Frischermont

Frischermont Castle, shortly after the Battle of Waterloo.

Châteaux Frischermont or Fichermont in the Belgian municipality of Lasne is now a ruin (destroyed by fire in [when?] and demolished in 1965).[1][2] At the start of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 it was garrisoned by Dutch soldiers on the easternmost flank of Wellington's defensive line.

In 1705 the Châteaux was for a time the headquarters of the Duke of Marlborough.[3] While at Frischermont Marlborough wrote that the escarpment of Mont-Saint-Jean would be a good place to defend Brussels if it was attacked from the south.[4]

At the start of the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815 it belonged to Monsieur Beaulieu,[5] and it was garrisoned by troops of the 28th Regiment, Orange-Nassau (Regiment Oranje-Nassau No. 28) under the command of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar. It was here at 10:30 that as a French patrol drove back Dutch pickets the first fighting of the day took place.[4]

  1. ^ In some sources also Châteaux Frichermont
  2. ^ Mason 2015, p. 49.
  3. ^ Lipscombe 2016, p. ~151.
  4. ^ a b Staff 2015.
  5. ^ Glover 2014, p. 165.