While the village of Waterloo housed the Duke of Wellington's headquarters and served as a crucial communications hub, the brutal fighting on June 18, 1815, occurred several miles to the south. The main Anglo-Allied army, about 68,000 strong, was positioned along a ridge near Mont St Jean. Key struggles raged around the fortified farmhouse of Hougoumont and the inn of La Belle Alliance, where Napoleon observed the battle. The late arrival of ~45,000 Prussian troops~ under Field Marshal Blücher a