Some Observations on What Has Happened So Far

So far we have a very interesting scenario brewing at the small town of Camposanto, or the Cemetery if you prefer. Poor General Gages, as so many commanders past and present have been forced to do, is ordered by a demanding King to seek out the enemy and destroy him--and while you are at it, conquer Modena and lay siege to various garrisons. Having ordered all this the King fails to provide the necessary reinforcements or proper siege cannon to perform the task. And to make matters even worse we have the very timid Gages, if you read on this will become quite obvious, in command of an offensive campaign which is well beyond his means to execute.

Left with no other choice, De Gages sends his army lurching forward towards the Panaro in a vain attempt to catch the wily Marshall Traun unawares. Traun's spies in Bolonia alert him of an impending Spanish advance. Traun in his turn notifies his commanders that something is up and that they should be ready to respond at a moments notice. Traun deploys his Hussar in a sort of tripwire fashion and awaits for the Spanish to set them off. The Hussar screen catches the lumbering Spanish and Traun leaps into action, quickly assembling his troops. The sluggish Gages comes upon the organized and ready for combat Austro-Sardinian forces and declares the King's plan a failure and begins to retire. He had after all at least tried.

Now the initiative passes over to Traun and he readily seizes it. We must remember that Traun is facing similar pressures as those of his counterpart Gages. Something positive has to happen for the Austro-Sardinianis to keep their alliance together. The brave Marshal is willing to let the Gods of War decide his fate and elects for a battle. If we now take the time to study the events leading up to the battle of Camposanto you will see that it has a very "Fredrecian" flavor to it.

With the Spanish dictating the opening phases of the campaign we have a very regular mid Eighteenth Century war drama unfolding. With the Spanish relinquishing the reins, a very different flavor is now detected. We have the Austro-Sardinian advance guard approaching the Spanish positions. Colonel von Hohenau, leading the advance guard, observes that they are drawn up for battle, with their left secured on the Panaro and portions of the Spanish lines fortified.

This information is immediately relayed to Marshal Traun, who, like Frederick, will not risk his army or career (in Traun's case only) to the observations made by a subordinate, Traun rides forward to reconnoiter the situation for himself. Determining that the information is correct, the brave Marshal formulates a battle plan to take advantage of, number one: his superiority in cavalry and secondly: that the right flank of the Spanish is unsecured and vulnerable.

A long flank march is now executed, or if you like, an oblique attack is begun. Traun then detaches a small diversionary force (the ubiquitous refused wing) to occupy the Spanish left while the main body curls around the Spanish right. To me this all looks very Leuthen like. This also follows the formula explained by Professor Duffy in his lecture at the 1992 GENCON Convention of a typical oblique attack used by Frederick the Great.

In part two the battle will be discussed and some very bad "Frederick" luck will be passed on to our brave Marshal Traun.

The Battle of Camposanto

Author's Note
The Battle of Camposanto: Passage of the Panaro
The Battle of Camposanto: Spanish Operations at the Panaro
The Battle of Camposanto: The Armies Deploy for Battle
Petri: Some Observations on What Happened So Far
Order of Battle
Additional Notes

Part II: Battle of Camposanto in Vol IX No. 3

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