Battle 3
Three Generals for France to fight against in battle 3, General DJ, General Gunner and General winter. The snow played a pivotal part in this battle slowing the French advance down drastically. The siting of the allied forces especially artillery was genius and very early on it was obvious that this was not going to be a quick victory for the French.
The allied eastern flank was an especially tough nut to crack, although the flanking attack by a small infantry corp and the head on effort from the main attack corp could have been timed better. The two reserve artillery corps brought to the fore to bombardment the allies out of their town defences, did exactly that without having to involve hardly any infantry. The central thrust by Davout and the Imperial Guard made very slow but steady progress, the western flank did a good job in pining the allied flank in position but with artillery on recoil because of the ferocity of the allied artillery the French ‘softening up’ process hardly got off the ground. The sighting of a lone allied cavalry regiment creeping round the western flank was enough to spark the French guard cavalry into action who did an excellent job in avoiding the squares of the Russian Old Guard to attack their cavalry, but with them now committed, and also the French army as a whole had now been fighting from the outset, the last reserves of cavalry were thrown into the attack on the eastern flank, even at the end this ‘troublesome’ flank still had men holding. One Austrian elite regiment was able to recapture the allies eastern lop and hold it against massively overwhelming odds until the allied withdrawal came. At one point with the French looking tired and exhausted the allied command were wondering whether to go over to the offensive, but this idea was scraped with the French so close to their eastern lop. The allied artillery inflicted on the French over 17,000 wounded with another 3,000 killed and missing, this is the cost of attacking against well sited artillery.
Excellent resistance from the allies, a good defensive deployment paid dividends, but the French did prevail in the end, but at what cost!
I enjoyed this battle very much but reality has checked in on how hard it is to attack against a massively inferior force let alone when the cehs will be more balanced.
Well played all.
Battle 4
The smoke has cleared, the Russians have been held once more as the French slip away under the cover of darkness. Davout has once again conducted a masterly defence, giving the allied forces yet another bloody nose. The Infantry were steadfast in their defensive lines with the cavalry sortieing in and out of the lines counter attacking and withdrawing slowing the allied advance.
The northern flank still holds, although the French have had to leave the battlefield to regroup. No less than three artillery corps were employed in this defensive rear guard action. With small scale skirmish actions at the the beginning, the main allied attack corps moved up from the south and opened up a withering fire on the the French artillery, countless guns were knocked out in no time by the superior accuracy and numbers of the Russian guns, with 120 guns in two corps on this small section of front the French were lucky that the casualties were not higher.
Bessieres was very uncharacteristically caught out on the western flank and had to fight his way back to friendly lines, although he lost most of his corp they played a pivotal part in holding up the attack by the Russians in the west.
The allied attack this time was very methodical, letting their artillery get to work softening up the French lines. As the main western defensive corp took the brunt of the allied attack a scouting French cavalry unit located a weakness in the allied line in the east through which a small diversionary counterattack was mounted, as this attack pressed forward the artillery of the corp came under heavy artillery fire and were unable to get into firing positions of their own, so with no artillery support a retreat was ordered.
The western flank was literally at breaking point by this time and the main defensive corp was ordered to retreat behind a secondary line of defence, unfortunately this calculated withdrawal almost became a large scale route necessitating two regiments of Mortiers old guard to be sent to the western lop, with the last surviving regiment of guard cavalry they did an amazing job of shoring up the northern most flank.
As daylight was fast disappearing the allies began an all out attack, trying to punch through to the French lines of communication, as wave upon wave of allied cavalry crashed against the western flank, the southern defences were pulled north tightening the line blocking any gaps that the Russians may have been able to use to their advantage. The Russian guard cavalry began to show themselves towards the end and any remaining line cavalry did their best to keep them from breaking into the rear of the French army. Davout was frantic at this point organising the defence of the line, remnants of the shattered western defence corp desperately needed shepherding to their new defensive positions as they were harried by allied cavalry as they moved through the secondary defensive line.
This for me was a great battle, fighting in RGM mode i was just so grateful that i didn’t have to use our campaign withdraw option, i was very tempted at the critical eight hour option, but knowing my secondary western defence corp was entirely fresh and the guard infantry still not seeing a great deal of action at that point would hold their attack i carried on. Great play from DJ and Gunner in this one, and to be very honest there isn’t much i would have done differently. Terrific pressure in the south with the allied artillery making mincemeat of my artillery. The secret to this game is not to make any knee jerk reactions, moving an artillery corp forward in the early stages to counter the allies artillery fire was probably my biggest mistake in this battle, as soon as they moved the guns went over to recoil and the Russians seized upon the opportunity to take out more artillery. If there had been as much pressure on my southern flank as there was on the western flank the outcome may have been very different, but as it was all i had to do was survive, and Davout did just that!! As the campaign has progressed Napoleon is still yet to have his first battle and Davout could be find himself on a long holiday back to Paris if he keeps stealing the limelight, but where IS Napoleon??
Battle 5
A long overdue reward for for the allies perseverance. The French got a little bit too over confident and struck out in the west, which was fine until General DJ spotted the Guard cavalry and reinforced his flank with ample troops for defence and later a counter-counterattack. The French eastern flank was crushed early on with a good flanking attack by the Russians, Davout arrived later than he should have done, but, was immediately put on the defensive in the centre. With a general advance ordered by Davout at about 4pm, the French came up against some very stiff resistance and a dogged artillery defence which caused regiments to rout and were then snapped up by marauding Russian cavalry. The high numbers of French prisoners lead to one of their first defeats.
Out manoeuvred and out fought, well done DJ.
Battle 6
In the last two battles the allied artillery has been devastating and has definitely gained the upperhand in the artillery duels, the French gunsmiths are working overtime to replace losses of Napoleon's much beloved artillery pieces.
Everything apart from the kitchen sink was thrown in to stop the allies in this battle. An opportunity to destroy the western flank of the French army was overlooked and the French were able to hold the allies in one area of the battlefield where their attack stalled probably because the corps became to intermingled. The timely arrival of reinforcements for the French enabled the attack to be held.
Lucky for the French that the allies attack was directed at only one point in the line, thus allowing the French to channel all their reserves and reinforcements to where the allies were desparately trying to break through.
Battle 7
The French plan was to trick the allies into thinking the main attack was coming in the south. France’s Suchet with Mortier and the Guard Infantry and Bessieres and Guard cavalry were to attack later with 60,000 men between them in the north.
Aggressive scouting from the allies revealed the plan a little too early when they discovered this vast array of troops standing idle behind some hills to the north. With only the allied guard moved south to defend against the French deception the allies right flank was still far too strong and the brave French troops were only able to break the first line of defence.
AJ attacked from the off, the French CiC could not have wanted more from his subordinate, attacking into murderous artillery fire for most of the morning, trying to convince the allies this is where the main attack was coming from. Again the allied artillery played a pivotal roll, breaking up the French attacks as they advanced. Suchet commanding a 40,000 strong corp was an hour late moving off as the order somehow failed to get through, unfortunately ended up attacking the allies in their most deeply defended area.
AJ did as instructed moving onto the defensive about midday, having sustained a lot less casualties than expected considering he was taking fire from two flanks. Suchet was defeated by the artillery fire of the Russian gunners, supported by Mortier and Bessieres, he was only able to penetrate the first line of defence let alone reaching the enemies lops.
General DJ defended like Wellington, unflappable and totally steadfast in his defence. In hindsight maybe, if the French and feinted in the North and attacked in the south, they may have had more success in covering the shorter distance to the lops. A costly battle for the French and a well deserved victory for the allies.
The Southern attack as caught by allied artillery fire coming from the front and the left flank as they tried to proceed forward, the high casualties are testament to this.
With great defensive positioning from the allies and the French plan being deciphered so early there was only going to ever be one outcome.
Battle 8
Battle 8 saw the French desparately defending in rearguard mode. The Russians and thier allies literally steam rollered the French forcing them to quit the field, using the campaigns withdraw option. General Gunners attack on General AJs French defenders was well executed and carried out with several large concentrated attacks at several points of the French frontline. The French did not realise it was an RGM battle and would have taken the option to withdraw a couple of hours earlier if they had known from the outset. The French were well and truly caught with their backs to the wall, and the speed of the allied attack left the French little opportunity for holding the full duration of the battle.
Casualties were extremely high as expected and a full scale retreat of two hexes gave them a small breathing space which will be used to reorganise and replace losses.
Battle 9
A multi corp allied attack developed virtually across the whole of the French defensive line. Just not enough troops to hold the defensive objectives, these had to be given up early to protect the lops. Even with the early strategic withdrawal the Russians weren't far from the northern lop after attacking the northern flank in force. The French had to take a chance and deploy so that they were at least strong on either the right or left wing, as it turned out they had to be strong everywhere. The Imperial Guard infantry and cavalry were instrumental in holding back the Russian hordes allowing the rest of the army to escape and in General AJ's defence, hanging on another two hours could have been disasterous, as it happened he managed to escape with a very large part of the now very small army intact. (Funny how we talk of 60,000 men being a small army). With the Russian superiority in artillery the French casualties tell an all to familiar tale. Fear not my brave warriors our time will come!
Battle 10
Horrendous casualties for the French AGAIN, attacking the full length of the allied frontline with a 25ceh advantage for virtually 9 of the 10 hours battle time what else should i expect?
Excellent defence from DJ and a superior counter attack at the end all but added to the woes of the French artillery recoil debacle.
I am beginning to favour something Gunner said a while ago about getting the advantage and then just holding that advantage as long as possible. France did have a little lead for quite a few hours, perhaps it would have been better to move onto the defensive at that stage?
Quite proud of the effect my grand battery had eventually and Gunners pressing attack in the north was going great guns, shame there was nothing to back the disasterous turn of events when the Russian Guard attacked. Despite the closeness of the ceh i wasn't too far off capturing both lops, perhaps a little more determination in the south may have bagged me the ultimate goal, but, and heres the big but, DJ is far to canny to be caught out like that and i have every confidence that his plan would've changed had he had any worries about my attacks in the south!
Of the 25ceh reinforcements, only 1760 cavalry men saw action, the infantry didnt even get half way!!
And over 30,000 prisoners taken? Will definitely rethink my strategy.
All out attacks in any battle other than an RGM have been filed under bin in my strategic arsenal.
Battle 11
Another glorious victory for the allies. Slow methodical preliminary bombardments from the allies were the order of the day. The French suffered massively from this rolling cannonade, demoralising French forces as it crept forward. The arrival of French reinforcements may have saved the larger proportion of the battlefield objectives for the French, but this was a false victory made all the more sour by the amount of prisoners lost again. Even a counter attack in the south failed to be undertaken with the enthusiasm usually shown by the French. Napoleon unfortunately was not available to take command on this battlefield again because of a staff oversight, with Davout once again exhausted after arriving from his beleaguered forces in the north was mistakenly put in command of this substantial force, could this be making a difference? I wonder.
The French surrendered.
GaW6 has started.
HistWar (English zone)