14 May 1813 –
North Spain – Day 4
Soult orders 10th Army
to attack Comillas
11th French Army rally and resupply at Reinosa
12th French Army retreat to Soncillo
1st British Army defend Comillas
4th Spanish Army regroup and resupply at Cabezon
2nd British Army occupy Aguilar and take possession of 2 days
supplies
8 guerrilla capture convoy to Medina with 2 days supplies
10 guerrilla attack town of Medina, forced to retreat with no casualties
Battle of Aguilar
The French plan was to pin the centre and south, and attack Comillas in
the north
Soult commanded an attack force of 2 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery
brigades
He defeated the British covering force, but left it too late to take the
town
In the centre 10th French corps defeated 1st British corps, but were unable to take the
farm
In the south 20th Westphalian corps defeated and routed 2nd
British corps
The British lost 7 infantry, 5 cavalry and 1 artillery (3400 casualties)
The French lost 6 infantry. 2 cavalry and 1 artillery (2700 casualties
10 British brigades were routed, 5 French brigades
Comment
Despite having the advantage of attacking, the French have lost the first two battles of this campaign
For most of this game it looked like they would lose the third also
The main attack was against the town, and the French had a mixed force of infantry, cavalry and artillery
The British has a smaller force of infantry and cavalry, including one Spanish brigade
It was necessary for the French artillery to weaken the enemy cavalry, and this took longer than expected
It was move 6 before they were able to advance to attack, and they did not have sufficient time to take the town
In the centre 10th French corps took casualties as they approached the farm
They were unable to take the farm, but they defeated the British troops outside
In the south 20th Westphalian corps were outnumbered and had to advance through the woods
Their artillery were routed before they could even clear the woods
However the 2nd British corps gunners routed when the nearby 1st corps gunners routed into them
This allowed the Westphalian infantry to press home their attack and they routed the British infantry
The game was very enjoyable, because the advantage kept moving from one side to the other
And right up to the last move either side could have won.
In the campaign the guerrilla are starting to have an effect on the French lines of supply
This problem was eased by the general French retreat following their earlier defeat
Despite this victory things are not looking good for the French
However the British were deployed to defend, and are having difficulties following up after winning the first two battles
Thistlebarrow,
ReplyDeleteI thought that Soult might have achieved a more decisive victory, but reading your battle report one gets the impression that the without the effectiveness of the Westphalians, the British might just have won by a narrow margin.
With the guerrillas already interfering with the French supply system, one is hard pressed to see how the French are going to win this campaign without an overwhelming victory in the very near future.
It’s an interesting conundrum for the French commander to solve.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment
Despite their best efforts the French have failed to achieve the initial sucess which they need if they are to win this campaign phase.
They started with the element of surprise, and attacked the unprepared Spanish. This should have resulted in a victory, and forced Wellington to abandon trying to hold the border. However it failed, and it was the French which had to retreat.
After three battles all six armies will have suffered casualties, which will have an effect on future battles. Having lost two of the first three battles, the French will have suffered more casualties. In addition their centre of operations is in Sandander district, not Llanes district. And after four days of operations the Spanish guerrilla bands are starting to have an effect.
The French could still reverse this trend, but are unlikely to have more than three battles to do so. Given their present deployment they will be hard pushed to force Wellington back into Llanes district, let alone take the campaign objective of Llanes itself.
As always, anything can happen (and usually does). So I hesitate to predict a winner. Indeed I always restrict myself to current operations on a daily basis.
It will be interesting to see whether the French can maintain the campaign normal of one battle each day. To do each army has to regroup on day 1, resupply and reorganise on day 2 and be in position to attack on day 3. Never as easy as it sounds, and in this campaign asking a lot given the Frenh set backs so far.
Makes for an interesting campaign mind
regards
Paul