Albert Dominicus Trip van Zoudtlandt 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[edit]
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.[1]
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'[2] (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.[3]
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.