An Important Collection of Medals to The King's German Legion, the Property of a Gentleman

The important Waterloo Medal to Colonel Charles Du Platt, commanding the 1st Infantry Brigade, King’s German Legion, mortally wounded at Waterloo

Waterloo 1815 (Colonel Charles Du Platt, 4th Line Batt. K.G.L.) fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension, polished, otherwise good very fine £5000-6000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Important Collection of Medals to The King's German Legion, the Property of a Gentleman.

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George Charles Augustus du Platt entered the service in November 1803 and became Colonel on 4 June 1813. He served in Hannover in 1805; in the Baltic in 1807; in the Mediterranean, in Sicily, 1808-12, including the expedition to the Gulf of Naples in 1809; in the Peninsula and Southern France 1812-14; in the Netherlands 1814; the campaign of 1815 and the battle of Waterloo.

At Waterloo the K.G.L. fielded eight battalions of infantry in two brigades. These were the 1st K.G.L. Brigade under Colonel Du Platt consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Line Battalions, and Baron Ompteda’s 2nd K.G.L. Brigade with the 1st and 2nd Light and 5th and 8th Line Battalions. Neither Colonel Du Platt nor Baron Ompteda were destined to survive the day at Waterloo and were the Legion’s two most senior casualties in the battle.

It was in the final stages of the battle that Du Platt’s brigade became heavily engaged, coming under several attacks from enemy cavalry. At about seven o’clock, the 1st and 3rd Line Battalions, formed in one square, beat off a powerful charge, as did the 4th Battalion, which formed another square. The 2nd Line Battalion pushed on towards Hougoumont, while the remaining battalions advanced in line of four deep on the left of the farm. The 1st Brigade of the Legion suffered a severe loss in these movements, Colonel Du Platt himself being mortally wounded, and a further twelve officers killed or mortally wounded.