The Battle of Maida
July 4, 1806
by David Marks, UK
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Further to my recent article in FE regarding the demonstration game that we staged at the Great Baddow library, I thought that it might be a good idea to provide some details about the battle. This was a relatively small engagement and so is ideal for a days gaming. The battle of Maida took place in the Calabria region of southern Italy and resulted in a British victory. This victory proved to be a great moral boost for the British Nation and her Allies, being Britain's first victory on land against the French since Alexandria in 1801.
This battle is of interest to the gamer because of the small number of troops involved and tactics used. One of the main peculiarities of this engagement was that the French fought the battle in line. While Stuart, the British commander, instigated a command structure which was similar to Napoleon's. After issuing orders for the initial deployment of his troops Stuart appeared to take no further active part in the battle, leaving the conduct of the battle to his Brigadiers. However, Stuart continually rode about the battlefield, viewing each stage of the battle at close quarter without apparent concern for his own safety.
Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in October 1805 greatly reduced the threat of Britain being invaded by the French. This meant that Britain could now set about gaining the initiative on land by sending expeditionary forces overseas.
During the latter part of 1805 a British expeditionary force was sent to join a Russian and Neapolitan army which at that time was operating in southern Italy. The object was for the British, Russian and Neapolitan forces to work with the Austrian army that was fighting in the north of the country. However, bad co-operation between the allies and the surrender of the Austrian army, resulting from their catastrophic defeat at Austerlitz (2nd December 1805), meant that the temporary coalition fell apart. As a result the British withdrew to Sicily.
Napoleon now took control of Italy, deposing the King of Naples Ferdinand IV and placing his brother Joseph on the thrown. However, French control of the country was not complete, especially in the southern provinces where partisan groups, similar to those that would plague Napoleon's armies in Spain, held influence.
As a result of earlier negotiations with Ferdinand IV and the populations apparent resistance to the French, the British government decided that the time was right to make another invasion of the Calabria region in southern Italy. The expeditionary force, stationed in Sicily and commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir John Stuart was chosen for the task.
Stuart's mission was to attack the French forces in the region and to assist any uprising by the population. It was also hoped that such an invasion would cause Marshal Massena to abandon his siege of the coastal town Gaeta. Gaeta being situated approximately 125 km south of Rome.
The British expeditionary force, (5,200 officers and men) sailed from Messina, Sicily on 26th of June 1806. They were transported by the Royal Navy to the bay of St. Eufemia on the Italian mainland. On the 1st of July the force landed virtually unopposed. Colonel Oswald set about securing the landing area and engaged a small force of about 300 Polish infantry with great success, capturing 80 men and two officers. Over the next three days all the troops, artillery, and provisions were landed and defence works constructed near the landing site. Stuart made no attempt during this time to leave the coast and one can only assume that he was waiting for the popular uprising, which never materialised.
On 3rd of July Stuart was informed of a large French force, (6,440 officers and men, including horse artillery and 328 cavalry) were was encamped on the high ground above the town of San Pietro di Maida, near to the river Lamato. During the afternoon of the 3rd Stuart surveyed the enemy's position.
It was at daybreak on the 4th that the British advanced on the French position leaving four companies and a detachment of artillery to defend and complete the earthworks near to the beach.
The British first encounter with the enemy was with a detachment of Chasseur cavalry which rapidly fell back before their advancing columns. On reaching the open plain of Maida both forces advanced to seek contact with one another. Stuart quickly issued orders for the columns to form line of battle once they had cleared the thickets through which they were advancing.
The lines deployed in echelon from the right. The French, commanded by General Jean Louis Reynier, also deployed into line which were formed in echelon from the left. This resulted in Kempt's and Compere's brigades coming into contact with one another before the rest of the units were engaged.
Kempt sent the Corsican rangers and the light company of the 27th across the Lamato to clear the enemy from the thickets on the opposite bank. However as they advanced the Corsican rangers were fired upon and then charged by about 200 French who had remained unseen. The Corsican rangers fell back but the light company of the 27th were just able to hold their ground. Their commander Captain McLean was killed in this action. Kempt sent some further units to assist the faltering 27th which rectified the situation. The French in turn fell back and were pursued by the rallied Corsican rangers.
Kempt's brigade were now engaged in a fire-fight with the French 1er Legere, commanded by Compere. During this action the British troops discarded their greatcoats which lead the French to believe that they were withdrawing. Compere seeing this, ordered his men to charge with bayonets. The British however held their ground and the charge was checked by a crashing volley at 30 yards range followed by a swift counter charge. Compere fell mortally wounded and the French fled in confusion across the Lamato pursued by the British. Kempt's brigade after pursuing the French, halted near Maida and took no further part in the battle. The 1er Legere lost 900 men killed and wounded, Kempt's brigade only 50 men.
By now the 42eme Ligne had engaged Acland's brigade but after a short fire-fight and on seeing the 1er Legere rout they broke and fled when bayonet charged by Acland's brigade. However, the 42eme Ligne managed to rally and later returned to the battle, taking up position on the French right wing.
At this stage Comperes brigade was withdrawing along their entire front. The Polish troops of Peers brigade, who held the centre also fell back after being assaulted by Acland's brigade. During their advance Acland's brigade was checked by musket fire from the 1er Swiss. It transpired that due to the smoke, dust and confusion the 81st mistook the 1er Swiss for their own Swiss allies, commanded by De Watteville. As a result the 81st suffered a number of casualties and were obliged to withdraw.
Acland's brigade was now attacked by the French cavalry, with many of the British being cut down while trying to for square. Those units that did form square found themselves under fire from the French artillery and were soon forced to withdraw.
Short of Ammo
Reynier seeing that the British advance had been stopped and that Acland's brigade was withdrawing ordered Digonet's brigade to assault Cole's units. On seeing the French advance Oswald ordered forward his reserves to fill the gap caused by Acland's withdrawal. Although Cole's brigade had suffered casualties from artillery, musket fire and from the burning stubble, which had been set alight by the shells, with Oswald's brigade filling the gap the British stood firm. The battle was now held in a form of stalemate. Both armies were running short of ammunition and were becoming exhausted from the fighting and the excessive day time heat.
It was in the afternoon that Bunbury, riding to the rear of Cole's brigade, received news that Colonel Ross had landed and was marching towards the sound of the guns with the battalion companies of the 20th. Bunbury sent word to Ross, appraising him of the battle situation. Ross therefore was able to ensure that his battalion arrived in a position on the field where he could assaulted Digonet's brigade in the flank. Reynier, taken completely by surprise by the arrival or Ross's unit on his flank and seeing that the battle was lost, abandoned the plain and retreated to Catanzoro. Reynier covered his retreat using his light infantry, Chasseurs and horse artillery.
Stuart having no cavalry for a pursuit ordered the withdrawal of the British back to the beach area. Although Stuart could not exploit his victory at Maida he did march his forces south and captured Scylla after a siege. The British held Scylla for nearly a year and a half until February 1808, when they were forced to evacuate the town by the French.
For the wargame my daughter Sarah and Krys Lanowski played the French with Matthew Cain and Bob Eliotte playing the British, with myself as umpire. The troops were laid out in their historical starting positions (See map) on an 8' x 4' table. We used 1/300th scale, Adler figures and because of the small figure size we were able to conduct the re-fight using a 1:10 figure ratio. This gave a good overall visual impression with the units looking massed and menacing.
Although none of the players had any previous knowledge of the battle, the orders that they issued were almost identical to their historical counter parts. All the British deployed into line and continued to advance upon the enemy. Bob in charge of Kempt's light company and the Corsican rangers made a rapid advance to engage the French. The 1er Legere, 42eme Ligne and the Polish commanded by Sarah halted and deployed into line. The rest of the French army continued their advance on the British in column.
As Kempt's light company advanced the French sprung their ambush. The Corsican rangers were fired upon and then attacked in the flank by 200 French infantry who had remained hidden, (not tabled). The Corsican rangers were at the point of routing when their position was bolstered by more troops from Kempt's light company. However, insufficient troops had been sent and after a few game moves the Corsican rangers and their supporting troops were routed. While the Corsican rangers had been trying to hold the flank the rest of Kempt's brigade had been engaging the 1er Legere and its skirmishers. This section of the battlefield soon degenerated into isolated groups, each engaged in vicious hand to hand combat, but without either side gaining the advantage.
Sarah, ordered forward Compere's 42eme Ligne to feed in fresh reserves into the melee. However, this was countered by Ackland's brigade and soon these units were engaged in a sharp exchange of musketry.
On the other side of the battlefield the long range artillery duel, which had been raging for some time between Krys and Matthew, was starting to take its toll on both forces. A number of units were starting to look ragged as troops became casualties to the exploding spherical case. The British gaining the upper hand thanks to Henry Shrapnel's little invention. By game move 4 one of the French batteries was silenced. Their gunners being cut down to a man by the cascading metal fragments from a number of overhead shell bursts. "Oh Merde!" being the only comment from Krys, at this point.
With a French battery out of action the Matthew felt he could advance his troops to a more forward position, where they were halted to await the French advance. It was while waiting to counter the French advance that the British grenadier battalion, commanded by Cole (Matthew actually) was hit hard by the remaining French artillery. Both Cole and a number of troops were killed. On seeing their commander fall and given the confusion in their ranks, the grenadiers fell back. The retreating grenadiers caused great concern and unease among the other near by units. However, Matthew quickly moved forward Oswald to steady the shaken grenadiers and soon had them marching back to retake their proper position on the field.
The British were starting to lose control of their right, due to the sheer weight of numbers. The French had committed the Polish section of Peyri's brigade. With Bob's battle cry of "They don't like the cold steel up em" the 1/81st highlanders held up the Polish advance with some sharp bayonet work, but the British casualties were mounting, with no further reserves to commit. Although it was voiced by Bob that Matthew should get Oswald's brigade off their backsides and lend a hand. It was all a matter of time, so by game move 9, with Matthew's units still admiring the scenery, the British right was put into full retreat. It was during the rearguard action that Kempt was killed. However, in the next game move Compere was shot from his saddle and died instantly, (Actually Sarah failed to make the saving throw). The outcome of this was that the French called a halt to their pursuit, enabling the British to fall back unmolested.
On the other side of the battlefield Krys's French advance was suffering in the face of the British artillery. The artillery was now firing shot which was cutting great swathes through the French and Swiss columns. However, the French with eagles held high and drums beating stepped over their dead, closed ranks and continued forward (a bit of poetic license, provisional). Then from out of the smoke and dust came the Chasseurs. These charging horsemen crashed into the 1/27th of Cole's brigade and quickly put them to flight. The Chasseurs pursued the routing infantry and caused many casualties in their ranks. However, when the Chasseurs reached the marsh and scrub area they encountered Ross's battalion (which had been marching from the sea shore. Well actually, I had just taken them out of the box and put them on the table). The British units coolly formed square in the face of the cavalry and issued a crushing volley of enfilading fire which cause the remnants of the Chasseurs to flee.
The 23rd Legere and the 1er Swiss on entering musket range deployed into line. The British after conducting an 'ID test' realised that the 1er Swiss were the enemy and a massive fire-fight ensued. It was during this exchange of musketry that the 23eme Legere failed an 'out of ammunition test'. With nothing left to fire and on seeing the Chasseurs falling back in disorder, the declared bayonet charge by the British supported by their fresh reserves was the last straw and so the 23eme Legere fled taking the 1er Swiss with them. The problem with the British charge was that only the grenadiers and Ross's battalion could be activated into an advance and so with no support the attack was halted after 1 game move. However, the French had had enough and withdrew from the field.
The battle had been fought in a very similar manner to the historical engagement and given the topsy turvy nature of the engagement no one side had managed to gain the overall advantage. The British having held their left flank but loosing the right side of the table, it was agreed by the players that the battle was a draw. So the wargame did not quite go to history.
Although historically the battle was a minor engagement, with approximately 1,164 model figures, excluding artillery, limbers and command figures on the table, the re-fight looked very impressive. The game had taken us 2 ¾ hours to reach a conclusion and all the players found the ebb and flow of the battle both challenging and enjoyable to play.
The figures represent no problem due to the vast number of manufacturers that produce figures for this period. I use 1/300th scale figures as manufactured by Adler Miniatures which are superbly detailed. The cost of figures at this scale is also a bonus and the scale allows gamers such as myself, who have restricted gaming space, to fight major battles.
The Corsican rangers wore a similar uniform to that of the British 95th rifles, so any riflemen from your existing collection may be used. De Watteville's Swiss and the 1er Swiss were dressed in a similar fashion red tunics and grey trousers, so to add to the tabletop confusion I used British figures for both these units.
Although we used the "OFF TO WAR" gaming system any set of Napoleonic rules would do. I have though up few minor special rules which added a bit of spice to our game and are detailed below.
British artillery. Because the British were using mountain guns (de-mountable guns transported by mules) these guns should take twice the time to limber / unlimber and deploy.
ID Test. To represent the confusion by the British in identifying the 1er Swiss, any British wishing to fire small arms or declaring a charge must undertake an 'ID Test'. The test shall consist of a straight forward throw between players using an 1 x ordinary dice, highest score wins.
If the British player scores the highest then the 1er Swiss have been identified as the enemy. If the French player scores the highest then the British player has mistaken the 1er Swiss as their allies and may not fire or attack them. Should the British (who have failed the test) be fired upon or attacked by the 1er Swiss then they may not fight back for one game move.
1. History of the British Army. Charles Messenger.
Related Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #38 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |
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