Sunday 28 April 2019

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 3rd Spanish corps
Their artillery opens fire on the village and rout the garrison
Their cavalry charge and rout 2nd 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.



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