Station: [9] Cuirassiers

The Allies hold firm. When the heavy cavalry of Kellermann and Guyot crossed the valley, between five o'clock and half past five, Milhaud's cuirassiers meet them coming down the slope, repulsed again by the allied cavalry. Reformed quickly, they follow the three fresh divisions. Cuirassiers, lancers and chasseurs, dragons and mounted grenadiers, over sixty squadrons climb the plateau. The enemy is surprised that eight or nine thousand cavalry squeeze on a front where a thousand at most can deploy. They cover the entire space between Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte. Their files are so tight that the horses are raised by the pressure. This mass of armor, helmets and waving swords is pushed forward on the broken ground. The English believe they are facing a sea of steel.
They renew the maneuver that has already succeeded twice. After covering the cavalry with canister, the gunners abandon their guns and take refuge in the squares. These open fire at thirty paces which cuts down whole rows of horsemen and faces their debris squads with a triple row of bayonets. The charges follow one another without interruption. Squares undergo five, seven, ten, up to thirteen assaults. Many are just melting away, depressed, shaken. But they hold on. From moment to moment, they seem overwhelmed by the waves of the cavalry, then they reappear through smoke, bristling with gleaming bayonets, while the squadrons scatter around like waves breaking on a dike.