Fleurus, Château de la Paix

Napoleon moved his headquarters and spent the night of 16 to 17 June in a room on the first floor of the Château de la Paix.

16 June was a day of heavy loss for the Prussians. Depending on the source, more than 20.000 of their men were killed, wounded or missing, as opposed to only 8.000 on the French side. This disparity can be explained by Blücher’s choice of tactics. He had closed ranks to ensure the numerical superiority of his troops. The Prussian columns were so tight that the French artillery had no trouble decimating entire columns. If the cannonballs did not hit the front lines, they were taking out the reserves.