Albacete Campaign – Day 7

Campaign Map on 14 September 1813

The guerrilla actions have reversed the Spanish defeats

They have severely disrupted the whole French lines of supply

They have also captured the vital supply column.

                                                      

Giron orders the Spanish field army to hold their positions and resupply

Suchet orders his three corps to attack Molina

The French win the battle of Molina and the Spanish retreat south

Move 6 Battle of Molina

          

On the left the Italians attack the Spanish held hill

The Spanish infantry is posted out of sight behind the crest

The Italians suffer as they approach, and their cavalry rout

When the infantry reach the crest and Spanish infantry must test morale

All three Spanish infantry brigades fail and rout

The strongest French corps is in the centre.

They screen the village and move to engage 3^rd Spanish corps

Their artillery opens fire on the village and rout the garrison

Their cavalry charge and rout 2^nd corps artillery

On the right the Poles advance between the Spanish held hill and the village

The Spanish infantry are out of sight behind the crest of the hill

As the Poles advance between them and the village they retereat

The white stars on the map indicate brigades in rout

There are seven Spanish brigades and one French brigade

The French win the battle

Campaign Notes

 Suchet is faced with two desperate options

One he can retreat.   With his lines of supply is chaos he will face serious supply problems.   But he can re-establish his depots and supply services.   He will however have to abandon all of his achievements in the campaign to date.  

Two he can attack and hope to quickly defeat the main Spanish Army.  If he is successful he will suffer slight attrition problems, but will have won the campaign.   If he fails he runs the risk of losing his whole army.

He decides to attack.

The Spanish deploy their infantry on the reverse slopes of the two hills.

This protects them from the French artillery.

However they must test their morale when the enemy reach the crest

Each brigade rolls 1D6

Plus 1 for British or class A

Minus 1 for class C

Minus 1 for each casualty

1 – Rout

2 – Shaken

3 – Disordered

4/5/6 - OK

It will be noted that this type of deployment should not be attempted with poor troops

And is particularly risky if they also have casualties

In this case the Spanish gunners passed the test, but all three infantry brigades routed

This led directly to the Spanish losing the battle.