Well there you have it, a very lively and hard fought battle. Before I started translating this article I was under the mistaken belief that the Austro-Sardinians scored a resounding victory over the Spanish. If the above information can be believed, this was hardly the case. If Gages had one tiny sliver of battle management skill in his body, the Austro-Sardinians would have been soundly thrashed.

In fact if Gages would have retired to his tent to have a good lie-down, his subordinate commanders would have won the day. The only action Gages takes is to recall the enterprising Count de Jauche who grudgingly returns to his position like a good soldier. This unfortunate act of obedience cost him his life as his own troops blast him from the field with musketry. The snuffing out of a good soldier's life in a useless gesture always makes me feel sad, even if the event occurred 252 vears ago.

What Transpired

Having said all that, let's take a quick glance at what has transpired. In my last commentary, I commented on how Frederician the open stages of this combat seemed. First, we have a long approach march with an advance guard groping along looking for the enemy. The enemy is located and a reconnaissance is performed by the "King", in this case Traun. A battle plan is formulated and relayed to his subordinate commanders. A long march is then executed to secure the flank of the enemy, in this battle two days were used. The right wing of the Austro-Sardinian Anny is refused, a small detach ment was also used to occupy the Spanish left wing, and the attack is started.

But something went wrong. It is impossible with the limited information I have available to place any sort of blame on the Austro-Sardinian command staff. Rather, I choose to give credit to the alert and active Spanish unit commanders (not the Army Commander), who took action when a column of horse, less than 300 paces away, was marching with its right flank staring the Spanish cavalry in the face. The order to charge is given with the expected results. Any self-respecting wargamer would have done the same thing on the gaming table given the chance.

Now is the time to ask ourselves, why did this happen? How could Marshal Traun and his commanders have been so arrogant as to conduct such a maneuver in the face of the enemy cavalry? As in the game of Football, the most thought-out game strategy can be conceived to defeat your opponent, but if your players are unable to execute the plays correctly, you will still go down to defeat. Is this in fact the case?

My only explanation on this matter is that the Austro-Sardinians as a whole must have felt that the Spanish army was a very lethargic bunch of boobs. If you look at the campaign and the war up to this point, nothing jumps out at you that would make you think any differently. If you look at it closely, the Spanish were constantly reacting to the Austro-Sardinians, so why should it be any different now?

So we have the Austro-Sardinian horse trotting along trying to turn the corner on the Spanish right wing, with the mistaken belief that they are in no great danger, when the Spanish ride them down. This must have been quite a shock to the Austro-Sardinians!

The rest of the battle follows this pattern. We have the Spanish commanders taking matters into their own hands and beating the Austro-Sardinians to the punch. One area that really hurt the Spanish was a lack of artillery.

Artillery

From the account you can see that the Austro-Sardinian guns really worked over the Spanish, causing them to consider and perform an attack on a banery of guns, which they in turn captured! With the small amount of information I have I can only locate six, eight-pounder guns for the entire Spanish army. If this is true, that is a pathetic amount to take on campaign; especially when you consider the fact that they hoped to lay siege to some garrisons.

Please don't get the impression that I think the Spanish can do no wrong. The Austro-Sardinian infantry must be commended for their valiant effort. Already outnumbered at the start of the action, matters are made worse with their cavalry in full flight. Both of their flanks totally up in the air, they slog ahead and confront the Spanish.

In a heated musketry duel the Spanish surge forward, capture five guns, but are pushed back by the Austro-Sardinians. Darkness falls and the battle ends, and the Austro-Sardinian army is ready to go at it again believing that they can achieve victory this time. Incredible.

All in all, the battle of Camposanto lends itself well to the Wargame table and should produce a very feisty action.

The Battle of Camposanto

The Battle of Camposanto: Part II Introduction
The Battle of Camposanto: Deployment
The Battle of Camposanto: Austro-Sardinian Counterattack
Petri: Final Words

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