Using new research and unpublished first-hand accounts, John Franklin details the battle of Quatre Bras, where an initial 8,000 allied troops faced the left wing of the French Armée du Nord under Marshal Ney. The allies were drastically outnumbered, but Wellington and his subordinates were reinforced just in time, and they were able to repel Ney's repeated attacks and to hold the strategically important crossroads of Quatre Bras. The battle ended in a tactical stalemate, but the defeat of Blücher's Prussians at Ligny forced Wellington to retreat back along the high road to Brussels and a new positions at Mont St. Jean.

Introduction -- Chronology -- Opposing commanders : Allied commanders -- French commanders. -- Opposing forces : The command ond composition of the Allied Armies -- The command and composition of the French Army -- Orders of battle. -- Opposing plans -- The campaign opens : The Netherlands officers take the initiative -- Apathy in the capital towards a French attack -- Movements on the morning of 16 June -- Important decisions for the three commanders -- The struggle for the crossroads commences -- Engagements at Quatre Bras and Sombreffe -- Picton counterattacks with the 5th Division -- Forced marches to the battlefield at Quatre Bras -- The gallant demise of the Duke of Brunswick -- A concerted French attack upon the crossroads -- Cavalry charges against the Allied formations -- The timely intervention of the 3rd Division -- Union with the emperor at Sombreffe -- A determined charge by the French cuirassiers -- Cooke arrives with the British Foot Guards -- The contest for the center intensifies -- Wellington seizes the initiative and attacks -- The fighting at Quatre Bras ends in stalemate -- Napoleon is triumphant at Sombreffe. -- Aftermath -- The battlefield today.