The remainder of the regiment, however, continues the charge and hurls itself furiously on the enemy; in spite of the deadly calm efficiency of the British infantry, the regiment slices deep gaps in the British formations. Wellington orders his cavalry to attack from the rear, and suddenly the assailant becomes the defender, and the charge becomes a general slaughter. In one minute the cuirassiers lose 600 men, and the British formations are reduced from thirteen to seven.
Both sides are seriously weakened, but Wellington's losses are the greatest. His cavalry is destroyed, his artillery largely disabled, and panic begins to infect his ranks. At five o'clock, he is forced to the somber admission, "Blucher [that is, reinforcement by the Prussian army that was supposed to join him earlier in the day] or the night."
Miraculously, a few minutes later, a line of bayonets sparkles on the horizon. Blucher's army, held up by the rains of the previous day, has arrived. This new intervention turns the tide of battle. Caught between Prussian shells and the bullets of the reinvigorated British, the French offensive turns into a rout, into disaster, into extermination.
