Although most orders of battle available agree on the composition of each army, virtually none of them agree on unit strengths. I have taken the French strengths from Mark Adkin’s excellent book The Waterloo Companion, and the allied strengths from Siborne’s meticulously researched History of the Waterloo Campaign.
THE FRENCH LEFT WING
Commander
Marshal Ney, Duc d’Elchingen and Prince de la Moskowa
CAVALRY OF THE GUARD
Light Cavalry Division (Lieutenant General Count de Lefebvre-Desnouëttes)
Chevaux-Légers Lanciers (The Red Lancers) (880)
Guard Chasseurs à Cheval (1,197)
2 Horse Artillery Batteries (12 guns)
II CORPS
(Lieutenant General Count Reille)
5th Division (Lieutenant General Baron Bachelu)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Husson)
2nd légère (4 bns, 2,294)
61st Line (2 bns, 830)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Campi)
72nd Line (2 bns, 970)
108th Line (3 bns, 1,072)
6th Division (Lieutenant General Prince Jérôme Bonaparte)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Bauduin)
1st légère (3 bns, 1,852)
3rd Line (2 bns, 1,114)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Soye)
1st Line (3 bns, 1,766)
2nd Line (3 bns, 1,765)
9th Division (Lieutenant General Count Foy)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Gauthier)
92nd Line (2 bns, 1,018)
93rd Line (3 bns, 1,461)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Jamin)
100th Line (3 bns, 1,093)
4th légère (3 bns, 1,604)
2nd Cavalry Division (Lieutenant General Baron Piré)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Hubert)
1st Chasseurs à Cheval (4 sqns, 485)
6th Chasseurs à Cheval (4 sqns, 560)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Wathier)
5th Lanciers (3 sqns, 412)
6th Lanciers (4 sqns, 405)
II Corps Artillery (Corps Pelletier) 4 Foot Btys and 1 Horse Bty
From the 11th Cavalry Division (Lieutenant General Baron l’Héritier) of the III CAVALRY CORPS (Lieutenant General Kellerman, Count Valmy)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Guiton)
8th Cuirassiers (3 sqns, 452)
11th Cuirassiers (2 sqns, 325)
1 Horse Bty
I CORPS
(Lieutenant General Drouet d’Erlon)
1st Division (Maréchal de Camp Baron Quiot du Passage)
1st Brigade (Colonel Charlet)
54th Line (2 bns, 962)
55th Line (2 bns, 1,149)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Bourgeois)
28th Line (2 bns, 898)
105th Line (4 bns)
2nd Division (Lieutenant General Baron Donzelot)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Schmitz)
13th légère (3 bns, 1,875)
17th Line (2 bns, 1,002)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Aulard)
19th Line (2 bns, 1,032)
51st Line (2 bns, 1,168)
3rd Division (Lieutenant General Baron Marcognet)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Nogues)
21st Line (2 bns, 1,137)
46th Line (2 bns, 888)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Grenier)
25th Line (2 bns, 974)
45th Line (2 bns, 1,003)
4th Division (Lieutenant General Count Durutte)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Pégot)
8th Line (2 bns, 983)
29th Line (2 bns, 1,146)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Brue)
85th Line (2 bns, 631)
95th Line (2 bns, 1,100)
1st Cavalry Division (Lieutenant General Baron Jacquinot)
1st Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Baron Bruno)
7th Hussars (3 sqns, 804)
3rd Chasseurs à Cheval (3 sqns, 365)
2nd Brigade (Maréchal de Camp Gobrecht)
3rd Lanciers (3 sqns, 406)
4th Lanciers (2 sqns, 296)
I Corps Artillery (Colonel Desalle) 5 Foot Btys and 1 Horse Bty
THE ALLIED ARMY
(in order of arrival)
Commander-in-Chief
The Duke of Wellington
1st Corps Commander
William, Prince of Orange
2nd Netherlands Division (Lieutenant General Baron Perponcher-Sedlnitzky)
1st Brigade (Major General van Bijlandt)
27th Dutch Ja¨gers (809)
7th Belgian Line (701)
5th Dutch Militia (482)
7th Dutch Militia (675)
8th Dutch Militia (566)
2nd Brigade (Major General H.S.H Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar)
2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment (3 bns, 2,709)
28th Orange-Nassau Regiment (2 bns, 1 coy Ja¨ger, 1,591)
Divisional Artillery 2 Foot Btys (Bijlveld, Stevenaar)
Netherlands Light Cavalry (Major General van Merlen)
Part of the Netherlands Cavalry Division
5th Belgian Light Dragoons (3 sqns, 441)
6th Netherlands Hussars (4 sqns, 641)
Section of guns from Petter’s horse bty
5th British Infantry Division (Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton)
8th British Brigade (Major General Sir James Kempt)
1/28th (North Gloucestershire) (557)
1/32nd (Cornwall) (662)
1/79th (Cameron Highlanders) (703)
1/95th Rifles (6 coys, 549)
9th British Brigade (Major General Sir Denis Pack)
3/1st (Royal Scots) (604)
1/42nd (Highland) (526)
2/44th (East Essex) (455)
92nd (Highland) (588)
4th Hanoverian Brigade (Colonel Best)
Verden Landwehr (621)
Lüneberg Landwehr (624)
Münden Landwehr (660)
Osterode Landwehr (660)
Divisional Artillery 2 Foot Btys (Rogers, Braun)
Brunswick Corps (H.S.H The Duke of Brunswick)
[This corps did not all arrive together; see narrative.]
Avantgarde Bn (635)
Lieb Infantry Bn (565)
Light Infantry Regiment (3 bns, 2,000)
Line Infantry Regiment (3 bns, 1,753)
Uhlans (1 sqn, 232)
2nd Brunswick Hussars (4 sqns, 690)
Corps Artillery 1 Foot Bty (Moll), 1 Horse Bty (Heinemann)
3rd British Division (Lieutenant General Count Alten)
[The 2nd Kings German Legion Brigade did not arrive in time to take part in the battle.]
5th British Brigade (Major General Sir Colin Halkett)
2/30th (Cambridgeshire) (615)
1/33rd (Yorkshire (West Riding)) (561)
2/69th (South Lincolnshire) (516)
2/73rd (Highland) (562)
1st Hanoverian Brigade (Major General Count Kielmannsegge)
Duke of York’s Field Battalion (Osnabruck) (607)
Grubenhagen Field Battalion (621)
Bremen Field Battalion (512)
Verden Field Battalion (533)
Lüneberg Field Battalion (595)
2 coys Field Ja¨ger (321)
Divisional Artillery 2 Foot Btys (Lloyd, Cleeves)
1st British Infantry (Guards) Division (Major General Cooke)
1st British Brigade (Major General Maitland)
2/1st Foot Guards (976)
3/1st Foot Guards (1,021)
2nd British Brigade (Major General Sir John Byng)
2/Coldstream Guards (1,003)
2/3rd Guards (1,061)
Divisional Artillery 1 Horse Bty KGL (Kuhlman), 1 Foot Bty (Sandham)