Page 10 - RADC 2015

GENERAL INTEREST
Battle eld Tour of Waterloo
Sgt Vicki Grif ths
I was lucky enough to be selected for
the Battle eld Tour of Waterloo after volunteering to go with ITC Sp Bn (ITC Catterick HQ). Initially apprehensive as I would be the only Dental Corps member among Scots Guards, Coldstream Guards and other Infantry units.
We met at Vimy Barracks Sunday 27 April at 0530hrs departing by minibus at 0600hrs. It was absolutely freezing and I was praying that Belgium would be a bit on the warmer side.
The journey to Waterloo via the Eurotunnel took approximately 11 hours and we were grateful to the driver who had to put up with various snoring (obviously not from me).
We arrived at the IBIS Hotel Waterloo and after a quick brief of the next day’s events we were unpacked, showered and in the bar ready to sink some Belgium Jupiler beers.
Waking up on Monday morning with a few sore heads we had breakfast and set
off to start the tour. Our tour guide, Graham Cooper was an expert on Waterloo and had the ability to recite the stories with so much detail you would have thought he was in the battle! He kept us both intrigued and awake.
We visited Quatre Bras (where a battle was fought two days before the Waterloo battle), Lasne and the village of Plancenoit which was the main focal point of the Prussian’s attack on Napoleon’s Army.
On Tuesday we visited the Museum of Wellington where the Duke of Wellington wrote the original dispatch of the battle. After the museum we travelled to a small
parish church in Pembrey where we started leadership stands to differentiate between what we would do now in the Army compared to how Napoleon and Wellington commanded their Armies.
After some heated debate we needed a couple of beers to calm the nerves so headed to Graham Cooper’s local pub across from the parish church before returning to the hotel.
Wednesday was the most interesting day of the tour as it was my leadership stand and the subject was ‘Women in the Army’ which all agreed was a good thing until
the debate of ‘Women in the Infantry’. As most of the group were infantry soldiers, the discussion that was to last ten minutes stretched to thirty
everything took place. In the museum of the Lion’s Mound at the top of the stairs, is a panoramic painting of the entire battle eld, even my I-Phone couldn’t cope with the length of it!
We went back to the hotel and had a relaxing night to prepare for the last part of the tour and the long drive back the next day.
Thursday morning we checked out and traveled to La Haye Sainte Farmhouse which played a crucial part in the Battle of Waterloo with over 400 British and German Troops defending it during the battle. The farmhouse is occupied and is classed
as private property but luckily our guide Graham is very good friends with the owners
so we had the honor of visiting the grounds.
Our last part of
the trip was to see Hougoumont Farm which was in the process of being restored for the 200 year anniversary of the
battle to be opened to the public. The British Army faced Napoleons Army at this farm and you can still see the dents in the wall from the musket balls that were red.
We bid farewell to our brilliant tour guide and settled onto the minibus for the epic drive back to the UK. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and would recommend a Battle eld Tour to anyone and speci cally Cooper’s Tours if wishing to visit Waterloo.
minutes (clearly a
sore subject). We
then travelled to the
Lion’s Mound which
is a memorial built
in 1826 to honour
the Battle of Quatre
Bras. The mound
was constructed from earth taken from
the battle eld itself, the topography of the battle eld near the mound has not been preserved. There are 226 very steep steps up to the top which literally takes your breath away. At the top of the mound you can see the whole of the battle eld which
is magni cent. When Graham pointed out each area that we visited and put the stories together, it was clear to see exactly where
After some heated debate we needed a couple of beers
8 RADC BULLETIN 2015