The Battle of Leipzig Recreated

Battle Report

by Bruce Weeks

The Allied Advance Guard Divisions had, by 0700 hrs., nosed out what appeared to be the main French defensive positions which were anchored on the east by the Galgenberg heights and proceeded westward across the town of Wachau and Markleeberg to anchor on the Pleisse River to the west. Although this position was a formidable one, I nevertheless ordered a general advance on all fronts, trusting to almighty God to deliver us the field and the victory.

The opening stages of the action saw the complete rout of a sizable portion of the Russian advance guard immediately as it came under fire. All other units, however, made a surprisingly uncontested advance into the battle area. The Russian commander deployed his 48 guns ina grand battery to the southwest of Wachau and proceeded to lay down a tremendous barrage on the French forces unprotected by the walls of the town.

An additional battery of 12#ers from the reserve was quickly brought forward to aid him in destroying the fortified Hamlet of Wachau. Under cover of this fierce bombardment, all three Corps advanced to the attack.

The Austrian column deployed on either side of the chausse leading to Markleeberg; the Russians to either side of the grand battery; and the Prussians in two massive lines preceeded by Uhlans and a mass of skirmishers.

Early reports indicated no known French forces on the Galgenberg heights and my staff and I estimated that any forces coming over the top could easily be contained by the Prussian Corps. We therefore, resolved to concentrate our efforts in breaking through the French centre in the vicinity of Wachau, leaving the Austrians to push the French and their allied troops out of Markleeberg.

An order was disptached to the Prussian commander rescinding his earlier assault orders and instructing him to pass to the defensive against the Galgenberg, while at the same time, making every effort to cooperate with the Russian commander to his left in pushing the French back to Wachau.

A dispatch to the Austrian commander requesting information from his area drew the response that he had obtained a foothold in Markleeberg and was in the process of fighting off numerous counterattacks. As the day progressed, it turned out that the Saxon and Hessian auxiliaries holding this point fought tooth and nail and neither side was able to gain an advantage sufficient to make a decisive difference in the course of the battle.

Under the terrible bombardment against their center, the French drew all their infantry into Wachau and replaced them with some light cavalry regiments who supported the numerous French batteries in this area. Partly to cover any gap between the Austrians and the Russians, and also to serve as a stopping force against the French horse, the 1st brigade of the reserve was brought forward in the interval between the Corps. Action during the early morning on this front consisted of only an artillery duel whose oniv effect was to cause the massed French horse to retire slightly out of range.

The cavalry Division of Pahlen entered the field to the east of Wachau behind the Prussian Corps, but due to the congestion of units there were placed in reserve until the situation clarified. Their horse battery, however, was detailed to support the attack to the east of Wachau.

Ready for Assault

At 10:30 hrs., it was determined that the French center was ready for a massive assault by the cavalry supported by the Russian Corps who also were ordered to seize the ruins of Wachau. It was further determined that since neither our left or center had been seriously opposed by any great number of enemy units, the French reserve must still lay behind the Galgenberg and that we could shortly expect the Prussians to be attacked by overwhelming numbers.

This assessment was shortly verified when a Prussian courier arrived to announce that the right wing was being assaulted by the enemy in great strength. Orders were immediately dispatched to shift all the Russian batteries (excepting the 12#ers) and the Cavalry Division battery to support the Prussians. The 2d Bde of the Reserve Division was similarly dispatched to protect the flank.

Despite the quickness of these moves, it was thought that the Prussian force would suffer serious losses and perhaps yield valuable ground, however, by the time the reinforcements had reached the critical area, the Prussians had already blunted the French advance and were in the process of making local counterattacks of their own.

The main Russian attack coincided with the complete collapse of the French center. This collapse was caused by the relentless advance of the Russian Division west of Wachau who met head on and destroyed the French light cavalry. In support of this advance the Cavalry Division of Pahlen broke through the enemy line, overrunning the remains of their artillery, and rode off into the French rear areas creating panic and routing the trains of the enemy. The 1st Bde of the Reserve Division matched the advance of the Russians and they too were responsible for the destruction of the French cavalry.

Resistance All But Finished

By 12:00 noon, French resistance in Wachau was all but finished and the Saxons in Markleeberg had commenced a fighting retreat too late to save them from capture. The devastating defeat suffered by the French did not only end in lost ground, fully 3/4ths of the enemy artillery as well as his trains were capturedÄa fact that the corporal of artillery should particularly find distressing.

I take this opportunity to personally congratulate my commanders and staff, with special mention to the Prussian commander whose swift action andaggressive spirit held our right flank together during a critical stage of the battle. Our Cavalry Division commander, who was last seen leading his Cuirassiers in overrunning a battery, is also deserving of special merit and notice

LESSONS LEARNED

The following problems were encountered in the setting up and playing of the game.

1. The situation map was slightly wider and several times deeper than the wargame table(s) available. For an attacker/defender game, this was fine as it forced both sides to consider the possibility of enemy units on their flanks if they acted too rashly. This also gave the defender adequate space to choose a defensive position deep in the map and to outpost heavily to slow down the attacker's forward movement.

This would have given the defender valuable hours to determine the attacker's main thrust and to prepare defenses with the sappeur companies that were given his army at no cost. It should be noted that the scale on the map was not easily convertible into the sizes of the gaming tables and this helped to leave some lingering doubts in both commander's minds as to the ultimate size and shape of the tables used.

2. Movement of units on the situation map caused much confusion. This was primarily caused by the fact that most players had never had to consider how to organize a column in marching order so as to be best able to deploy quickly upon the battlefield. It was only after several serious amongst the Alilied players that the totally normal and conservative approach of utilizing an advance guard brigade for each corps was fixed upon.

In spite of this, some players elected to move in dense road columns (even when there were no roads), while others marched cross-country in a semi-deployed fashion. Perhaps the most important requirement for future commanders is to adequately delineate boundaries between major subordinate units and to spell out their responsibilities in clearing all enemy units through their boundary. This aspect of off-board organization can not be overlooked because often the absence of critical units from the head of a column will have serious repercussions on the ability to defeat the enemy.

3. The important use of outposts to slow down the enemy advance and gain information concerning the strength and substance of the enemy forces was not adequately presented in the scenario or in oral information to the commanders. In fact, both sides kept back many regiments of light cavalry that could have initially been deployed as an outpost line.

The fact that the section on Scouts/Outposts is very sketchy in the rules did not help in this matter. It must again be noted that this aspect of pre-battle action can make a great difference in the movement to combat of both sides.

4. The requirement for CinC's to have prepared estimates of the situation and written general orders prior to the actual conflict was not held to strongly enough in this game. When commanders are forced to declare in writing what they believe the case to be and how they propose to act, then the umpire gains a fuller understanding and appreciation of the handicaps each commander is operating under and he can be more objective in his role since he is not forced to take things for granted or to act without guidance of some framework.

This doesn't mean that commanders can not change their plan as the game progresses, it just means that they must now attempt to communicate these new ideas orally with all the possibilities of misunderstandings and confusion that are always present in a war game situation.

5. Adherence to historical orders of battle, or at least to historic organizations was insisted on and proved fully worth the effort. In a game of army level proportions, the very fact that an infantry division commander has no organic cavalry or no reserve of a guard battalion, forces him to react to the situation to their front with a greater intensity.

It forces them, in fact, to learn their trade and the intricacies of utilizing the allowable formations and movement factors to keep their troops concentrated, yet still do the job. It also makes the CinC's task much more difficult since to support someone usually means forsaking someone else, and therefore, often makes the difference between victory and defeat.

More Leipzig

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