29 May 1813 -
Southern Germany - Day 9
Massena’s army has sufficient supplies, but also very heavy casualties
7th army resupply and reorganise at Oberaudorf
8th army rally, regroup and resupply at Kufstein
9th army resupply and reorganise at Worgl
Schwarzenberg has four of his six corps out of supply
1st army rally, resupply and regroup at Walchsee
2nd army retreat to Sankt Johann
3rd army resupply and regroup at Kitzbuhel
Comment
Schwarzenberg
blinked first – but he really didn’t have any choice.
Both armies are
shattered and in practical terms no longer operational.
The
Bavarian/Baden army has lost more casualties, but are fully supplied
The Austrian
army has suffered less, but still considerable, casualties
Most critical four
of the six Austrian corps are now out of supply
1st
and 2nd Austrian armies are completely out of supply
If they do not
immediately rest and resupply they will start to lose casualties due to
attrition
At that stage
they must immediately retreat until they can resupply
3rd
army is fully supplied, but being south of the river Inn is too far away to
help
Today
Schwarzenberg ordered 1st and 3rd armies to resupply and
regroup
2nd
army had to retreat to Sankt Johann due to attrition.
However this is
only the start
He has accepted
that to save his army he must retreat into Salzburg District to rest and
regroup
This would be a
perfect opportunity for Massena to pursue and smash the already broken Austrian
army
However his own
army have suffered so many casualties that they are no longer operational
A pursuit is out
of the question until he can regroup and replenish his battle casualties
Schwarzenberg
deserved to win this campaign.
He has more
operational brigades than Massena.
But no commander
can ignore such a dire supply situation
If he does not
retreat his army will disintergrate and he will lose everything
Thistlebarrow,
ReplyDeleteI’m not surprised that the campaign ended in this way.
Interestingly, although there was no outright winner, from what I’ve read it certainly seemed quite enjoyable.
Where are you going next with this? Back to Spain … or somewhere else?
All the best,
Bob
PS. I’ve only just realised that I’d used the name Schwarzenberg for my Germanic imagi-nation.
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment
Phases ending without an outright winner seem to be something of a trend. It is usually driven by the supply situation, which is particularly difficult for the winning side. Thus they may win the majority of battles, but find themselves running out of supplies which force them to retreat before they can take the campaign objective - the other sides main city/depot.
Fortunately the strategic objective of each campaign phase is only that - an objective. Each phase is stand alone, so the final outcome is not of any great importance. The important part of the campaign is to provide interesting and challenging wargames for Jan and I to play. And in that respect the campaign is a great success.
Next campaign are is north Germany. Not sure where yet, but probably in the Harz mountains. If so lots of difficult terrain to fight over. And, of course, there will be Napoleon and his Imperial Guard!
Schwarzenberg is a great name for an imagi-nation. Apart from being a famous Austrian general, it is very German sounding and very distinctive.
best regards
Paul