These green-coated Germans had once fought for the man they faced at Waterloo. The Duchy of Nassau, like the other states of Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine, was obliged to send regiments to serve the French, and Nassau battalions spent years in Spain fighting Wellington's army. Then in December 1813 they changed sides — by arrangement with the British, the Nassau regiments in Spain went over to the allied lines — and in 1815 they turned out against their former emperor. At Waterloo the Nassauers held some of the hardest ground on the field: the orchard and buildings around Hougoumont, and the farms of Papelotte and La Haye on Wellington's left, fighting all day to keep the flanks from caving in.

The figure is at the reload — left hand on the musket with bayonet fixed, right hand reaching back to the pouch for a fresh cartridge. He wears the distinctive Nassau dress: the dark green coat with yellow lace, and the black fur grenadier cap with its red plume. He anchors a Nassau loading line. Set a Nassau Grenadier Standing Ramming beside him driving the charge home, a Nassau Grenadier Kneeling Firing in the front rank, and a Nassau Grenadier Officer to command them — the green-coated line that held Hougoumont's orchard.

W. Britain model 36173. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.