Two days before Waterloo, Napoleon struck the Prussian army under Blücher at the village of Ligny in Belgium, inflicting his last significant tactical victory. The fighting was ferocious throughout the afternoon as Napoleon hammered the Prussian center with veteran troops while waiting for d'Erlon's corps to arrive and complete the encirclement. D'Erlon never arrived — his corps marched back and forth between Ligny and Quatre Bras without engaging at either battle. In the early evening the Imperial Guard broke the Prussian center and Blücher himself was nearly captured when his horse was shot and fell on him. The Prussians retreated but, crucially, northward rather than eastward — toward Wellington rather than away from him.
Though a tactical French victory, Ligny's strategic outcome was fatal. The Prussians were shaken but not destroyed, and their northward retreat kept them in contact with Wellington's Anglo-Allied army, enabling their crucial intervention at Waterloo two days later.
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Fought simultaneously with Ligny, Quatre Bras was a hard-fought engagement at a road junction critical to keeping Wellington's and Blücher's armies in communication. Marshal Ney initially faced a small Allied force and should have overwhelmed it quickly, but hesitated fatally in the morning hours. As the afternoon progressed, Wellington fed reinforcements piecemeal into the battle, narrowly preventing a French breakthrough. General Picton's Scottish infantry repulsed a massive French cavalry charge, and the Highlanders of the 92nd Regiment won particular glory. D'Erlon's corps, which might have been decisive at either Quatre Bras or Ligny, was marched back and forth by conflicting orders and contributed nothing to either engagement.
Wellington's ability to hold Quatre Bras preserved the lateral road linking him to Blücher. When Napoleon defeated Blücher at Ligny that same day, Wellington was able to conduct a controlled retreat to Waterloo rather than fleeing in disorder.
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