Wismar Campaign – Day 7

Campaign Map

Third Prussian army left campaign
Battle of Wismar

1st Prussian Army – defend Wismar
2nd Prussian Army – redeploy at Schwerin
3rd Prussian Army – left campaign

3rd French Army – attack Wismar
1st French Army – retreat to Gadebusch
2nd French Army – regroup and reorganise at Ludwigslust

Battle of Wismar – Move 12

The city was the district capitol and the main Russian supply base
It was also the campaign objective

The Prussians deployed just west of the city in a strong defensive position
This consisted of woods on the left, an inn in the centre and a hill on the right

Each of these was a game objective and the winner would be the one who held at least two of the three at the end of 12 moves.

Both sides started the battle with only minimum casualties.
The French had three cavalry brigades to the Prussian two
However the French also had 10% casualties on one of their three corps artillery

The main French attack was in the centre, where Murat formed a cavalry reserve of the brigades from 7th and 8th corps. He would use this reserve to support 8th corps attack on the inn in the centre.

The French artillery was very effective, and caused casualties to the Prussians in the inn and the woods in the early moves of the game. This allowed the French infantry to take the inn and the top left section of the woods.

1st Prussian corps deployed in the middle of the hill on the right. They were out of sight of 7th French corps artillery, who engaged the infantry between the inn and the hill. The French infantry attacked the hill and a prolonged skirmish, musket and finally hand to hand fight took place. The Prussians fought hard, but eventually abandoned the hill and retreated to the road on the right of the city.

In the centre the reserve cavalry under Murat played an important role. The leading brigade routed the gunners, but was in turn routed b y the Prussian cuirassiers. However the second French brigade routed the Prussian cavalry. This allowed 8th corps to deploy between the inn and the city

9th corps occupied the top left quarter of the woods, and sent two brigades to attack the top right quarter. This was held by a Prussian grenadier brigade, who fought off both French brigades. The Prussians then counter attacked and occupied the whole of the woods.

At night fall the French held two of the three game objectives, namely the inn and the hill on the right. The Prussians held the woods, which was the third objective. They also held the city, but this was not a game objective. The French thus won the game.

The French have lost 6 infantry and 1 cavalry casualties (2500 men)
The Prussians have lost 9 infantry, 1 cavalry and 5 artillery casualties (4600 men)

Comments

This is the first time that we have allocated game objectives, rather than the campaign objective – which was the city of Wismar. This forced the Prussians to hold the three objectives in the centre of the table, rather than retreat half way through the game to hold the city or town.

For some time I have been frustrated that the attacking army would take casualties approaching the initial defence positions, only to have the defenders retreat before they could be attacked. In a game of 12 moves there would then be insufficient moves left to allow the attacker to regroup and pursue the retreating defenders.

By the simple method of naming three objectives in the centre of the table, and making the winner of the game the one who held at least two of the three at the end of the game, I seem to have solved this problem.

Strange how the answer to a long standing problem is so often very obvious once identified.