During the 1815 campaign. Napoleon's strategic concept of operations was to mass an overwhelming arm \. defeat the Allies in Belgium. while small auxiliary French Corps delayed the Austro-Russian invasion of France. Once the knockout blow was delivered to the Belgium forces. Napoleon's Grand Armee would then swing to the South East and defeat first Barclay de Tolly's Russian and then Schwarttenburg's Austro German armies. One of the Corps that Napoleon was counting on to hold up Schwartzenburg's advance was Armee Rhine under the command of the able Major Gen. Count Rapp. During the ensuing campaign Rapp cleverly delayed his more numerous opponents, but with time and distance running out, the Rhine Army decided to make a final stand along the Souffel River, 22 miles north of Strasburg. There on June 27th the lead element of the allied advance, Prince Eugen yon Wurtemburg's 3rd. Corps (Schwartzenburo's) collided with the French defense. Though word of the Emperor's defeat at Waterloo had arrived, French morale remained high. as they waited for the Germans to make a move. It came at 1500 hours the 28 of June - Wurtemburg divided his army into three columns, and clumsily attacked. His corps was assigned the task of capturing the bridges and village of Soffelweyersheim. A Hessian division was given the honor of capturing the foot bridge at Mundolsheim, while an Austrian division was to take the connecting bridge and fords to the two parts of the town of Lampertheim. Sadly. Eugen did not have the tactical knowledge to pull off the three assaults simultaneously. The two lower assaults bogged down, in the face of 16th division's tenacious defense, while his Wurtemburger's continued to attack piecemeal up the main road to Souffelwersheim. After several hours. they finally got over the river and took the town As the victorious Germans advanced. their horse in the lead_ the French 15th division swung their left flank back, and enfladed the disorganized column of Wurtemburg troops with artillery and musket fire. About the same moment. a brigade of cavalry (7th dragoons and 6th Cuirassiers) under the command of Count Rapp himself, crashed into the head of the large column. The lead regiments of light horse broke. recoiling into the infantry, which were swept away back across the bridge. where momentary trapped. they took their greatest loss. The remaining debris of the 3rd. Wurtemburg Corps continued the rout, until they reached town of Hagenau, where they ran into the lead group of 30,000 Russians of Tolly's army. These steady troops rallied the fugitives. Prinz Eugen's other two divisions retired from the Soufel until they linked up with the allied army. This battle was the last victory of the war. 700 French casualties fell. but they caused the loss of 4000 Germans and delayed the Allied advance for a few days. Terrain Battlefield is gently rolling terrain with small patches of woods. The town and villages arc of masonry and stone construction. The roads are hard packed dirt w ith a sturdy stone bridge at Souffelweyersheim and wooden foot bridges at the other two towns. The Souffel River is unfordable to infantry. except around the river's bend at Lampertheim and further west. Units that ford must be in march column. Lose 1/2 movement and arc disorganized. Cavalry may ford anywhere. There is no off board movement allowed from the East edge of the board due to the presence of the unfordable III River. Victory: The allies must take all three river towns. and get a division sized force across and maintained on the other side of the Souffel. French must hold on to two of the river towns, keep the allies from establishing and maintaining a division size force on the French side of the Souffel. All other results at 2000 is a draw. Time: The battle lasts from 1500-2000 hours (5 hours). After this darkness falls. {Thanks to HMGS East and its ncwsletter Editor Gray for allowing us to reprint his article.) ORDER OF BATTLE La SOUFFEL ALLIED 3rd, Army Corps Wurtemburg Corps (General of Infants, Franquemont) Division of Cavalry (Lt. Gen. Prinz Adam von Wurtemburg) Brigade- Herzog Ludwig 2 and Prinz Adam 4. Lt. horse. 2 Regs. 4 squadrons each, avg 350 men per squad. Brigade- Kronprintz Dr. =3, and Dillen's mounted Jaegers 5. 2 Regs. 4 squadrons each, avg 400 men per squad. Infantry Division (Lt. Gen von Koch) 1st infantry Brigade: Herzog Wilhelm 2. 1 Regs. 2 bns each, avg 600 men per bn. 2nd Infantry Brigade: Franquemont 4, Prinz Fredrich 5 2 Regs. 2 bns each. avg 600 per bn. 3rd Infantry Brigade:Non Pfuhl 7 and 3. 2 Regs. 2 bns each. avg 650 per bn. 4th Infant Brigade Kronprinz 6 and 8. 2 Regs,. 2 bns, 700 per bn. Infantry Light Brigade Konig Jagers 9. Lt. Reg. 10, Shutzen Reg. 11 3 Reg.: 1I on each. avg. 500 per bn. Artillery: 1 12= battery-6 guns. 2 6 # batteries-4 guns 2 how. per battery-. 2 6 # horse batteries-4 guns each. Austrian Division: (Feldmarschal Palombini) Blankenstein Hussar Reg. 6 (12 squad. 130 men each) 1st Infantry Brigade. Reutz-Greitz 18. Vogelsang 47. 2 Reg. 3 bns each. avg 900 men per bn. 2nd Infantry Brigade: Belegarde =44. Bianchv =63. 2 Reg. 4 bns each. avg 850 per bn. Artillery: 1 12 # foot battery-4 guns. 2 how. 2 6 # brigade batteries-8 guns per batter. Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt. Division (Prinz Emil von Hessen-Darmstadt) 1st Libeoarde Brigade: Leibgare Garde-fusilier. Ebgrossherzog. 3 Reg. 2 bns each. avg 750 per bn. 2nd Brigade: Lieb, Prinz Emil. 2 Reg. 2 bns each. aNg 750 per bn. Artillery 2 6 # batteries-6 guns, 2 how. per battery, FRANCE ARMEE RHINE (V CORPS D`ARMEE) Maj. Gen. Count Jean Rapp 15th Division (Maj. Gen. Rottembu g) 1st Brigade: 40th, 50th Ligne. 2 Reg. 3 bus each, avg 500 men per bn. 2nd Brigade: 55th. 104th Ligne. 2 Reg. 3 bns 55th, 2 bns 104th. avg 500 men per bn. 16th Division (Maj. Gen. Abert) 1st Brigade: 10th Legere. 32nd Ligne. 2 Reg. 10th: 4 bns. 32nd: 2 bns, avg 500 men per bn. 2nd Brigade: 18th, 57th Ligne. 2 Reg. 3 bns each, avg 500 men per bn. 17th Division (Maj. Gen. Grandjean) 1st Brigade: 103rd, 36th Ligne. 2 Reg. 103rd: 2 bns, 36th: 3 bns, avg 500 men per bn. 2nd Brigade: 7th Legere. 58th Ligne. 2 Reg. 3 bus each, avg 500 men per bn. Cavalry Division: (Maj. Gen. Count Merlin) 1st Brigade: 2nd, 7th Chasseur a Chevel 2 Lt. Cav. Reg. 3 squadrons avg 120 per squad. 2nd Brigade: 7th 19th Dr. Composite Reg. 4 squadrons avg 120 each 6th Cuirassiers. 4 squadrons. avg 120 per squad. 13th Lancers 3 squads. Avg 120. Artillery 1 12 # foot battery-6 guns. 2 how. 2 6# foot batteries-6 guns, 2 how. 1 horse 6# battery-6 guns 2 how. Back to Table of Contents The Messenger December 1995 Back to The Messenger List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by HMGS/PSW. 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