A co-worker of mine (noncollector) showed me some coins left to him from his grandmother (German descent). In the box was a medal from the Battle of Waterloo: BRITISH CAMPAIGN MEDAL Hanoverian medal for Waterloo 1815 Obv: Bust of Prince George III facing right – GEORG PRINZ REGENT 1815 Rev: Laurels, standards – HANNOVERSCHER TAPFERKEIT WATERLOO JUN XVIII The edge of this medal is impressed with details of the recipient: SOLDAT .............................. LANDW. BAT. MUNDEN (I have omitted the soldier's name for reasons of privacy) (LANDW. BAT. stands for Landwehr Battalion, which was a name given to certain German defense forces in the 19th Century) (MUNDEN is the name of a town in present-day central Germany, presumably which the soldiers in this battalion called home.) I decided to do some research on the medal. A brief history of the battle as it relates to the battalion of the recipient soldier follows: This medal was given to all soldiers present under the command of the Duke of Wellington at the battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo by the British government. The Munden Battalion, in which this particular soldier fought as an infantryman, was commanded by one Major de Schmidt and had somewhere in the range of 660-700 men. This battalion, along with that of Lueneburn, Verden, and Osterode, made up the 4th Hanoverian Brigade, under the command of Colonel Best. The 4th Hanoverian Brigade, along with the 10th British Brigade commanded by Major-General Sir Lambert, formed the sixth division of the army. This, in turn, was part of the reserve corps under the command of the Duke of Wellington. During the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, the 4th Hanoverian Brigade was stationed on Wellington's far left flank (thus to the east, see map below) on a bluff overlooking the farm of Papelotte. They saw action various times during the day, as the French probed for weakness along this part of the flank. Munden counted six officers wounded at day's end. It was in this area of the battlefield that, late in the afternoon, the Prussian forces merged with the east flank and pressed hard on the French. The arrival of the Prussian forces, along with a string of unsuccessful attacks by Marshal Ney's cavalry forces in the center of the line, turned the battle decisively against Napoleon. (map from Wikipedia)
That realy is a wonderful medal, I know it looks quite plain but what it represents is quite something :bow: Great write up on it as well :kewl:
That is a historically significant medal from a decisive age in modern European history. As a point of interest: you mention that the Hannoverians were placed under the ultimate command of the Duke of Wellington. I always thought that all of the German troops (Prussian, Hannoverian, and Hessian batallions) were under the command of Feldmarschall Bluecher, the Prussian general. I lived for more than 10 years in the town of Waterloo in Belgium, within sight of the field of the battle of Waterloo. One still gets a feeling of awe watching those rolling fields, and thinking what it must have been like on that wet and rainy day in 1815. Awesome. Visit if you ever get a chance. Eduard
Did you find out anything about the person who received the medal? Rank? Etc? Was it a family member or did they just end up with the medal somehow? Ribbit Ps: I loved the history write-up! I've been telling one of our YN's that he can use coins within History reports at skewl and this is a perfect example of how to do it, short form wise.
Here are a few good link to the order of battle you might be quite suprised by how many germans were allready at Waterloo before the arrival of Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstadt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle_of_the_Waterloo_Campaign http://www.waterloo1815.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=26 And one about the Hanovarian Army (Very interesting if like me you like this stuff LOL) http://www.napoleonicassociation.org/research/articles/The Hanoverian Army 1814-15 - Infantry.pdf
very cool medal, I saw one just like it sell not long ago for about 350 USD. Great little bit of history.
Thanks for the links, De Orc. And to Eduard, yes, there were several Hanoverian brigades under Wellington's command, I did not see mention that these medals were distributed to the forces under Blucher. As it was, there were more than 20000 troops under Wellington and presumably all were given the medals (except in the case they were killed, in which case the medal went to next of kin). Thanks everyone for reading and enjoying this bit of history.
With all due respect to De Orc, it would have been nicer if Napoleon was able to award medals to his troops after the battle but as history has shown he was doomed by position even before he engaged. Great thread acanthite.
I agree Andy it would have been a very nice thing for him to do but the Allies wanted him very far away as quicly as possible. Napoleon has allways been one of my heros
