Once more it's the spring of 1809 and the Austrian offensive is still in full swing. Our imaginary battle, or more exactly raid, covered here takes place on the Austrian- Bohemian border with Saxony.
We have taken much liberty with history but tried to stick as much as possible to historical possibilities with regard to the mix of troops involved: as many landwehr, landsturm, 4th and 5th French battalions of recruits and provisional cavalry units as possible, and little artillery. The result was a fun game full of tactical surprises as raw troops panicked in the small engagements.
I. THE AUSTRIAN MISSION AND FORCES
The primary objective was a raid to destroy everything possible, e.g., burning villages, towns, farms, destroying bridges, etc., and inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy's troops. The strategic purpose was the destruction of two bridges on the Kissbach River, one being in the town of Rohrstadt.
With the exception of some Grenz (two battalions), one infantry brigade (six battalions), one chevauleger regiment (eight squadrons) and three artillery batteries, the bulk of the Austrian forces consisted of landwehr, freikorps and cavalry depot troops.
The Austrian commander divided his command into three independent columns, each of which entered the field at three separate points (A, B, and C on the map).
Column A was commanded by GeneralMajor M. von Ende, and consisted of Brigade Henneberg (six line battalions of IR 35 and IR 42, and one 6-par. brigade battery), and a provisional light brigade under the Duke of Brunswick. The latter consisted of the Brunswick Black Corps (two small light infantry battalions, one rifle company, four squadrons of hussars, and a four-gun 6-par. cavalry battery), part of the Kurhessische Legion (one 400-man light battalion, one dragoon and one hussar squadron) and the Franconian Legion (three companies of jagers and three squadrons of uhlans). In addition, a 12-par. battery was attached for bridge busting.
Column A's first objective was to take or destroy the bridge at Point D and then break through the enemy's line and possibly take or destroy the bridge at Rohrstadt. The overall Austrian commander, Feld-Marshal Leutenant von Raiff, accompanied this column.
Column B consisted of Brigade Waldstein. This brigade comprised six Bohemian landwehr battalions of various strengths with no artillery. Oberst Graf Waldstein's primary mission was to take the town of Ickersburg, burn it, and continue moving forward toward Geschutzberg to cover the right flank of von Ende's column.
Column C was commanded by FML Radivojevich and consisted of two brigades. The first brigade under Oberst Graf Kinsky consisted of eight squadrons of his Rosenberg chevaulegers and eight depot squadrons of hussars supported by a 6-par. cavalry battery. The second brigade under GM Vecsey consisted of two Grenz battalions of GR 12, the 3rd Moravian Volunteer Battalion and three more battalions of Bohemian landwehr. A 3-par. brigade battery was attached to Vecsey's brigade.
Column C was to quickly move down the road to the village of Feldhausen, burn it, and press on to the town of Rohrstadt.
II. FRENCH AND ALLIED FORCES AND MISSION
The French troops and their Allies were under the command of General Vandamme (Bill Jessop) as the Saxon troops were away and the Westphalians were in no hurry to come to Saxony. Their mission was to defend their turf and, above all, to prevent the destruction of the town of Rohrstadt and its bridges. On the previous day, Vandamme had been warned by his vedettes that a substantial Austrian force was heading his way.
Vandamme's forces consisted of parts of the Wurttemberg army, three brigades of French 4th and 5th battalions (conscripts), some Rheinbund units, some landsturm, a provisional chasseur regiment and one provisional dragoon brigade, both cavalry units consisted of depot squadrons without much experience.
Vandamme had a lot of territory to defend. He garrisoned the fortified bridge and bridgehead at Point D with General Lesuire's brigade (three battalions and one 12-par. battery), with the mission to hold that bridge at all costs.
The bulk of the Wurttembergers were placed near Point E facing Point C. This force included the light brigade of four battalions of jagers and light infantry, a cavalry brigade of two light cavalry regiments and on the right flank a brigade of line infantry (four battalions). This was supported by two foot and one horse battery of Wurttemberg artillery.
The town of Ickersburg was defended by a single battalion of landsturm.
Facing Point A, at Point F was placed the squadrons of chasseurs (provisional regiments made of depots squadrons), and six battalions of French recruits under General Ducon supported by a foot battery.
In the center were the dragoons and another brigade.
The town of Rohrstadt was garrisoned with four Rheinbund battalions.
III. THE EARLY ACTIONS
The Austrians were very active from the beginning at 7:00 a.m. Their cavalry entered at Point C and immediately came into contact with the Wurttemberg cavalry.
This resulted in a series of furious cavalry charges and countercharges lasting for two hours on the narrow frontage of the road to Feldhausen. The eight squadrons of Wurttemberg cavalry got the upper hand over the sixteen squadrons of Austrian cavalry.
In the meantime, The Moravian volunteers pushed the Wurttembergers out of the first small wood north of the road. However, the following attack on the woods to the left of the freikorps by the 1st battalion of GR 12 was handily repulsed and routed by the rest of the Wurttemberg light brigade. Fortunately, the Austrian landwehr did not panic with them.
After this trashing (about 9:30 a.m.), that flank became very quiet as everyone was busy licking their wounds and reforming.
As the town of Ickersburg was only defended by a single battalion, Column B encountered very little resistance, and in an assault led by three landwehr battalions, Waldstein had taken the town by 8:10 a.m. and promptly set it afire.
The defeated battalion had taken refuge in the woods behind the town, and unfortunately, it was quickly flushed out of the woods by the advance of two battalions of landwehr. The Austrians carefully continued their advance.
By 9:00 a.m., their left rested on the right hand of the ridge, and their right had pushed into the woods behind the town. On the right flank, two battalions (1st Leitmeritz and 5th Bunzlau) encountered a battalion of Wurttemberg fusiliers, which, after a tough fight, they ejected from the woods.
Within a half hour, the Wurttemberg brigade commander counter-attacked with two battalions of line infantry and in a twostage combat pushed the Austrians back out of this wood. This panicked an additional force of landwehr which had just arrived. Valor dictated that they turn around immediately and head for the Bohemian hills.
Column A
Column A was also very active and the Brunswkkers pushed back the three squadrons of provisional chasseurs with liHle difficulty. Brunswick's brigade progressed along the road from Point A to the Lowenhoff Inn (called center road hereaHer). By 9:00 a.m., it had attacked the woods to the left of the road and routed the battalion of French conscripts that attempted to defend the woods.
At the same time, two battalions of General Ducon's brigade were pushed back in an attempt to defend the ridge Z which had been attacked by two battalions of Austrian regular infantry. Ducon reformed his brigade between the woods and Geschutzberg on the center road. His left was secured by General Lesuire's brigade and his right by the three squadrons of hussars that had deployed on southern edges of the woods.
By 9:40 a.m., the Austrian 12-par. battery had deployed and opened fire against the bridge at Point D. They were screened by freikorps cavalry but no challenge was made. Their howitzer shells and several 12-par. shots found their mark and by 10:00 a.m. the wooden bridge was set afire by some lucky howitzer shells.
General Lesuire promptly retreated his two battalions across the burning bridge but was unable to extinguish the fire. Lesuire sent a message to Vandamme to inform him that the Austrians made no attempt to cross the river and were heading for Rohrstadt; he requested new orders (that message reached Vandamme at 10:20 a.m.). Meanwhile, the Austrians promptly limbered their 12-par. battery, sent back a report, and requested orders.
To the right of Brunswick's brigade, the line infantry had started moving on the center road by 9:50 a.m. At 10:10 a.m., they attacked Ducon's weak brigade of two battalions with two regular battalions. Ducon's troops routed and lost the artillery battery. Now only the Rheinbund brigade blocked the road (fortunately for Vandamme, the Austrians were unaware of this).
In the meantime, a French brigade deployed along the center road and prepared to face the onslaught of the Austrian infantry. Also, Lesuire's brigade arrived with its 12pdr. baHery and prepared to block the road. The dragoons had supported the Wurttemberg cavalry on the French left which contributed a great deal to the stalemate developing between the French left and Austrian Column C.
At this point, FML Raiff received orders to pull out from Saxony (actually, we had run out of time for this game). Reluctantly, he issued orders for all three columns to return to Bohemia.
Geschutzberg Game Photos (82K)
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