2 June 1813 – Northern Germany – Day 2
Prussians
attack Harzburg
In the
north French retreat and Prussians occupy Vienenburg
In the
centre Prussians attack Harzburg
In the south French advance towards border
The battle of Harzburg
– end of move 12
Prussians
ignore the flanks and attack the town
French
fight a defensive battle to take advantage of their strong position
This
allows the Prussian artillery to deploy at close range and batter the town
defenders
Just before nightfall the infantry attack and rout the garrison.
Comment
The French really should have won this battle.
Napoleon
commanded the 1st French army, and it included the 1st
Old Guard corps.
Jan was so
confident of success that she decided on a defensive battle
Napoleon
commanded a small reserve of one infantry and one cavalry brigade
The town was
strongly held, and the flanks would deploy level with the town
The Prussians
would be bombarded as they advanced
It was not
anticipated that the French would need to counter attack
As Prussian
commander I created a strong reserve of 2 artillery and two elite infantry
brigades
This was placed
to the left of the main road in the centre, and would be the main attack force
On the right 4th
corps would take a defensive position and pin the French left
In the centre
the weakened 5th corps would support the attack on the town
On the left 6th
corps would take the farm and pin the French right
All went well
until the end of move 10.
On both flanks
fighting was restricted to cavalry engagements and artillery fire
By move 6 the
Prussian reserve artillery was firing on the garrison at short range
The French
artillery on the flanks quickly concentrated on the Prussian gunners
But most of this
artillery fire was very ineffective.
During move 11
both French garrisons received 10% casualties, but passed their morale test
On move 12 they
again received 10% casualties, both failed their morale test and were shaken
The waiting
Prussian infantry stormed the town during the last move of the game
The shaken
garrison both routed, and took the supporting brigades behind the town with
them
The French
decision to fight a defensive battle was a sound one, and it should have worked
The town was
held by two elite infantry brigades, one in each half of the town
They were
supported by two conscript brigades behind the town
The flanks were
strongly held, and suffered little during the battle
The flaw was
relying on conscript brigades in support to counter attack if necessary
This was a risk
which had to be taken, because better reserve would have weakened the flanks
It was just bad luck that at the critical moment the dice throw caused the conscripts to rout
Thistlebarrow,
ReplyDeleteWow! The Prussians beating the French under Napoleon is a real turn up!
I read the more detailed account on your 1813 Campaign Diary blog and found the photos and the description really helped me to understand what actually happened during the battle.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
DeleteThanks for your comment
Glad that you find the battle report on the 1813 campaign blog useful. I feel I have to put a summary on this blog as I suspect most readers here do not read the campaign blog. But it can never be more than a brief summary. Good to hear that the actual battle report makes more sense.
It is always difficult to decide whether to use Napoleon and his Garde in wargames, and if so how to use them. For most of the period the Garde were used entirely as a reserve, and hardly ever committed to battle. And we are all aware that Napoleon never lost a battle - at least until Waterloo.
But when I created the campaign I wanted to be able to use every figure I have, and that included Napoleon and the Garde. But I went further and decided that they would be elite, but not super human. I was thinking more of the Garde in 1814, when they were more of a fighting force than in earlier campaigns. But it does feel wrong for Napoleon to lose to Blucher again and again!
best regards
Paul