Which Dutch general ordered a bayonet charge against the Imperial Guard?

Dutch general David Hendrik Chassé ordered the bayonet charge against the French Imperial Guard at Waterloo.

Late on 18 June 1815, Napoleon committed elements of the Imperial Guard against Wellington’s centre. Chassé, commanding the Dutch-Belgian 3rd Division, responded by bringing forward Dutch horse artillery under Captain Krahmer de Bichin. When artillery fire failed to halt the advancing French grenadiers, Chassé ordered Colonel Hendrik Detmers’s brigade to attack with the bayonet.

The charge struck the Guard at a critical moment. Chassé’s troops helped force the 1st/3rd Grenadiers to falter and break, contributing to the collapse of the French attack alongside British and allied fire. The action became one of the celebrated moments in the battle’s final phase.

A frequent confusion arises because Detmers led the brigade that physically made the charge, while Chassé was the divisional commander who ordered it. Krahmer de Bichin also played a major role by directing the artillery fire that preceded the infantry attack.