Page:15 decisive battles of the world Vol 2 (London).djvu/340

332 to check the British infantry in a forward movement, the duke gave the long-wished-for command for a general advance of the army along the whole line upon the foe. It was now past eight o'clock, and for nine deadly hours had the British and German regiments stood unflinching under the fire of artillery, the charge of cavalry, and every variety of assault that the compact columns or the scattered tirailleurs of the enemy's infantry could inflict. As they joyously sprang forward against the discomfited masses of the French, the setting sun broke through the clouds which had obscured the sky during the greater part of the day, and glittered on the bayonets of the Allies while they in turn poured down into the valley and towards the heights that were held by the foe. Almost the whole of the French host was now in irreparable confusion. The Prussian army was coming more and more rapidly forwards on their right, and the Young Guard, which had held Planchenoit so bravely was at last compelled to give way. Some regiments of the Old Guard in vain endeavoured to form in squares. They were swept away to the rear; and then Napoleon himself fled from the last of his many fields to become in a few weeks a captive and an exile. The battle was lost by France past all recovery. The victorious armies of England and Prussia