The Battle Of Durnstein
11th Nov 1805

Wargamed: The Battle Refought

by Steve Bainbridge U.K

0900 - 1230 Aware of Miloradovich's inferiority I made a fairly methodical assault on Loiben. Large Durnstein Map 1 (slow: 104K) Jumbo Durnstein Map 1 (slow: 143K) The Russian artillery firing in support of the attack was particularly successful. The Hussars had skirted around the lower slopes of the hills threatening the French flanks. The French battery was driven from successive firing positions by the mere threat of a charge. By 1230 the French right wing of 2 ligne and 2 legere battalions were routed from the village. 1300 - 1400 Strik arrived after 3 throws and began to move south. In an attempt to pin the French centre I assaulted them with Miloradovich's forces. Martin at last deployed his battery and it's fire combined with a change in my previous good die role halted the attack in its tracks. I moved the Hussars further round the French left trying to keep them pinned down. The Russian artillery continued to pound the French left particularly a battalion in square. 1430 - 1700 Half of Miloradovich's force now broke leaving the remainder shaken and holding Loiben. Strik was now assaulting the French left. Martin now moved his unopposed centre to behind his left as Dokhturov finally appeared after 5 throws at 1900 !! Dupont marching with greater vigour than he was to display at Baylen also arrived at the same time. The Hussars withdrew to cover Dokhturov's right as he belatedly moved south. The Russian artillery was now unable to see many French as they were behind either Strik's forces or in dead ground and it was getting dark. 1730 - 1900 Whilst Dokhturov's right wing and the Hussars tried unsuccessfully to hold back Dupont; his left along with Strik assaulted the French centre. Large Durnstein Map 2 (slow: 122K) Jumbo Durnstein Map 2 (slow: 177K) In the darkness and with their troops tiring the Russians pushed back the French without breaking them. The routed French right escaped behind their recoiling centre. Their battery embarked in barges and escaped across the Danube. The battle ended as Dupont's fresher troops reached Durnstein. Despite a good start I was unable to decisively defeat the French. The late arrival of the flank forces and a gritty defence from Martin limited the result to a marginal Russian victory. Possibly I should have risked a charge from the Hussars when the French were still under pressure from both Strik and Miloradovich at about 1400. However they had been very successful in keep the French battery out action until this time. The scenario provided an enjoyable and interesting game in which fortunes varied. The main source for the scenario was Christopher Duffy's excellent book Austerlitz 1805. It is unusual in being written from the allied view point. Duffy gives the strength of Gazan's division at 5,500 men and Chandler lists only 5,000. I have used the higher figure of 6,000 given in West Point Atlas. Not because I particularly prefer it as a source but because it fitted my figure scale and gave the French 10 battalions of 18 figures. It also gave a better balanced game. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #42 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 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