Napoleon's Last Gambit

I was just thinking today, and it struck me that there was something Napoleon did I can't quite wrap my head around... the way he told his troops that the Prussians in the distance were Grouchy's men.

The action, I suppose, is sound enough to stop panic in the troops (but will anger them later) but I found it fascinating that he treated the arrival of the Prussians as a sort of nuisance in terms of morale rather than the threat to his entire army that it was. He committed effectively his whole army in the last attack on Wellington's centre, which made retreat impossible, whereas to me it would seem far more logical to cut your losses at that point and retreat while you still have the option.

Really, what I'd like to know is what the best outcome would have been. I've read a couple of works on the battle but my knowledge isn't extensive.. but the best I can see happening is that the Guard would break the British centre, causing heavy casualties and you would have to assume, triggering a retreat.

Now, Wellington kept open an avenue of retreat to the woods and you would have to assume Napoleon would have no real option to pursue them with the pressing arrival of the Prussians, the need to hold the ridge line, his lack of cavalry and the need to save and reposition his cannonade.

Assuming he does secure this position, immediately once he has done so he faces an assault from Blucher's 50,000 (who was such an aggressive commander there can be no doubt of an assault) and will still have allied forces in his rear, somewhere in the area of 40,000 that could possibly be rallied for another attack.

..do you think Napoleon was capable of this? It sounds completely insane, but it's the only plan I can think that he could have had. To score a strategic victory from his position once committed he had to dislodge Wellington and THEN completely destroy Blucher's army to prevent the two linking up in a night march!

I know a lot more about Wellington's battles than Napoleon's, so would be interested to hear if this is actually the sort of insane plan he had executed before. I'm assuming at the moment he must have figured Grouchy would be hot on Blucher's heels..

I suspect the problem is that you have too many paperclips up your nose