Note from Editor: The following fictional battle was fought by our club using EE&L rules, which are an attempt to use real time in a wargame rather than a conventional turn system. In addition, the rules allow any maneuver or formation that was practiced during the Napoleonic period. Orders are transmitted to the Divisions, brigades and regiments through the chain of command, eliminating (or at least greatly minimizing) the helicopter effect.
Some readers have commented on our battle reports mentioning that, to some of them, the reports lacked interest as these readers had no knowledge of the rules used.
There is some truth to that statement. But let us answer a question with a question. When one reads a battle report in a reasonably detailed history book, does one have the rules used by the antagonists? Of course not! Realism was the set of rules used.
The same approach should be used in reading our battle reports since our rules are an attempt to recreate true Napoleonic battles in which events are taking place by using real time, real formations, real transmission of orders with real transmission time through the chain of command. So, our battles should reflect pretty much how a Napoleonic battle took place.
Important
EE&L does not intend to monopolize the Wargames report section with battle reports from our club. EE&L will be glad to publish wargame reports fought with currently available rules. In an attempt to encourage international relations and exchanges on wargaming and Napoleonic history, we have in store a wargame (illustrated with a wealth of photos) fought in June 93 in Paris, France, using the latest Empire rules.
THE BATTLE FOR HAGELSTADT BY THE EE&L STAFF
We are somewhere in Bavaria in April, 1809. The
Austrians are continuing their push forward and the French
trying to stop their advance. On the eve of the combat,
Austrian and French cavalry patrols clashed around the
town of Hagelstadt, the village of Hausen and near the
crossroads on the small ridge. Neither side tried to push
back their opponents and, night falling, they simply
withdrew to inform their respective commands keeping
pickets near their points of contact.
[1]
The French cavalry and the 15th Uger held the town of
Hossburg and the two bridges on the Platterbach river
while the Austrians were left in control of the rest of the
ground.
The Austrian command, part of Hiller's VI Corps
reinforced by some Frei Corps units( an ad hocformation),
under the command of FML Karecki was slowly coming up
from "A" and "B". Karecki had a sizable force (see Austrian
forces below) consisting of a full strength infantry Division
(12 battalions) with 3 batteries and the reinforced Light
Division of the VI Corps with some 24 squadrons of cavalry.
During the night, Karecki sent 1 Grenz battalion to
occupy the village of Hausen on his extreme right. Behind
that village, he deployed all his cavalry and the second
Grenz battalion supported by 1 artillery battery with the
order to slow down any French attack. Two battalions of
Grenz were thrown in the town with the mission to hold it.
A Freiwilliger battalion was positioned behind the
hedges on the Sandberg. It was supported by the position
battery of the infantry Division, the balance of which was
kept in reserve behind the Sandberg. The Vienna Volunteers
(3 battalions) with another 3 Freicorps battalions supported
by an artillery battery were positioned on the Austrian left
with the mission to defend it. Karecki established his HQ in
the Sanding farm and awaited the morning.
The French had also a considerable ad hoc formation
under General de Division Jessop (see French forces below)
consisting of Morand's Division (15 battalions), ClaparMe's
Division (of the IInd Corps) and a large cavalry force of no
less than 27 squadrons, coming up from the southwest.
That force bivouacked behind the Platterbach.
During the night, Jessop made up his attack plan and
briefed his commanders. Morand with his Division and
Montbrun's cavalry (less Jacquinot's brigade) was to move
forward by his left toward Hagelstadt - ignoring Hausen -
and capture point "A". Then, Claparede
[2]
reinforced by Jacquinot's cavalry brigade, had the
mission of pinning the Austrians on the right flank and, if
possible, to capture the Merkurburg.
Before dawn, the French crossed over the Platterbach
on the two bridges and by 7AM, at day break, they were on
their starting positions which extended about 200 yards
from the Platterbach. In accordance with his orders,
Claparede pushed his cavalry ahead followed by
his infantry, Coehorn leading. He soon found 3 Austrian
battalions [3]
supported by an artillery battery deployed on the
MerkUrberg in front of the Merktirwood. Around 7:45AM,
after a very short artillery preparation, Claparede launched
Coehorn's brigade against the Freicorps. In spite of the
presence of the Tirailleurs Corses, it was a combat of green
troops against green troops and after a 20-minute combat,
the French attack was repulsed by the Austrians. Claparede
reformed his troops some 1000 yards from the Austrian
position.
On the French right, the events were progressing
much more satisfactorily. Morand ignored the village of
Hausen and with Montbrun's cavalry slowly pushed back
the Austrians (1 Grenz battalion and the cavalry) toward
Hagelstadt. In this unequal struggle during that first phase
of the battle, the Austrians lost their one and only artillery
battery on that flank. The Grenz battalion holding Hausen
was ignored and remained there during the battle.
So far, no counter-offensive action had been taken
by the Austrians.
By 8:30AM, Morand was some 500 yards from
Hagelstadt and Jessop decided to dislodge the Austrians
from that town as quickly as possible. He ordered Hanique
to form a provisional howitzer battery by stripping them
from his reserve artillery.
[4]
That battery deployed about 800 yards in front of the
town and opened fire. After a sustained half hour
bombardment, it managed to set the town afire. The town
quickly became an inferno and two battalions of Grenz in
Hagelstadt had no choice but to withdraw.
In the process, one battalion was badly mauled by
the French cavalry. The French did not lose any time and
occupied the now undefended point "A" with their cavalry
supported by infantry. The time was 9:20AM.
A little before 9AM, a probing attack by a battalion of
the 13th Uger on the Sandberg was easily repulsed by the
Austrians, as the new Austrian commander FML von Raiff'
[5] (yes, the White
Menace himself!) had sent a regiment there to hold the
position. Around 8:30 AM, FML Raiff had withdrawn his
cavalry from his right flank and moved it to his left as he
feared a French attack
on his weak left flank. But the Austrian command was
plagued with delays in transmitting orders as the Austrian
C-i-C was not properly informed about the desperate
situation in which the Austrian commander of the Light
Division was finding himself.
[6]
At about the same time, Claparede had been ordered
to deploy his second brigade
[5] some 1000 yards
from the Sandberg, awaiting the order to assault that
position.
Raiff was right. Shortly before 9AM, another attack
by Coehom's command [75] on the Merkurberg was successful and pushed the
Freicorps battalions into the wood. A long and violent
combat in the Merkiirwood developed.
Now, a French brigade deployed facing Raiff about
1000 yards from the burning town. He was in no position to
counterattack to recapture point "A" as the French had
now deployed 4 artillery batteries near Hagelstadt. At that
time, the only thing he could do was to stabilize the
situation on his right flank awaiting for the problematic
opportunity to recapture point "A".
While that combat in the Merkurwood was taking
place, as ordered by Clapar6de, Jacquinot's cavalry (9
squadrons) facing no opposition moved behind the
Merkurwood with the intention of catching the 3 Freicorps
battalions fighting in that wood if they were defeated. The
3 battalions of Vienna Volunteers behind that wood, now in
divisions masse, withdrew on the road facing a battalion
of Coehorn's brigade which was supported by two artillery
batteries. The Austrian cavalry (24 squadrons) deployed
on the road facing Jacquinot's cavalry who were now
greatly outnumbered.
By 9:20AM, the Austrian cavalry reacted and
attacked Jacquinot. In the first combat, the French cavalry
repulsed the Austrian first assault. But the French
disorganized by the first combat were defeated by a second
attack of fresh Austrian cavalry. Jacquinot was repulsed to
his departing line. Three fresh French squadrons so far
held in reserve counterattacked the now disorganized
Austrians but were overwhelmed by their superior numbers
and were also repulsed.
During the time the opposing cavalry fought, the
unfortunate Freicorps battalions were evicted from the
Merkiirwood after a 30minute struggle and managed to
withdraw behind the second line of Austrian cavalry
without being attacked by the French cavalry busy
defending itself against the more numerous Austrians.
In spite of the last Austrian cavalry success, the
situation did not look good for the Austrians and Raiff,
judging it unlikely that he could recover point "A", gave the
order to his command to withdraw, losing the Grenz
battalion blocked in Hausen. The time was now 10:30AM.
The battle had last 2 1/2 hours.
ANALYSIS OF THE BATTLE
Jessop handled his command flawlessly. At first,
Claparede's [7]
command was handled timidly, but that changed quickly as
soon as the command changed hands. Karecki's initial
deployment was faulty. The first line from the extreme
Austrian right extending in front of Hagelstadt and the
Sandberg should have held. The Light Division was much
took weak for that mission. At the very least, that was a
mission which should have been given to an infantry brigade.
Furthermore, Hausen could have been ignored by the
Austrians and the Grenz battalion stuck in that village used
for a better purpose.
Let us point out that our rules are an attempt to
recreate battlefield conditions. If one makes an initial
deployment mistake, he is going to pay dearly for that. The
fact of using real time does not help the redeployment of
troops since the transmission of new orders and
redeployment is a relatively slow process. That was
impossible to achieve by the slower moving Austrians
when facing a quickly developing situation like Raiff was
facing.
Battles were often lost before they started and the
combat for Hagelstadt was one of those.
[1] The condition of
victory were for the Austrians to prevent the French from
occupying points "A","B" or "C" and for the French to
occupy one of these points.
Brigade GM Dollmeyer von Provencheres
Brigade GM von Nordmann
Brigade GM Hohenfeld
Brigade GM Weissenwolff
Brigade GM Nostitz
Brigade GM Wintzingerode
Brigade Lacour
Brigade l'Huillier
Brigade Coehorn
Brigade Lesuire
Brigade Pajol
Brigade Jacquinot
Brigade Pire
ENDNOTES
[2]
Claparede's Division consisted mostly of newly raised 4th
battalions.
[3] There were 3
Freicorps battalions. Behind the Merkurwood 3 battalions
of Vienna Volunteers were in reserve.
[4] 4
howitzers from both his 12-pdr batteries.
[5] The game
continued a second day, as the first day battle was more or
less a social event with the introduction of a visitor from
France to our little group and rules. Unfortunately, the
French visitor (and Karecki) were unable to attend the
second meeting. So Karecki was replaced by Marc Raiff
and Claparede's command taken over by the visiting Todd Fisher.
[6] Our rules
eliminate the helicopter effect. A commander is not allowed to
react to events he can not legally see or legally know. Since the
commander of the Austrian Light Division failed to properly
inform his C-i-C that he was on the verge of being overrun by the
French, the C-i-C could not send his reserve there since he was
legally uninformed about the situation in front of Hagelstadt. He
could only do so when the town was set ablaze and the Grenz
seen evacuating it. By that time - keeping in mind that orders had
to be transmitted - it was too late to prevent the French from
seizing the now undefended point "A".
[7] Let us not forget
that our French player was completely unfamiliar with U.S. rules.
He was used to playing with "Les Aigles" which are a completely
different set of rules somewhat similar to CLS rules.
AUSTRIAN FORCES:
VIth CORPS ADVANCED GUARD DIVISION
FML FREIHERR VON VINCENT
(1) 4th, 5th, 6th Vienna Volunteers (3 batts.)
(2) Grenz Regiment #5 Kreuzer (2 battalions)
(3) Chevau-leger Regiment #3 O'Reilly (8 squadrons)
(4) 1 3-pdr Brigade battery: 8 guns
(5) 1 6-pdr Cavalry battery: 6 guns
(1) Grenz Regiment #6 St. Georger (2 battalions)
(2) Hussar Regiment #7 Liechtenstein (8 squadrons)
(3) Chevau-leger Regiment #6 Rosenberg (8 squadrons)
(4) 1 3-pdr Brigade battery: 8 guns
(5) 1 6-pdr Cavalry battery: 6 guns
Provisional brigade was formed with the above Vienna
Volunteers and 3 battalions of Freicorps.
VITH CORPS: DIVISION
FML VON KOTTULINSKY
(1) IR#14 Klebek (3 battalions)
(2) IR#59 Jordis (3 battalions)
(3) 1 6-pdr Brigade battery (8 guns)
(1) JR#4 Hoch und Deutschmeister (3 battalions)
(2) IR#49 Kerpen (3 battalions)
(3) 1 6-pdr Brigade battery (8 guns)
(4) 1 6-pdr Position battery (6 guns)
IST CORPS ADVANCED GUARD DIVISION
FML GRAF FRESNEL
(1) 3rd Moravian Volunteers (1 battalion)
(2) 2nd Jager (1 battalion)
(3) 4th Jager (1 battalion)
(4) 1 3-pdr Brigade battery (8 guns)
(5) Uhlan Regt. #2 Schwarzenberg (8 squadrons)
(1) 1st Moravian Volunteers (1 battalion)
(2) 1st Jager (1 battalion)
(3) 3rd Jager (1 battalion)
(4) 1 6-pdr Cavalry battery (8 guns)
(5) Hussar Regt. #6 Blankenstein (8 squadrons)
French Forces
IIIRD CORPS, DIVISION MORAND
(1) 13th L6ger (3 battalions)
(2) 17th Line (3 battalions)
(3) 30th Line (3 battalions)
(1) 61st Line (3 battalions)
(2) 65th Line (3 battalions)
1 8-pdr foot battery
1 6-pdr horse battery
CLAPAREDE's DIVISION
(1) 1st, 21st, 26th,and 28th Ugers
(2) Tirailleurs Corses (1 battalion)
(3) Tirailleurs du Po (1 battalion)
(4) 1 8-pdr artillery battery
27th, 39th, 59th, 69th and 76th Line
(2) 1 horse 6-pdr battery
(*) 4th battalions of recent levy.
CAVALRY: MONTBRUN's
DIVISION(**)
5th & 7th Hussars, 11th Chasseurs
1st, 2nd & 12th Chasseurs
8th Hussars, 16th Chasseurs
1 6-pdr horse battery
(**) All regiments 3 squadrons strong
RESERVE ARTILLERY
General Hanique
2 12-pdr batteries
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