Halle Campaign in Central Germany

 

Campaign map of Germany

There are three campaign areas in Germany
In the north First French Army Group and the Prussian army
In the centre Second French Army Group and the Russian army
In the south Third French Army Group and the Austrian army
This is the eleventh campaign phase to be fought in Germany

Campaign map of central Germany

There are three regions in central Germany
Dusseldorf region is the reserve area for Second French Army Group
Dresden region is the reserve area for the Russian army
The campaign is fought in Erfurt region

There are nine districts in Erfurt region, each one a campaign phase
The area from Nordhausen district to Halle district is the campaign area for this phase

Campaign map for Halle phase

This map is used for campaign movement and resupply
It shows the location of the nine French and nine Russian corps
It also shows the movement of supply columns.
There are 12 towns on the map and each one is a possible battle/wargame
Each town has 9 squares, and each one is a scenic square on the wargames table

Example of a Russian corps

Wittgenstein has nine corps under his command, all are Russian. All nine corps have four infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade and corps artillery. Russian artillery are more powerful than the French, but their cavalry weaker.

Example of a French corps

Davout also has nine corps under his command. There is one young guard corps, five French corps and one Polish, Italian and Vistula. The non French corps have more conscript troops than the French ones.

Comments

I always think of central Germany as the least interesting of the five campaign areas. In north Germany there is Napoleon and the Imperial Garde. In south Germany the very colourful Bavarian and Austrian armies. In North Spain Wellington with British, Portuguese and Spanish corps. In south Spain the colourful, but not very effective, Spanish army, plus of course the bands of irregular guerrillas. By comparison there are the all green uniforms of the Russians and the equally uninspiring blue of the French.

However once the campaign starts this superficial view is quickly forgotten. Once on the wargame table the large number of troops is impressive, and the tactical problems of attack and defence renders all else secondary.

We start the new campaign during the hottest part of the year here in Spain. With temperatures of 34 to 40c we have to suspend our normal weekly walking group, and our whole daily routine changes dramatically. We get up early most at 0700 so that we can do an hour’s walk. That leaves us another hour to do our outdoor tasks, and finish by 0900. It is too hot to attempt much outdoors for the remainder of the day. So our Wargaming becomes more important than ever. We are fortunate to have a permanent wargames room which is the coolest part of the house and we spent an hour or so gaming most days.

I also tend to spend more time working on the campaign than during the rest of the year. I often have a special summer project, and this year is no different. I am updating all of the wargame maps, which keeps me busy for a couple of hours each day. I will post an update on the blog when I have something to show.