Having positioned most of his army along the northern frontier of France, Napoleon left Paris early in the morning of 12 June. Travelling via Laon, he stopped at Avesnes on the 13th, where he met his senior commanders and issued the following movement order, which aimed to concentrate the army for its strike into the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
ORDER OF THE DAY
Avesnes, 13 June 1815.
Position of the Army on the 14th.
The Imperial Headquarters will be at Beaumont. The infantry of the Imperial Guard is to be bivouacked a quarter of a league in front of Beaumont, and to form three lines; the Young Guard, then the Chasseurs, and then the Grenadiers. The Duke of Treviso [Mortier] will reconnoitre the site of this camp: he will ensure that everything is in its place; artillery, trains, baggage, etc.
The First Regiment of Foot Grenadiers is to proceed to Beaumont.
The cavalry of the Imperial Guard will be posted in the rear of Beaumont; but the furthest corps must be within a league of that city.
The Second Corps will take position at Leers, that is to say, as near as possible to the frontier without crossing it. The four divisions of this army corps will assemble and bivouac on two or four lines; the headquarters in the centre; the cavalry in advance, guarding all the approaches, also without passing the frontier, but ensuring it is respected by the enemy’s partisans, who might seem inclined to cross it.
The bivouacs are to be so placed that their fires may not be seen by the enemy: generals must prevent troops straying from the camp; and must ensure that each man is provided with fifty cartridges, four days allowance of bread, and half a pound of rice; that the artillery and trains are in good condition; and they must place them in order of battle. Thus the Second Corps will be in readiness at three in the morning of the 15th, to march on Charleroi, should it receive orders to that effect, and it may arrive there before nine o’clock.
The First Corps will take position at Solre-sur-Sambre and bivouac in several lines in a similar way to the Second Corps and take care that its bivouac fires are concealed from the enemy and that no one is allowed to wander from the camp; its generals will satisfy themselves about the condition and supply of the ammunition and food carried by the troops, and that the artillery and ambulances are placed in their order of battle. The First Corps must likewise hold itself in readiness to follow the movement of the Second Corps at three o’clock on the morning of the 15th; thus, on the day after tomorrow, these two corps may manoeuvre in the same direction and cooperate with each other.