Branau Campaign – Day 2

1 April1813 – Southern Germany – Day 2

In the north 1^st Austrian army attack 7^th Bavarian army at Bayerbach

In the centre 2^nd Austrian and 8^th Bavarian armies deploy at Branau

In the south 3^rd Austrian and 9^th French armies fight a second day at Egelsberg

Battle of Egglesberg move 4

 

Battle of Egglesberg – Day 2

During the night routed brigades were removed

Everyone else was allowed to redeploy within the square they were in

None were allowed to move closer to the enemy

The French held the southern half of the town, the Austrians the northern half

The Austrians were allowed to fully occupy their half

The battle started with both sides in very close contact

On the left the French infantry advanced

The Austrian cavalry moved forward to charge them

But the supporting French cavalry counter charged

The Austrians lost the melee and routed

This allowed the French infantry to continue their advance

 

In the centre the French guns were within close range of the enemy held half of the town.    As soon as they opened fire, the Austrian infantry started to withdraw.   But they suffered too many casualties, broke and ran.

 

On the right the French infantry entered the woods

As they neared the northern edge of the woods they were attacked by an elite jager brigade.   The French won the melee and the jagers routed, taking a landwehr brigade in reserve with them.

 

By lunchtime the French held all of the town and the woods

The Austrian commander ordered his army to break contact and retreat.

Battle of Bayerbach move 12

 Battle of Bayerbach

9^th Bavarian corps held the town at the start of the game

They sent two of their four infantry brigades to garrison the town

The rest of the corps deployed to the right of the town

 

10^th Bavarian and 1^st and 2^nd Austrian corps all arrived at the start of the game

 

1^st Austrian corps artillery bombarded the town at short range

Two infantry brigades then stormed north Bayerbach

They quickly routed the two Bavarian brigades in the town

However they were unable to take south Bayerbach

10^th Bavarian corps took and held the southern half of the town

2^nd Austrian corps attacked the remainder of 9^th Bavarian corps

They won the initial cavalry melee and forced the Bavarian infantry into square

The much stronger Austrian corps quickly broke and routed the rest of 9^th corps

 

Comments

Most unusual to have two battles in one day

 

Day two of Egglesberg opened with both sides in close contact

The battle was quickly decided and ended in a French victory

 

Bayerbach was a much more interesting battle.

9^th Bavarian corps was outnumbered by 1^st and 2^nd Austrian corps

They had to hold both halves of the town

This allowed the Austrian artillery to fire on the garrison at close range

An infantry attack quickly routed the two Bavarian brigades in the town

 

The arrival of 10^th Bavarian corps brought balance to the battle

They quickly took south Bayerbach and held it until nightfall

 

9^th Bavarian corps lost two infantry brigades in the town]

The rest of the corps was outnumbered by 2^nd Austrian corps

They suffered heavy casualties and four of their six brigades were routed

 

Having to fight two battles in one campaign day meant we spent more time than usual at the wargames table.   Each battles takes about a week to wargame.  So there was a two week break from the campaign, which is a long time.

 

I would much prefer to fight just one battle each campaign day.   The campaign is still fresh in my mind when I transfer the result back to the campaign map.

 

But Egglesberg was too close to call at the end of the first day of battle.  I felt it was right to fight a second day, even though I expected that it would not last long.

 

I could have delayed Bayerbach to day three of the campaign.  But there was no sound campaign reason to do so.   Common sense might well suggest that it really didn’t matter, as it is a solo campaign. 

 

But it is important to me that both each battle/wargame and each campaign day make sense and react to defeats and supply problems.   Otherwise there would be no sense if running the campaign in the first place.