Tuesday, 9 July 2019

Salzwedel Campaign – Day 1


Campaign Map on 22 September 1813

The Prussians are deployed over a wide area waiting for the French to show their plan of attack

Napoleon has concentrated the guard and reserve in the centre at Weyhausen
He orders 3rd corps to attack Dahre in order to draw the Prussian reserve to the left
Battle of Dahre – move 10
The battle opens badly for the French
Their cavalry are charged and routed by the Prussian hussars
They rout through a nearby infantry brigade, who rout with them

The French ignore this set back and press forward to attack
They win the hand to hand combat
Three Prussian infantry brigades and corps artillery rout

The French fail to take the town
But the Prussians have to retreat during the night

The French win the battle

Campaign Notes
This was an interesting start to the campaign

Both corps were equal in strength and type
In addition the Prussians had a brigade in Dahre
Despite this the French had to attack

They moved to their right to threaten the Prussian left flank
Their heavy cavalry moved ahead to protect the infantry columns
The Prussian light cavalry charged and routed the dragoons
In falling back the dragoons moved through a nearby infantry brigade
The infantry failed their morale and joined the rout
The Prussian cavalry had to test morale, failed and pursued the enemy
This caused more French casualties, but also took the hussars out of the battle

The French ignored the cavalry melee, and loss of one quarter of their infantry
The Prussians had put one infantry brigade in the farm
So the French infantry were still equal to the Prussians deployed in the open

As the French advanced the Prussian artillery fired on them, but caused no casualties
One French brigade charged and routed the gunners, who missed at close range
At the same time a Prussian brigade charged the French gunners
They suffered 10% casualties, failed their morale and halted shaken

The deciding combat was between two French brigades in column and one Prussian in line.   Hand to hand combat is costly in our rules.   Both sides usually lose casualties.   In this case each French brigade lost 10%, but the Prussian lost 30%
The Prussians routed, taking the nearby shaken brigade with them

The Prussian hussars had to return to command range of their corps commander (8”) to rally.   By now they had done so, and were once more a threat.   The French infantry had suffered casualties, and promptly formed square.

At nightfall the Prussians held both the town and the farm.  They also had their cavalry.
However they had lost three infantry brigades and their artillery
The French had lost one infantry brigade and their cavalry

The town is on the forward right wing of the Prussian deployment.   There is no one within supporting range.  Blucher is unwilling to detach his reserve to support them.   So at nightfall he orders them to retreat and abandon Salzwedel.

Both sides have suffered heavy casualties. 
The French lost 1100 casualties and two brigades in rout
The Prussians lost 3100 casualties and four brigades in rout

A good start to the campaign for Napoleon.

2 comments:

  1. Paul,

    The result of this battle makes one wonder just how bad things are going to get for the Prussians over duration of the campaign. To lose three brigades in their first battle looks like a portent of worse to come.

    I look forward to seeing your next battle report.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Bob

    Thanks for your comments.

    In the early stages of a campaign phase the attacker needs to do well, and also tends to. He needs to because if he loses a couple of early battles it is very difficult to recover sufficiently to attack again

    He tends to do well because the defender has to set out his army on the wargames table first. The attacker can then concentrate against the weakest part of the defence.

    As the attacker takes ground and advances he usually runs into problems with supply. this almost always forces him to slow down, or even halt. This in turn allows the defender to receive battle casualty replacements and reorgnise. Equally important as his lines of supply shorten, he can use more of his garrison brigades to support his field army.

    The later battles are particularly interesting, because both sides have battle casualties. Remember each brigade retains 10% of battle casualties, anymore can be replaced by reinforcements. These battles tend to be much more reliant on morale dice throws. If a group of brigades all have 10% casualties, or more, they are much more likely to break if one lose their morale and rout.

    So this victory is good for he French, but not necessarily decisive for the campaign outcome.

    regards

    Paul

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