L'Armée du Nord

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L'Armée du Nord (Army Of The North) was the force commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Waterloo Campaign in 1815. At its height, it numbered 130,000 strong and consisted of many veterans from previous campaigns. In terms of quality it was the best army Napoleon had commanded since 1812 when he had led his Grande Armée to disaster in Russia. It also fielded proportionally more artillery (344 pieces) and significantly more cavalry, than had French armies in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814. L'Armée du Nord is often mistakenly regarded as separate from L'Armée de la Réserve (Reserve Army), which it fought beside during the 1815 campaign. In fact the Reserve Army was simply a wing of L'Armée du Nord, Napoleon had formed directly under his command. Its left and right wings (Aile Gauche, Aile Droite) were under the command of Marshals Ney and Grouchy respectively, when Napoleon himself was not present to direct them. For further organizational details on L'Armée du Nord, see Order of Battle of the Waterloo Campaign.