ll held in
check; and he now planned that, while Bluecher assailed St. Amand and
its hamlets, the Imperial Guard should crush the Prussian centre at
Ligny, thrust its fragments back towards St. Amand, and finally shiver
the greater part of the Prussian army on the anvil which D'Erlon's
corps would provide further to the west. He now felt assured of
victory; for the corps of Lobau was nearing Fleurus to take the place
of the Imperial Guard; and the Prussians had no supports. "They have
no reserve," he remarked, as he swept the hostile position with his
glass. This was true: their centre consisted of troops that for four
hours had been either torn by artillery or exhausted by the fiendish
strife in Ligny.

And now, as if the pent-up powers of Nature sought to cow rebellious
man into awe and penitence, the artillery of the sky pealed forth.
Crash after crash shook the ground; flash upon flash rent the
sulphur-laden rack; darkness as of night stole over the scene; and a
deluge of rain washed the blood-stained earth. The storm served but to
aid the assailants in their last and fiercest efforts. Amidst the
gloom the columns of the Imperial Guard crept swiftly down the slope
towards Ligny, gave new strength to Gerard's men, and together with
them broke through the defence. A little higher up the stream,
Milhaud's cuirassiers struggled across, and, animated by the Emperor's
presence, poured upon the shattered Prussian centre. No timely help
could it now receive either from Bluecher or Thielmann; for the
darkness of the storm had shrouded from view the beginnings of the
onset, and Thielmann had just suffered from a heedless assault on
Grouchy's wing.

As the thunder-clouds rolled by, the gleams of the setting sun lit up
the field and revealed to Bluecher the full extent of his error.[491]
His army was cut in twain. In vain did he call in his troops from St.
Amand: in vain did he gallop back to his squadrons between Bry and
Sombref and lead them forward. Their dashing charge was suddenly
checked at the brink of a hollow way; steady volleys tore away their
front; and the cuirassiers completed their discomfiture. Bluecher's
charger was struck by a bullet, and in his fall badly bruised the
Field-Marshal; but his trusty adjutant, Nostitz, managed to hide him
in the twilight, while the cuirassiers swept onwards up the hill.
Other Prussian squadrons, struggling to save the day, now charged home
and drove back the steel-clad ranks. S