by Dave Hollins
While the following manouvres were probably not as planned and organised as the writers suggest and more a product of events, wargamers may like to give the following a test: "An (Austrian) Cavalry artillery battery was successful in a manouvre, which was remeniscent of the Seven Years War .... As French Cuirassiers attacked Austrian cavalry, the latter urned away to the right and left, as the attackers closed to within 800 paces,and unmasked a cavalry battery, which with a prepared salvo of cannister fire put the Cuirassiers to flight; thereupon, they were taken in the flanks by the cavalry which had swung away." From: Dolleczek: Geschichte der bsterreichischen Artillerie (1887) At the climax of the battle, having turned his 'Grand Battery' on the Austrian centre, Napoleon sent forward MacDonald's V Corps to break the line, where the Austrian 3rd Korps joined the Reserve Corps. "At Napoleon's signal, MacDonald launched his assault. The French broke into the Austrian line like a wedge. At the critical moment in the breakthrough the two Austrian Korps carried out a flank turn, so that the French assault troops found themselves moving into an evernarrowing funnel". Fired on from both the front and flanks, the French suffered heavy losses and had to fall back. From: Hertenberger: Erzherzog Karl (1983) Notes
19: The Post Confederation German Army During the Campaign of 1814 20: Some Interesting Tactics for Wargamers from the Battle of Wagram 5th/6th July - 1809 Back to Napoleonic Notes and Queries #12 Table of Contents Back to Age of Napoleon List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1993 by Partizan Press. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |