Campaign
Map on 6 November 1813
Wittgenstein orders 3rd and 4th
corps to rally between Konnern and Radegast
Both corps are now out of supply
17 brigade to escort four days supplies from
Landsberg to Radegast
1st and 2nd corps to hold
Gerbstedt
He has concentrated his army, but abandoned his
lines of supply
Davout orders 6th corps to take
Landsberg, they are now out of supply
5th corps to occupy Halle and secure the
Russian depot
He moves his HQ west of the river
2nd and 14th corps move
towards Gerbstedt
The depot at Schraplau moves to Eisleben
He is now in position to attack Gerbstedt with 2nd
and 14th corps
Campaign
Notes
The
campaign is not going well for the Russians
Having
loss of Halle has forced them to retreat
This
in turn has led to the loss of their main depot at Landsberg
They
have lost considerable supplies at Eisleben, Halle and Landsberg
Wittgenstein
has at least concentrated his army at last
It
is still in two wings, divided by the river Saale
But
at least he has a secure bridge to connect them both
Davout
has made great progress.
In
five days he has captured Halle, the campaign objective
He
has also captured the main Russian depot at Landsberg
The
two wings of his army have worked well
The
left wing have recovered from the battle of Eisleben
They
are now ready to resume the attack
The
capture of so many Russian depots has also eased his supply problems
Normally
after such a rapid advance an army would have to halt and regroup
It
would also have to reorganise its lines of supply and create new depots
But
Davout has been able to resupply his army from Eisleben and Halle
Wittgenstein
has finally concentrated his army
However
to win the campaign they must retake Halle
In
their present condition they will be hard put to hold Gerbstedt and Konnern
If
they lose another battle they will have to retreat off the campaign map
This
will signal a French victory, as they cannot enter the campaign area again.
Thistlebarrow,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting example of how armies try to outmanoeuvred each other before coming to grips ... and if they can force an enemy to retreat without actually having to fight, so I much the better!
In some ways this almost feels more like a campaign from the Seven Years War than from the Napoleonic Wars.
Al the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment
I have never studied or wargamed the Seven Years War, so I had not really considered your point about manoeuvre. But of course you are right, Napoleonic campaigns were often a matter of forcing your enemy to fight at a disadvantage.
I suppose in a wargame campaign you know much more about the enemy than Napoleonic commanders did. So you are less inclined to fight unless the odds are in your favour. I think that might be the case here.
best regards
Paul