Carel Frederik Krahmer de Bichin Carel Frederik Krahmer de Bichin ( June 28 , 1787 , Korbach , Waldeck — September 23 , 1830 , Brussels ) was a Dutch artillery officer . He took part in several campaigns of the French Grande Armée in Dutch army units of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of Holland that were attached to that army . After the United Kingdom of the Netherlands regained its independence he joined its army . He commanded , as a captain , a battery of horse artillery that played a pivotal role in the Battle of Waterloo . He died in action as a major during the Belgian Revolution of 1830 . Early career . Krahmer ( he took the name " Krahmer de Bichin " only after 1815 ) originally came from the principality of Waldeck in Germany . He entered the service of the Batavian Republic as a cadet with the 2nd Artillery Battalion in January , 1804 . He was promoted to second lieutenant on September 29 , 1806 , and assigned to the first horse battery of that bataillon . This battery was attached to the ( Dutch ) " Armée du Nord " of the Kingdom of Holland that same month and it took part in the campaign of Marshal Mortier ' s army corps in Swedish Pomerania in 1807 . Assigned to gen . Mihaud ' s first division Krahmer participated in the Battle of Friedland of 1807 . After the battery ran out of ammunition , Krahmer ' s single 6 - pdr gun alone continued firing , with ammunition supplied by a nearby French battery . For this he later received the Légion d ' honneur . Krahmer was promoted to first lieutenant on August 8 , 1808 . He earlier participated in the Dutch / Danish attack on Stralsund , on May 31 , 1808 , fighting an artillery duel to cover the infantry attack . After Krahmer transferred to the foot artillery he was promoted to captain on August 31 , 1813 . He had been integrated into the French army with the rest of the Dutch army after the annexation of the Kingdom of Holland in 1810 . He took part in the final German campaign of Napoleon I of France ' s army in 1813 , was taken prisoner as part of the garrison of Dresden , and imprisoned in Hungary . Battle of Waterloo . After his release he entered the service of the by now again independent Netherlands in the " south Netherlands " ( i . e . Belgian ) part of its army in 1814 . He received command , in the rank of captain , of a horse artillery battery , part of the combined 7th / 8th company of the horse artillery corps . This battery was manned by Belgians . The battery was attached to the First Brigade ( col . Detmers ) of the Third Netherlands Division ( general Chassé ) on the eve of the battle of Waterloo . Initially the Third Division was placed in reserve on the right wing of the Anglo - Allied army of the Duke of Wellington . Later it was ordered forward , behind the British troops of Sir Colin Halkett ' s Fifth Brigade . When Chassé noticed a slackening of the firing of one of the British artillery batteries ( apparently due to lack of ammunition ) , he ordered Krahmer ' s battery forward to take this battery ' s place . He came in line behind the hollow road , to the left of Lloyd ' s battery , where Cleeve ' s battery had been . Now the action unfolded that is depicted in Jan Hoynck van Papendrecht ' s painting , entitled " De rijdende artillerie komt in stelling " ( The horse artillery unlimbers ) . He immediately engaged a French battery near " La Haye Sainte " that was enfilading the British artillery at the time , forcing it out of position . Next the battery started pouring a murderous fire into the French Middle Guard division , cutting lanes through its columns . When next the Detmers brigade performed a bayonet attack on the French Guards , Krahmer came forward to support it under the direction of Major Van der Smissen . As a consequence the French Guards faltered and eventually broke . This was the turning point in the battle . During the action , Krahmer ' s battery lost 27 men dead and 21 wounded . Later career . For his action Krahmer was given the Knight ' s Cross 4th class of the Military William Order on July 18 , 1815 . He next took part in the final campaign of the Allied army in northern France until the fall of Paris . In the early 1820s Krahmer wrote the words for the regimental song of the Belgo - Dutch horse artillery : " Nous sommes tous de francs lurons " ( We are all likely lads ) . On August 1 , 1826 Krahmer was promoted to major of horse artillery . He took part in the opening stage of the Dutch campaign to suppress the Belgian Revolution militarily in August , 1830 . He died in action during bloody street fighting in Brussels , on September 23 , 1830 .