Model army tells Waterloo heroics’ hollow tale
Project run by military veterans finds famous ‘dash through enemy fire’ to have been covered track
‘For soldiers and veterans who for whatever reason have anxieties which may be holding them back, doing things like this are important’
‘It changes the understanding of the battle. It suddenly makes the hollow way a significant defensive feature’
THE heroic dash of the Royal Waggon Train through enemy fire to supply troops at Waterloo is part of British military legend.
During the battle that ended the Napoleonic age, soldiers with a horse and carriage packed with ammunition are thought to have charged along a “hollow way”, a track leading to Hougoumont farm, a key defensive position for British troops.
But an archaeology project involving military veterans has found it was about 6ft lower for much of the route, covered from French fire, and not as death defying as previously thought.
A new model of the battle will rewrite part of the famous clash that ushered in an era of peace to war-torn Europe.
Veterans have combined working on the model with archaeological work at the site in Belgium.
The track leading to Hougoumont farm was originally thought to be at ground level. During excavations, the veterans found it was in fact 6ft deeper for much of the route.
Mark Evans, the chief executive of Waterloo Uncovered, a wider project incorporating the diorama, said: “It changes the understanding of the battle. It suddenly makes the hollow way a significant defensive feature.
“Sadly, for the [Royal] Waggon Train it means their eleventh-hour dash with the ammunition resupply was about 99 per cent under cover from fire. It’s not quite the story that has evolved.”
The Waterloo Remodelled diorama, worked on by 85 veterans over two years, will eventually be the size of a tennis court. Sections of the piece will go on public display for the first time on Oct 20 at the National Army Museum.
The idea for Waterloo Uncovered came from a battlefield visit in 2015 by the Coldstream Guards to take injured serving soldiers to Waterloo to do archeology as a welfare support activity.
Mr Evans said the project is about veterans’ well-being, not therapy.
Producing the diorama, he said, “is sociable ... there’s a purpose. For soldiers and veterans who, for whatever reason, have developed anxieties which may be holding them back, doing things like this that are very clear is a really important and satisfying thing to be involved with.”
On the original visit in 2015, 10 soldiers and 10 archaeologists spent a week researching the site in Belgium. The regiment ran a further five two-week summer excavations, with around 150 people, before Covid paused activity.
Work will recommence in 2022 when British veterans will be joined by groups from France and Belgium. Mr Evans served for seven years in the Coldstream Guards, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was medically discharged in 2010 with PTSD.
During the visit in 2019, Mr Evans said a corporal in the Rifles found an old musket ball and burst into tears. He explained how he had thought about the defence of Hougoumont farm and the soldiers who would been at Waterloo.
“He thought about his own time in Afghanistan ... and how that had affected him. He felt better for it. It does allow you to have these conversations in a way that isn’t quite so confrontational as talking therapy.”
Involving veterans and serving personnel in such a project also helps historians better interpret how military units would have used the ground, Mr Evans added.
The Waterloo Remodelled team intends to include the new information about the hollow way in the display.