I, as Frederick the Great, engaged Paddy Griffith -- who played the part of Austrian General Daun -- in an interesting double-blind map exercise. This was hosted and umpired by a member of the scimitar Wargaming Club of Nunneaton(?), England. The umpire provided his own 25mm figures, some of the best painted, most detailed figures (Front Rank and Pax Britannica [now RSM]) that I have ever seen.
The year is 1762. Frederick's objective, i.e., my objective, was the Silesian town of Schweidnitz and my force marched on it from the north-east. I had 40,000 Prussian troops and another 20,000 Russians to assist. I suspected that I outnumbered the Austrians, but only confirmed this at game's end.
Our host laid out the area of interest on my map, and placed on it only those enemy forces which, in his judgement, he thought I could detect. Paddy had a similar map, and neither of us could see the other's layout. We were shielded by a large screen placed down the center of the table.
I divided my forces into three corps... two Prussian and one Russian. This, of course, brought forth raucous comments to the effect that I was before my time, that Frederick had no corps, that corps hadn't been invented yet. I ignored the scoffers; if they weren't intelligent enough to organize their troops into corps, more's the pity.
Each map move on the table-top was about 8 inches long, representing one day's travel, some 15 to 25 miles, after which we camped during the night. The umpire was interested, each time we moved our armies, in having us detail the formation of march... by lines or by wings.
This would have come into play if either of us had been attacked while en route, but it turned out that all our battles were fought with both sides set up and ready. A rough diagram of the two types of formation is given below:
I soon received an indication of the worthiness of the 20,000 Russian troops under my command, and the trust I could place in them. They constituted the left flank of my army, and I ordered them to cross a small creek, and to advance and secure the small town of Rodau.
I immediately was handed a message by the umpire to the effect:
- From General Chernyshev: The Empress would not
want to risk advancing her forces against the main Austrian army.
So much for the bold Russians. Which meant that as my right flank and center Prussian corps steadily advanced, my left flank Russian corps hung back.
Each move constituted a full day's campaign effort, and we were required to set out our forces in position on the table showing our overnight encampment. Although I'm not absolutely certain, it seemed that Herr General Paddy Von und Tzu Griffith continually sent out his cavalry to harass my flanks. I had my own cavalry on the flanks and I heard my worthy Austrian opponent discussing the situation with the umpire behind the screen: "... mutter, mutter... down the road... mutter, mutter... this bit of cavalry over here... mutter, mutter..." But since the umpire never sauntered over to my side of the field, I assume the harassing efforts fell flat.
On the fourth campaign day, the umpire informed me that the Austrians had massed their entire force on their left flank, and were making a determined attack on the town of Guhlau where the right flank of my army was anchored.
Unfortunately for Von und Tzu Griffith, he chose the wrong flank to attack. On my right were my reliable Prussian troops, while on my left were Chernyshev and his do-nothing Russians. If the Austrian attack had gone in against the Russians, the campaign would have ended right there.
The umpire, in his adjudication of the combat, came to my side of the screen, asked me to toss a 10-sided die, went to Paddy's side, had him toss a die, then back to me, another die... etc., etc. All very confusing, since I had no idea if good things or bad things were happening.
But suddenly, good news: "At the end of the first day of battle, the Prussian right flank still holds Guhlau despite the all-out Austrian attack."
Thus ended the glorious battle of Guhlau, for the next morning, when my troops awoke -- the fifth day of the campaign -- the umpire informed me that, overnight, the Austrians had pulled back, and the battlefield was mine.
And so Frederick's forces continued their relentless advance toward Schweidnitz, Prussians on the right, Russians on the left. I noted that, except for some skirmishing, there seemed to be little Austrian resistance against my advance.
In writing out my orders each day, which were handed to the umpire for proper "interpretation", I made sure that Chernyshev was aware of my displeasure with his Russian contingent. A typical order would read:
- General Chernyshev, you twit. You are ordered to advance on the town of Weidenrau, leading your wimpy troops against the enemy. Don't force me to tell the Empress what I really think of your yeller-bellied, snake-eyed, slobber-jawed, low-down, card-carrying Commie troops.
This, of course, may have been overdoing it a trifle, but I wanted to exaggerate a wee bit to get my point across. No use.
Striking Distance
Frederick's forces finally arrived within striking distance of Schweidnitz, the main objective. I fanned out the Prussian army for a three pronged attack... one corps to come in directly from the north, one from the north-east, and my dependable Russians from the east.
The representation, on the map, of the engaged forces, was rather symbolic. Each of my "corps", for example, had some four to six stands of infantry, and a like number of cavalry. This was sufficient to display the type of march formation, or, in battle, the disposition of the troops.
For this final phase of the campaign, the grand attack on Schweidnitz, I felt fairly comfortable. Even with the do-nothing Russians, I thought that with a few rolls of the die, the city would be mine.
Hah!
As I was writing my final attack orders, the umpire approached. He handed me a copy of Christopher Duffy's FREDERICK THE GREAT, opened it and said: "Read this... it may affect your plans."
What I read (page 236) was:
- ... Frederick must now be deprived of nearly one-third of his army. On 18 July, Chernyshev came to him with the news that... the Russian corps was under orders to leave the theatre of war.
With friends like the Russians, who needs enemies? But Frederick had one more card to play... albeit a minor card.
According to Duffy, Frederick closeted himself with Chernyshev and persuaded him to remain for three more days, and to "fill out the line of battle, though in a non-combatant role."
Von und Tzu Griffith, on the other side of the screen, knew nothing of this sudden turn of events. At least, I think he knew nothing. All he heard was a sharp intake of breath and some cursing from the Prussian side of the table. Of course, if Von und Tzu had memorized Duffy's book and what was disclosed on page 236, I was in trouble. And so for my grand attack on Schweidnitz, I had two functioning Prussian corps and one comatose Russian contingent, now transformed into a troop of observers.
Undeterred by the perfidity of my erstwhile Russian allies, I ordered the advance on Schweidnietz.
And it turned out that Von und Tzu Griffith had taken several days of the campaign to dig his troops in... to build a veritable Stalingrad of the city. As I noted before, the Austrians had not put up a great deal of resistance against the oncoming Prussians, and this was the reason. Most of the Austrian manpower had been called back to the city, told to turn in their muskets and then been given an assortment of pickaxes and shovels.
Von und Tzu had created, around the outskirts of Schweidnitz, a series of bunkers, air-raid shelters, barbed-wire-lined trenches, fortified concrete block-houses, underground silos... he was definitely well dug in.
Pfah! What were some hastily thrown-up defenses to Frederick The Great?
And so my valiant Prussians advanced on Schweidnitz. Once again, the umpire had us toss a couple of 10-sided dice, murmured a few incantations... Helas! I was driven back! I felt in my bones that the defection of the Russian force had deprived me of the one critical die roll that would have saved the day.
Not only was I driven back, but at campaign's end, I discovered that Von und Tzu Griffith had previously detached all his cavalry (only his infantry were assigned to defend Schweidnitz) and was using them to harass my supply lines, now deep in Silesian territory.
As a final note, Duffy's book indicated that, even with the Russian pull-back, Frederick accomplished his goal, in contrast to the fact that I didn't accomplish mine.
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