The expected clash between Austria and Russia occurred on the final day of January 1805. It had been the mildest winter on record, with no obvious hindrance to military manoeuvrings, and quartermasters reporting a glut of supplies. Both nations Were confident of a quick and successful venture leading to a foothold in the rich Italian peninsula. Unfortunately for the Austrians it was Bennigsen's Russian II Corps which arrived in Italy first, disembarking north of the port of Ancona and lining the River Po above Bologna.

They numbered 15000 men and 28 guns. Before,any defensive positions could be prepared pickets reported the hurried advance of another II Corps the Austrian one commanded by Generalleutnant Hadik and numbering 16000 men and 32 guns. The first battle of the year would be fought by two almost identically sized armies. However their circumstances were by no means similar.

The Po crossings above Bologna were limited to two bridges at the village of Cavallari and two fords about 5 miles east of them. Whilst the bridges were common knowledge the fords were not, neither side having had time to do any serious scouting. Bennigsen deployed strongly at the bridges with his jager brigade covering the fords and his few cavalry and grenadiers in reserve. Hadik decided to probe all along the line and pressurise the bridges whilst hoping to quickly find a ford.

The Austrian advance was quite rapid, although this turned out not to be an advantage as the units assigned to finding fords came up empty handed whilst the attack on the bridges went ahead. After an hour of undistinguished action Hadik pulled back. He had failed to find a ford whilst his main attack had been easily repelled.

As he ordered a retreat, a courier from his right flank rode up informing him that a crossing had been found and that Jagers of both sides were disputing it, with the rifle-armed Austrians getting the better of the encounter. Hadik cursed, but the withdrawal continued and the battle petered out well before nightfall, with no Russian pursuit. Hadik had lost 1300 men to Bennigsen's 300 and 3 guns.

Furious

In Vienna, the Emperor Francis was furious. In the streets people were openly calling for Generalleutnant Hadik's dismissal and a few brave souls even questioned his own position. A Russian Army under Kutusov had entered East Galicia and was occupying Lemberg whilst Bennigsen was camped brazenly in The Romagna daring Hadik to try again. That gentleman was in the fortress of Mantua waiting for the arrival of the Archduke Charles then he would teach the impudent mercenary a lesson. However, politics overtook any further fighting.

From a position of strength the Emperor Alexander of Russia suggested that a peaceful solution to the crisis could be resolved. He would willingly cede the Romagna to Austria in return for the disputed border territory of West Galicia, which was currently being raided by Cossack bands. Alexander also promised to remove his forces from Italy and stay out. This latter convention was suitably convenient as he had just promised the same thing to Britain, for a small sum! Francis hummed and ha'd for a bit before accepting the deal. He would cede West Galicia immediately whilst Russia would return the compliment with the Romagna once she had sorted out the unruly local, who didn't fancy being run by anyone. Everybody seemed happy - The Austrians had their gateway to Italy whilst Russia had taken the first step to Alexander's great dream the creation of a strong Polish kingdom loyal to him.

Not so Happy

Elsewhere, people were not so happy. Britain had expected to quickly defeat the Spanish and impose a severe treaty on the Dons and their Impudent Portuguese allies. Unfortunately for the British, the Spanish declined to co-operate with their plans. Firstly, their fleets stayed bottled up in port protected by enormous shore batteries at Cadiz and Barcelona daring the vaunted British Navy to sail in and take them on. Wisely the British decided against this policy and stayed at sea awaiting developments. This development, when it came, was not what Britain had in mind.

The Spanish army en route to Egypt received instructions to stop off at British-held Malta. They arrived three days after the Turkish Army on their way to Morocco! Whilst the Turks had paid for landing rights and supplies the Spanish landed along the coast and promptly captured the island, slaughtering the 1000 British troops garrisoning it. The Turks could only look on amazed as the port changed ownership under their eyes.

Too Much

All this was too much for Britain. In parliament the Whigs were howling whilst the government could only sit in silence. Britain found herself powerless. She could not force a decisive naval action, and far too many ships were tied up against the French to swing the odds. On land, the Spanish and Portuguese just waited for any British landings, confident that they would not come. They didn't. The government could not find a general capable of leading a large army to victory. Wellesley was in India and the rest were fools. Following the Russian lead they decided on diplomacy.

A Lapse Of War similar to the Austro-Russian agreement was proposed wherein Spain would officially receive Portugal and Malta whilst Britain would receive nothing. It was a remarkable climb down and one which was received with unconcealed satisfaction by the rest of the European powers. Now it only remained for France to be knocked down a peg.

At the start of February Prussia and Britain signed a formal alliance, effectively splitting Europe into two power blocs, France-Austria on one hand and Britain-Prussia-Russia on the other. No-one dared guess which way Spain or Turkey would go.

On February 3rd Napoleon declared war upon Prussia and a 94000 strong army under Marshal Davout invaded Magdeburg, the westernmost state of Prussia. Napoleon himself had been near the Italian border preparing to support Austria against Russia and he immediately struck camp and headed towards Prussia with the 20000 men of VI Corps. This attack left the rest of France weakly held by Bernadotte's Dutch Corps in Holland, Murat on the Spanish border and Soult covering the English Channel.

The invasion had completely surprised Prussia whose army was split in two, half facing the Russians in Warsaw under the Duke of Brunswick and the other half at Magdeburg commanded by Feld Marschall Prinz Hohenlobe. The Grande Armee under Davout thus fell upon Hohenlohe's 51000 Prussians outside Magdeburg. Despite being confounded by the speed of the French attack Hohenlohe had noi been idle and he had already prepared a defensive position complete with substantial earthworks. However, the vigour of the French arrival seemed to shake him to hisvery foundations and he lapsed into a stupor from which he was unable to recover until it was too late.

The battle of Magdeburg occurred began at 10:30 am on the 10th of February, 1805 with a huge but long range barrage from most of the 188 French guns present. Davout had easily outscouted the stationary enemy and realising the strength of the Prussian position he ordered General Marmont to detach half of his VII Corps to turn the enemy's left flank. Meanwhile he decided to feint against the Prussian right with Gouvion St.Cyr's II Corps supported by the Imperial Guard under Marshal Lefebvre.

In the centre Augereau's massive 25000 man I Corps was to advance against what looked to be the weak point in the Prussian defence, the dense but traversable forest of Higherstadt which scouts reported was manned only by a screen of Prussian Reserve Infantry. On the French left Marmont and Drouet D'Erlon's III Corps were to smash the Prussian left under the auspices of Marshal Ney who was effectively made Wing Commander.

Against this plan the Prussians' strategy was simple. Hohenlohe had decided to do nothing. He ordered his corps to maintain and defend their current positions. Borcke's 3rd Korps held the North Redoubts but ignored the town of Magdeburg itself and Higherstadt Forest. Count von Gneisenau's 4th Korps held the left wing based upon the vast Great Redoubt with Oberst von Gasser's cavalry division covering the plain behind Lowerstadt Woods. I reserve was 5th Korps under Generalleutnant Schar nhorst, composed in part of second rate infantry, many of whom had prepared entrenchments.

The French attack went exactly as planned, with Hohenlohe's motionless defence offering few complications. Indeed the Prinz spent almost the whole day in his tent looking very tired and not appearing to realise the potential severity of his position. Left to their own recourse the Prussian Korps commanders made the fatal mistake of placing their infantry behind the redoubts and their cannon in the open. The result was that massive French counter-battery fire drove away the Prussian gunners leaving the infantry unsupported.

On the left von Gasser managed to advance enough to get himself surrounded and promptly surrendered. This disaster was compounded when Marmont and D'Erlon swept around the flank of the Great Redoubt to meet Augereau who was slowly advancing through the Forest expecting an ambush which never materialised. At 15:30 Hohenlohe received news that Gneisenau's Korps had surrendered and with that be immediately gave orders for the remainder of the Prussian Army to retreat.

Ney personally supervised the mounted pursuit and an hour later the field was devoid of living Prussians. Hohenlohe's losses amounted to 19649 men and 55 guns, of which 12881 men were prisoners along with 18 pieces of artillery. When Davout counted his casualties he found only 1171 men and 8 guns had been lost. It was by any standards a monumental victory. Amongst the prisoners was Count Gneisenau and all his staff. Hohenlohe retired towards Berlin in good order but poor heart.

Empire in Arms

The money points in Empires in Arms are worked out in dollars, so for instance in a quarter France's basic taxation is $91 while Britain's is $51 and Russia's is $75, Added to this is trade using a system of port values which translate into dollars. This substantially bumps up Britair in particular. By comparison an infantry unit costs $3 to build whilst cavalry costs $15.

Earthworks and redoubts are worked out using a house rule. Each general in effect has an ability between one and six. This translates into a D6 roll with a modifier for being in position for more than a month. To succeed a genera must roll less than his ability. Hohenlohe is a '1' but having been in Magdeburg since the start of the campaigi he got a +1 modifier. Thus he had to roll one on a D6. Luckily for him he succeeded. There is a similar roll made if a general wishes to avoid combat altogether. Hohenlohe declined this roll having pulled off his redoubt coup.

More 1805

Campaign of 1805 Wargame: Part 1
Campaign of 1805 Wargame: Part 2
Campaign of 1805 Wargame: Part 3
Campaign of 1805 Wargame: Part 4