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

Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. Bern. Bertram, 8th Line Batt. K.G.L.) fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension, nearly extremely fine £1800-2200

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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Collection

Ex Gaskell Collection 1908.

Christopher Bernhard Bertram served in the ranks before receiving a commission in May 1811. He served in Hannover 1805; in the Baltic 1807; in the Mediterranean, inSicily, 1808-14, including the expedition to the continent of Italy and to Corsica in 1814; in the Netherlands 1814; the campaign of 1815 and the battle of Waterloo. Bertram was promoted Captain by brevet and placed on the retired list at Burgwedel in Hannover.

The 8th Line Battalion suffered badly at Waterloo as a result of an imprudent order from the Prince of Orange, who ordered the battalion to advance to relieve La Haye Sainte. Despite warnings of the presence of massed French cavalry, hidden by a natural fold in the land, the German battalion was caught in line by the cavalry who made short and bloody work of them. As a result the 8th Line Battalion ceased to exist as a fighting unit and suffered the further ignominy of losing the King’s Colour to Napoleon’s Garde-Chasseurs, the first and only time in the history of the Legion that a colour was lost in battle. It was subsequently recovered by a Hannoverian cavalryman at Sockel on 1 August 1815.