Battle of Waterloo dig uncovers horror of severed limbs and shot horses

Excavators in Belgium find 15 limbs and seven equine skeletons at site of decisive 1815 battle against Napoleon

The carnage and horror of the battle of Waterloo have been laid bare in an excavation by military veterans and archaeologists that has uncovered amputated limbs and the remains of horses which were shot to be put out of their misery.

At least 20,000 men - and possibly many more - were killed in the epic 1815 battle when the Anglo-Irish military officer the Duke of Wellington and a European alliance defeated Napoleon's French forces in a decisive and bloody encounter that determined the power balance in Europe for nearly a century.