Albert Dominicus Trip van Zoudtlandt Jonkheer Albert Dominicus Trip van Zoudtlandt ( Groningen , October 13 , 1776 — The Hague , March 23 , 1835 ) was a Dutch lieutenant - general of cavalry who headed the Dutch - Belgian heavy cavalry brigade at the Battle of Waterloo . Biography . Family life . Trip was the son of Jonkheer Jan Louis Trip van Zoudtlandt and Anna Wilhelmina , countess of Limburg - Stirum . He first married Cornelia Gijsberta Smit , and after her death , Elisabeth Gratiana , countess of Limburg - Stirum ( a cousin ) at The Hague on August 16 , 1826 . Career . Trip entered the service of the Dutch Republic on July 1 , 1791 as a cadet in an infantry regiment . He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1792 , and promoted to first lieutenant on July 8 , 1795 . By then the Batavian Republic had replaced the Dutch Republic . As an officer in the Batavian army , and subsequently the army of the Kingdom of Holland he saw action in its campaigns as an ally of the imperial French army in Germany and ( then Swedish ) Pomerania . During this career he switched to the cavalry and became commander of a regiment of cuirassiers . When the Kingdom of Holland was annexed by the First French Empire in July , 1810 , all Dutch army units were incorporated in the French army under new names . Trip ' s regiment became the 14th Regiment Cuirassiers . With this regiment Trip took part in the French invasion of Russia in 1812 . His regiment distinguished itself ( like other Dutch regiments ) at the Battle of Berezina , during the harrowing retreat of the French army from Moscow . Trip subsequently took part in the final campaigns of the French army before Napoleon I of France ' s first abdication in 1814 . He distinguished himself again at the Battle of Leipzig . After the fall of the Empire the Dutch contingents in the French army were demobilized . Trip left French service as a colonel on April 14 , 1814 . He entered the service of the new Dutch army ( the Netherlands having regained its independence at the end of 1813 ) in June , 1814 with the same rank , and became aide de camp of the Sovereign Prince , William I of the Netherlands . He was promoted to major - general on April 16 , 1815 , and given the command of a brigade of heavy cavalry , composed of the 1st and 3rd ( Dutch ) and 2nd ( Belgian ) regiments of ( mounted ) carabiniers of the new Netherlands Mobile Army of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . Battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo . This brigade took part in the Battle of Quatre Bras and the subsequent Battle of Waterloo as part of the Netherlands Cavalry Division ( lt . - gen . J . A . Baron de Collaert ) of the First Netherlands Corps under the Prince of Orange . This Corps formed the center of the Duke of Wellington ' s Anglo - Allied army at Waterloo . Trip ' s brigade was initially placed astride the Nivelles road , but when Trip noticed the French preparations for Marshal Ney ' s great cavalry attack after d ' Erlon ' s failed assault on the Allied left wing , he repositioned his brigade to counter that attack to a position south - west of Mont St . - Jean . When Ney attacked the British artillery Trip ' s brigade joined Lord Edward Somerset ' s Household Brigade in its counterattack . Both the French cuirassiers and the Dutch / Belgian carabiniers charged . The French horses ( already tired from their previous exertions ) could not make sufficient speed , due to the heavy ground they had to traverse , and Trip ' s carabiniers shattered their formation through the sheer impact of their assault . This caused a rout of the left wing of the French cuirassiers , which was exploited by other allied cavalry units . During this encounter Trips ' s brigade suffered severe casualties . Despite these casualties , the brigade soon had to renew its attacks . The 2nd ( Belgian ) Regiment was led by the Prince of Orange personally in a charge , where he encouraged them with the cry : ' Allons , mes camarades , sabrons ces Francais , la victoire est à nous ' ( Come on , comrades , let ' s put our sabres to these Frenchmen , the victory is ours ) . The brigade again routed the opposing cavalry and pursued them past the road to Ohain . During these exploits the commanders of both the 1st ( lt . - col . Coenegracht ) and 3rd ( lt . - col . Lechleitner ) regiments were mortally wounded . Nevertheless , the brigade took part in the pursuit of the French army after the failed attack of Napoleon ' s Guard divisions finally caused its defeat , until Wellington called off the pursuit around 10 pm . Trip was mentioned in Wellington ' s dispatch of June 19 , 1815 for the contribution his brigade had made to the Allied victory . Trip himself was made a knight - commander in the Military William Order on July 8 , 1815 . The Siborne controversy . In 1844 , almost thirty years after the battle , a British military historian , William Siborne , published a book based on a survey he had made of a number of British officers , who had attended the Battle of Waterloo . In this book Siborne accused Trip personally , and the brigade as a whole , of cowardice on the basis of allegations made by Lord Uxbridge , the British cavalry commander at Waterloo . According to this account , Uxbridge had tried to order the brigade forward in a charge at the time Somerset made his charge , as described above . According to Uxbridge , Trip had refused this order , even though Uxbridge had given him a severe reprimand ( presumably in English ) . After Uxbridge had disgustedly ridden away ( still according to Siborne ) the whole brigade had bolted , even disturbing the preparations of other allied cavalry units . This account is completely at variance with the above account of the battle , which is based on Dutch after - battle reports . Siborne gives only the " testimony " of his respondents as proof of these allegations . As a matter of fact , it is not the only allegation of cowardice Siborne made against the Dutch and Belgian units at Waterloo . In a postscript at the end of his book he even says that with very few exceptions , all Dutch troops behaved like cowards . Of course , these allegations caused a furore in the Netherlands and Belgium . Dutch general Willem Jan Knoop soon published a semi - official refutation as did his Belgian colleague general Alexis - Michel Eenens . The latter is especially scathing in his destruction of Siborne ' s argument pertaining to the Trip brigade , probably because the honor of the 2nd ( Belgian ) regiment of carabiniers was directly insulted . Despite these refutations Siborne ' s allegations often are repeated in Anglophone historiography of the battle . Later career . Trip was promoted to lieutenant - general of cavalry on November 24 , 1816 . He was appointed commander - in - chief of Dutch cavalry on March 22 , 1831 . During the Ten days campaign in the course of the Belgian Revolution of 1830 he was wounded during the attack on Leuven on August 12 , 1831 . Shortly afterward , he received the Grand - Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion . Trip died , still in office , on March 23 , 1835 , in The Hague . External links . city