Soldiers from Oxfordshire played a key part in the famous victory at the Battle of Waterloo. With the 200th anniversary of the battle taking place today, their courage is not forgotten. Andrew Ffrench reports

The brave exploits of troops from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry are well known.

But what is perhaps not so well remembered is the contribution made by troops from the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Light Infantry at the climax of the Battle of Waterloo.

A number of veterans from the Ox and Bucks regiment, which became The Royal Green Jackets and is now The Rifles, are travelling to France to watch a battle re-enactment.

Major Terry Roper, chairman of the Oxford branch of The Royal Green Jackets, is making the journey to Waterloo in Belgium with a party of 16 – all ex Green Jackets – to watch the battle re-enactment on Saturday.

Maj Roper said the party would be staying in Brussels.

He added: “The actions of the 52nd were pivotal in bringing the Battle of Waterloo to an end, so it is very important to remember what took place.

“It was a major turning point in European history – Napoleon was a great leader and wanted to dominate Europe and it was the British who stopped him.

“I think there will be thousands of people there to mark the anniversary – it’s very important to remember the actions of the 52nd.”

Robin Draper, from Sutton Courtenay, near Abingdon, has just finished writing Redcoats to Riflemen: A Short History of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire County Regiment.

Mr Draper left the Army as a Brigadier in 1998 and was the last serving officer commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

He said while the exploits of troops from the Ox and Bucks in the two world wars were often cited, soldiers’ actions at Waterloo were not so widely celebrated.

He added the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Light Infantry played a “tremendous part at the climax of the history-changing battle, when all seemed lost”.

Mr Draper said: “It is one of the most important actions of the 52nd, among an extraordinary number in this regiment’s history.

“It is certainly one which was and is viewed with great pride by the regiment, both in the past and in its present guise as The Rifles.

“In essence, as the battle moved to a climax that fateful evening, Napoleon sent his Imperial Guard, which had never been defeated, in column against the main Allied position.

“As it moved up the slope to close with the British troops just over the ridge, the colonel of the 52nd, Sir John Colborne, in taking a tremendous risk, wheeled his battalion out of the line to face the flank of the Imperial Guards’ column.

“The 52nd then volleyed into the column before charging with the bayonet and sending the Guard reeling back down the hill.

“The 52nd then immediately followed up, chasing the French troops back to their own lines and beyond, thus ensuring that they were never able to reform.

“Meanwhile, the Prussians came up on the right flank of the remainder of the French Army, which was routed.

“This action should be a source of great pride, as indeed it used to be, to the people of Oxfordshire.”

At Didcot Railway Centre on Saturday, a ceremony took place to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle.

A team of Napoleonic re-enactors from The 2nd (Queen’s Royal) Regiment of Foot (1809), stood alongside broad gauge locomotive Iron Duke to provide a guard of honour.

The original locomotive was built in 1847 and carries the nickname given to the Duke of Wellington.

Nigel Sale, the author of a new study on the closing stages of the battle, entitled The Lie at the Heart of Waterloo: The Battle’s Hidden Last Half Hour, is due to give a talk at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, from 2pm today.