might “hazard” his army and not to engage in “unreasonable operations” in the depths of winter. He was at liberty to decline to act at all if he felt the circumstances were unfavourable. But in the end, it was not Cathcart’s inaction but Austro-Russian failure and the genius of Napoleon which doomed the exploit; “thwarting France by defending Hanover” was not enough by itself.
News travelled slowly. Even by the time that Cathcart’s army had left England, Napoleon had decisively turned the war against the allied coalition. As a result of the campaign of 16–19th October 1805 he had trapped an entire Austrian army under the command of General Mack von Leiberich with minimal losses and forced its surrender near Ulm in Bavaria. Only a month later, Napoleon entered Vienna, the Austrian capital. On 2nd December 1805, Napoleon won the crushing victory over Austria and Russia at Austerlitz and both were forced to sue for peace on Napoleon’s terms. These events effectively destroyed the Third Coalition and forced Austria and Russia out of active operations against the French. Prussia, which Napoleon had hoped to tempt with the offer of Hanover, had forces along the Ems and soon drew up its own accord with France – but less than a year later Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Jena-Auerstadt (October 1806) and the French occupation of Hanover resumed.
As a result of the collapse of the coalition, the small British army on the Weser found itself isolated with no hope of continuing meaningful operations and “greatly disappointed at having nothing to do”. All British forces were ordered home from Hanover in January 1806; the British HQ was moved to Osterholz early in February, then to Bremerlehe, and embarkation via Cuxhaven was completed by 12th Februar. It had by no means been a glorious or successful campaign – but that was not the fault of the KGL. Interestingly, the KGL was sent home first since it was feared that the Prussians would block their removal to England – there had been some hint already that Prussia wanted what was essentially a German force to conscript into its own army.
The KGL arrived in Portsmouth in the middle of February 1806, with the 1st Heavy and 1st Light Cavalry, the two Light Infantry battalions and the first two Line Brigades (i.e. four infantry battalions) being sent immediately to Ireland.
The Baltic Campaign of 1807:
Lieutenant Colonel Du Plat then saw service in command of the 4th Line Battalion during the Baltic Campaign of 1807 as part of the land forces under General Sir William Cathcart.
By 1806, the French had managed to conquer or make alliance with every major power on mainland Europe. This allowed Napoleon to launch his Continental System, an attempt to undermine Britain's economy by forbidding Europeans from trading with it. At the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803, Denmark was officially neutral. But its government came under increasing pressure from France and Russia to pledge its fleet to Napoleon. This would help secure the North Sea and Baltic Sea, and exclude British commercial shipping from Nordic ports.
Denmark's ships and crews were of high quality. In 1801, they had bitterly resisted - but eventually been defeated by - a British naval force at the First Battle of Copenhagen. This came after the Danes had joined Russian, Swedish and Prussian attempts to stop Royal Navy interference in Baltic trade (part of wider British efforts to weaken French commerce). Despite this earlier defeat, the Danish fleet was still formidable in 1807. It included around 20 ships of the line, 17 frigates and many gunboats. The prospect of this force falling into French hands alarmed the British. Not only could it help enforce the Continental System and pose a threat to British naval supremacy, Napoleon could also use it to support an invasion of Britain.
Initially, the British tried to persuade the Danes to hand over the fleet peacefully and sign a treaty of alliance. They promised that they would return the warships once the war with Napoleon was over. At the same time, Napoleon was threatening to invade Denmark from the south unless it joined his war against Britain. To prevent this, most of the small Danish Army was manning defences in Schleswig-Holstein. When the Danes refused to end their neutrality, the British decided to act. They despatched 400 ships and transports and over 25,000 sailors and soldiers under the command of Admiral James Gambier and General Sir William Cathcart.
The British task force reached Denmark in early August. A naval force then secured the waters around Zealand - the island on which Copenhagen is situated - to isolate the capital from the mainland and the neighbouring islands. With most of Denmark's army defending its southern borders and unable to reach Zealand, the defence of the capital was left to 5,000 regulars and militia. This vastly outnumbered force faced three British infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade. The British landed at Vedbaek, just north of Copenhagen, on 16 August. On 29 August, around 6,000 British troops under Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated a similar-sized Danish militia force near the town of Køge, to the south of the capital. British casualties were 170 killed, wounded or captured. The Danes suffered over 150 killed and 200 wounded. In the days that followed, the British captured over 1,700 men. Wellesley’s victory ensured that Copenhagen was completely encircled. When the Danes refused to surrender, the British fleet under Admiral Gambier, along with the Army’s gun and Congreve rocket batteries, proceeded to bombard the city. This lasted from 2 to 5 September, killing nearly 200 civilians and destroying many buildings.
On 7 September 1807, the Danes surrendered both the city and the fleet to the British. Many of the Danish ships were later added to the Royal Navy's strength. This attack on a neutral country was heavily criticised internationally. But it succeeded in helping secure the North Sea and Baltic Sea for British naval and merchant ships. Britain and Denmark remained at war for seven more years. Although there were several small naval clashes, there were no further land battles between the two nations.
The Mediterranean and Sicily 1808-1812 including participation in the expedition to the Gulf of Naples in 1809:
Du Plat was still in command of the 4th Line Battalion when it was sent to do duty in the Mediterranean and Sicily between 1808 and 1812, during which period he participated in the expedition to the Gulf of Naples during 1809. Lieutenant-General Sir John Stuart commanded the force, which included a KGL brigade led by Henry de Hinuber. The force sailed on June 11 and reached Ischia on June 24. Ischia was captured on June 30 after a siege of the French-garrisoned castle, and Procida capitulated on June 26. The force evacuated the two captured islands on July 26 after the Royal Navy was unable to guarantee supply lines. The 8,000-strong Anglo-Sicilian force the sailed for Spain, where it joined up with about 6,000 Spanish troops from Menorca, and occupied the port of Alicante on the east coast of Spain. The army frequently changed generals but did nothing to contribute to the Anglo-Allied war effort. In February 1813, Lieutenant General Sir John Murray was appointed to command the reinforced 18,000-man force
The Peninsula and the South of France between 1812 and 1814:
Du Plat saw service in the Peninsula War in eastern Spain and then later in southern France between August 1812 and April 1814, when initially still in command of the 4th Line Battalion. He was next in a major action at the Battle of Castalla, some 35 km’s from Alicante, on 13 April 1813, when an Anglo-Spanish-Sicilian force commanded by Lieutenant General Sir John Murray fought Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet’s French Army of Valencia and Aragon. Murray's troops successfully repelled a series of French attacks on their hilltop position, causing Suchet to retreat.
Wellington wanted to prevent Suchet from reinforcing the other French armies in Spain. He ordered, Murray, whose army had been built up to over 18,000 Allied troops, to accomplish this purpose. Murray's manoeuvres were ineffective and prompted Suchet to lash out at his force. The French marshal fell upon a nearby Spanish force, beating it with heavy losses. Suchet then focused on crushing Murray.
In early April, after making some indecisive maneuvers, Murray posted his small army at Villena, northwest of Alicante. Meanwhile, Suchet decided to surprise the British general and his Spanish allies. The French marshal split his force into two columns, sending one column under General of Division Jean Isidore Harrispe to attack a Spanish force at Yecla. A second column under Suchet's personal command marched against Murray at Villena. On 11 April 1813, Harispe fell upon General Mijares and his 3,000 Murcians at Yecla. In a surprise attack led by the 4th Hussar and 24th Dragoon Regiments, the Spanish troops were routed, losing 400 killed and 1,000 prisoners. Two infantry battalions were virtually annihilated. The French admitted losses of 18 killed and 61 wounded.
Murray heard about the disaster by noon that day. He immediately beat a retreat toward Alicante, dropping off a 2,200-man all-arms brigade under Colonel Frederick Adam at the pass of Bir to cover his withdrawal. On the morning of 12 April, Suchet captured a Spanish battalion at Villena and set out in pursuit of Murray. At Biar, the French came up with Adam's rearguard but were unable to overrun the well-handled force, which consisted of British, King’s German Legion - including Du Plat’s 4th Line Battalion, Italian and Spanish elements. In a brilliant five-hour action, Adam successfully fended off his French pursuers, allowing Murray to concentrate his army at Castalla. In one incident, Suchet's cavalry raced after their enemies after flushing the Allied soldiers from Biar. But this attempt to turn a retreat into a rout failed when the French troopers charged into a neatly executed ambush by three companies of the 2/27th Foot. During the action, the French suffered about 300 casualties and Adam lost 260 killed and wounded plus 41 missing. The British colonel was forced to abandon two of his four cannons.
Murray's army consisted of 18,716 men organized into an advanced guard, two Anglo-Italian divisions, two Spanish divisions, cavalry, and artillery. Adam's advanced guard consisted of 1,179 men in three battalions and various detachments. Lieutenant General William Henry Clinton’s 1st Division numbered 4,036 men in five battalions. General John Mackenzie's counted 4,045 soldiers in five battalions. Colonel Samuel Ford Whittingham’s1st Spanish Division had 3,901 troops in six battalions, while General Phillip Roche's 2nd Spanish Division included 4,019 men in five battalions. There were 1,036 cavalry troopers in nine squadrons and 30 guns manned by about 500 artillerists.
The strong Castalla position consisted of a castle-topped ridge that overlooked a deep stream bed. A spur projecting forward from the ridge tended to split any attack on the position. Further, a flooded stream protected the right of the Anglo-Allied line. Murray put Whittingham's Spanish division in a fortified position on the left flank. Adam's brigade held the left-center and Mackenzie's division held the right-center. The British commander posted Clinton's division on the right flank. Part of General Roche's division was placed in front of Clinton, supporting a cavalry screen. The remainder of Roche's men and the rest of the cavalry were positioned behind Castalla castle in reserve.
Suchet had one cavalry and three infantry divisions available. General of Division Andre Joseph Boussart’s commanded 1,424 horsemen in eight squadrons. In the absence of General of Division Louis Francois Felix Musnier, General of Brigade. Louis Benoit Robert led the 1st Division's 5,084 men in eight battalions. Harispe's 2nd Division counted 4,052 troops in six battalions, while General of Division Pierre-Joseph Habert’s 3rd Division included 2,722 soldiers in four battalions. The French had 282 gunners manning 24 artillery pieces.
Suchet planned to send Robert and Habert with their divisions at the center of Murray's line. Meanwhile, five voltigeur (light) companies would threaten the extreme Anglo-Allied left flank and Boussart's cavalry would envelop the enemy right flank. Harispe's division was kept in reserve. The French expected that a hard blow would send the Spanish and Italian infantry fleeing. Before the action commenced, Murray ordered Whittingham to shift his division west in order to overlap the French right flank. Accordingly, Whittingham began to carry out his instructions by putting his troops in motion and opening up a gap in the centre.
At noon on 13 April, the French troops surged forward. Robert's attack was carried out in five columns. On his own initiative, Whittingham ignored his orders and moved his division back to its original position. He detached one battalion to deal with the voltigeurs. Robert's three right-hand columns, together with the skirmishers, were repulsed by Whittingham's steady Spaniards. The two left-most columns came up against Adam and were likewise hurled back. In a short, close-range musketry duel, Adam's 2/27th Foot, deployed in line, inflicted 369 casualties on the 121st Line's attack column. Habert's advance was blocked by Mackenzie and Boussart's cavalrymen were unable to cross the flooded stream. With his infantry defeated, his cavalry off to one flank and his men outnumbered, Suchet found himself in a difficult spot. Murray proved slow to take advantage of his success, however, and the French were able to retreat almost unmolested. Suchet's rearguard ably defended the pass of Biar and allowed the French to get away with little additional loss.
The Anglo-Allied force lost 440 casualties. Whittingham's men suffered 233 casualties, Adam lost 70 and Mackenzie lost 47. Suchet admitted 800 casualties at Yecla, Biar and Castalla, but this is probably too low. Murray claimed to have inflicted 2,500 losses on his enemies. A more likely figure is 1,300 French casualties at Castalla. Murray failed to benefit from his victory when he continued his retreat to Alicante. The next action in the theatre was the Siege of Tarragona that lasted from 3-11 June 1812, in which Du Plat was present.
After Castalla, Wellington ordered Murray to attack Tarragona, which is on the east coast of Spain. The port is about 65 miles southwest of Barcelona. Wellington planned to launch his summer 1813 offensive against King Joseph Bonaparte’s French armies. By attacking Tarragona, Wellington wished to prevent Suchet from reinforcing Joseph.
On June 2, Rear-Admiral Benjamin Hallowell Carew’s squadron put Murray's 16,000 men ashore at Salou Bay, six miles south of Tarragona. They soon met General Francisco Copons’ division of 7,000 Spanish soldiers. On June 3 the Allied army laid siege to the town. Murray organized his army into one Spanish and two British infantry divisions, some cavalry, 2 British and 1 Portuguese field artillery batteries, plus some unassigned units. General William Clinton’s 1st Division was made up of the 1/58th Foot and 2/67th Foot, the 4th Line Battalion KGL, and 2 battalions of the Sicilian Estero (Foreign) Regiment.
A Sicilian officer, Antoine Bertoletti, had command of the garrison included a battalion each from the French 20th Line Infantry and the 7th Italian Infantry regiments, two companies of artillerymen and some French sailors. The defences had not been restored since Suchet had captured the town in the first siege of Tarragona in 1811. In any case, the 1,600 men were too few to man the outer walls, so Bertoletti abandoned the walls and pulled his men back into the old town. He left small garrisons in two-outworks, the Bastion of San Carlos and Fort Royal.
Copons and his division were sent to the north to block the road from Barcelona. A British force occupied a fort to the south at Balaguer. Instead of immediately storming the two weak outworks, Murray insisted on establishing breaching batteries. By June 7, Fort Royal lay helpless under the bombardment. Yet, Murray decided to wait until June 11 before mounting an assault on the outwork. When he heard Tarragona was attacked, Suchet and 8,000 men began to march north from Valencia. From Barcelona, General of Division Charles Decaen sent General of Division Maurice Mathieu and 6,000 men southward. Suchet planned for the two columns to rendezvous at Eus, 10 miles inland from Tarragona. Murray became increasingly anxious about the twin French threats. On June 9 he issued secret orders to withdraw from the siege. On June 11, he rode to Copons and found that Mathieu was approaching. Promising to reinforce Copons with British troops, he hastened back to his siege lines. Hearing fresh rumors that both Suchet and Mathieu were bearing down on him, Murray panicked. He abandoned the planned assault and ordered the stores to be sent back aboard ship. Late that night, Murray ordered that the heavy guns to be withdrawn at once. His chief gunner told him it was impossible to bring off the guns in less than 30 hours. It was all unnecessary. Suchet heard of a Spanish threat to Valencia and retreated. Mathieu brushed with Copons' outposts, found he was facing a combined army of 23,000 men and fell back northward. Meanwhile, Murray issued a flurry of often contradictory orders. These only added to the confusion and infuriated Hallowell. By the night of June 12, the entire force was taken on board the ships, leaving the 18 siege guns spiked and many stores left behind. Copons was advised to flee into the mountains. An amazed Bertoletti sent a messenger to Mathieu that the coast was clear.
Soon, Murray decided to land his army at Balaguer, which was accomplished on June 15. He convinced Copons to support the second landing, which the Spanish general loyally did. Mathieu force-marched his troops into Tarragona on the following day. When Murray heard that French soldiers were at hand he immediately ordered that his army be re-embarked, to Hallowell's disgust. Copons was left in the lurch once more. On June 18, the Mediterranean Fleet hove over the horizon. Lord William Bentinck relieved Murray of command and the thwarted expedition sailed back to Alicante.
Aside from the 18 lost siege guns, the Anglo-Allies lost 15 killed, 82 wounded, and five missing. French losses were 13 killed and 85 wounded. The Tarragona fiasco did not affect Wellington's 1813 campaign, which ended in a decisive Anglo-Allied victory over King Joseph at the Battle of Vitoria on June 21. In 1814, Murray was court-martialled for his conduct before Tarragona. He was acquitted of all charges except that of abandoning his guns without just cause, for which he was admonished by the court.
For his part Du Plat did not fair badly, and was promoted to the rank of Brevet Colonel on 4 June 1813, the second day of the siege of Tarragona. From October 1813 he has command of a Brigade of the King’s German Legion, and then advanced with the army into southern France, but did not participate in any major action prior to the addiction of Napoleon and the end of the Peninsula War.
The Waterloo Campaign of 1815:
Du Plat had command of a brigade as a part of the occupation of the Netherlands during 1814. Colonel Du Plat’s 1st King’s German Legion Brigade, comprising of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Line Battalions K.G.L. and Hugh Halkett’s Hanoverians, then formed part of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton’s 2nd Division at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Clinton’s Division was posted in reserve behind Wellington’s right flank positioned in support of the Guards who held Hougoumont. The 2nd Division included the 3rd British Brigade (Major General Frederick Adam), the 1st King's German Legion (KGL) Brigade (Colonel Du Plat), the 3rd Hanoverian Brigade (Cololnel Hugh Halkett) and Lieutenant Colonel Gold's two artillery batteries (Bolton RA and Sympher KGL).
Sometime between 11.30 am and midday on 18 June, the French began the opening phase with an attack on Wellington's far right at Hougoumont. Prince Jerome, Napoleon's younger brother, was commanding a division to the French left and committed more and more resources to this action throughout the day. This had been planned to be a feint to draw strength away from Wellington's centre. Although the orchard changed hands, a crisis was averted at Hougoumont's north gate and the defenders held fast.
A battle within a battle developed around Hougoumont with Du Plat's K.G.L., Hugh Halkett's Hanoverian brigades and Kuhlmann's K.G.L. artillery playing a prominent role in its defence. Du Plat’s brigade became heavily engaged, coming under several attacks from enemy cavalry. At about seven o’clock, the 1st and 3rd Line Battalions, formed in one square, beat off a powerful charge, as did the 4th Line Battalion, which formed another square. The 2nd Line Battalion pushed on towards Hougoumont, while the remaining battalions advanced in line of four deep on the left of the farm. Casualties in the Hougoumont area were circa 10,000 alone and included Colonel Du Plat who was severely wounded in the final push to defeat and pursue Napoleon's Imperial Guard at the end of the battle.
Du Plat died of his wounds three days later and, together with Colonel Baron Ompteda, was one of the Legion’s two most senior casualties in the battle.
