NORTHERN SYDNEY WARGAMES CLUB PAGE 3

NORTHERN SYDNEY WARGAMES CLUB

Page 3

CAMPAIGNS

The 1807 Poland Campaign

This campaign started off at the historical point of June 4 1807. On this date the Russo-Prussian forces started their offensive (one day early in the north due to a communication not reaching the Prussian commander in time). We have set the ratio of figures to troops for battles as 1 to 75 for infantry, 1 to 40 for cavalry and 1 gun to every 2 battalions or cavalry regiments fielded for a battle. We are using our modified WRG rule set (modified for simultaneous movement instead of alternate bound) to govern the battlefield games.

Prussian Lieutenant General Anton-Wilheim L'Estocq's Russo-Prussian Corps attacked first on the 4th June 1807 at Braunsberg and Spanden, both places held by the French I Corps. The Prussians, 17,760 troops, attack on Braunsberg (Maréchal Victor with 16,560 troops) was vigoures but resulted in a defeat for General L'Estocq with the loss of 6,995 men (1,475 captured) and Marshal Victor loosing 2,295 troops. The Prussian Corps retreated for two days to the town of Brandenburg. Meanwhile the Russian componet of L'Estocq's corps under the command of Major-General Kaminskoi (10,320 troops) attacked French General de Division Rivaud (2nd Division of I Corps plus the corps cavalry under Tilly-9,120 troops) at Spanden on the same day. This was a Russian victory, with the French loosing 3,130 troops (783 captured) and Kaminskoi loosing 3,325 troops. General Rivaud retreated to Muhlhausen on the Prussian-Holland - Braunsberg road.

This allowed General Kaminskoi to advance to Prussian-Holland but this did not happen until he was ordered to by Marshal Beningsen with the support of the Russian Guard Division.

Meanwhile on the 5th June 1807, further south the Russian attack at Lomitten by Russian Major-Général Ivan Semenovich Doctorov with 15,700 troops (loss of 700 troops) against French General de Division Legrand with his 3rd Division of Maréchal Soult IV Corps and with General Guyot corps cavalry in support for a total of 12,030 troops resulted in a defeat with the loss of 1,580 troops (395 captured). This force withdrew to just beyond IV Corps position at Leibstadt. This placed Maréchal Ney's VI Corps at Guttstadt in a peirlous position. The main Russian forces advanced from Heilsberg and Seefeld towards Guttstadt. Ney decided to withdraw and attempt to link up with Soult at Leibstadt.

Also on the 5th June General Maréchal Davout's III Corps (20,820 troops) was attacked by Major-General Bagration with 25,680 troops at Allenstein. Maréchal Davout was protecting the right flank of the French forces. Bagration's attacked faultered and was driven back to Passenheim for the loss of 4,905 (1,226 captured) to Davout's loss of 3,750.

In the centre the main Russian forces joined up at Guttstadt and followed a retreating Ney to Leibstadt. Marshal Beningsen decided to attack the combined French corps of Soult and Ney on the 7th June. Marshal Beningsen had the columns of 2nd Column-General Sacken , 4th Column-General Gortchakow and 1st Column-General Dochtorow for a total of 80,630 troops. Maréchal's Soult, Ney and Murat (he had joined them with the Reserve Cavalry) had 49,005 troops. The battle was a loss for the French with 2,735 (684 captured) troops lost against the Russian loss of 4,980 troops.

The French though only withdraw 4 miles to the village of Reichertswalde and turned to give battle again to the Russians. There were just 37,930 Russians enagaged against 56,375 French troops. Reichertswalde was a different matter as Napoleon, who was approaching Leibstadt from Georgenthal decided to march to the sound of the guns, leaving the road just 4 miles from Leibstadt (where the Russian 1st Column was waiting for him) and crossed the 2 miles to reach the right flank of the French position at Reichertswalde with his Imperial Guard and a division of Spanish (this force came from Italy and is not the La Romana division that went to garrison the Baltic coast). The battle resulted in a defeat for the Russians and more glory for Ney as his corps took the brunt of the Russian attack. The loss of 7,160 Russian troops (1,790 captured) against 5,200 French.

Even though the French were victorious at Reichertswalde the Russians had cut their supply line at Prussian-Holland. The IV and VI Corps plus the Reserve Cavalry had to retreat to reopen their supply line, the Imperial Guard and Spanish Division also withdraw to support these forces. Upon arrival at Prussian-Holland Napolean sent IV Corps straight into the attack. Soult pressed home his attack on the Russian centre and left while the Imperial Guard moved against the Russian right. There were continous Russian counter-attacks against Maréchal Soult and Murat. Maréchal Ney's VI Corps remained in reserve behind the Spanish Division. In the end the French were again victorious but the Imperial Guard and Spanish Division have to return to Leibstadt to clear their supply line of more Russian forces.

The Battle of Prussian-Holland involved 26,965 Russians (17,000 Imperial Guard) and their losses where 2,350 (588 captured) and there were 52,255 French (10,000 Imperial Guard) and they lost 3,860 troops. The French had a 2:1 advantage but it did take most the day for that advantage to take effect. Maréchal Ney's VI Corps and the Spanish cavalry did not arrive at all on the field of battle.

The Russian forces at Prussian-Holland retreated to Mehlsack (Imperial Guard 6th Column) and Guttsatdt (Russian Div from the Prussian corps). Meanwhile Beninsgen 2nd & 4th Columns moved towards Wormditt. The French I, IV, VI Corps plus some Reserve Cavalry advanced from Prussia-Holland through Spanden towards Mehlsack. The VI Corps stopped at Mehlsack to observe the Russian 6th Guard Column at Peterswalde where it had withdrawn too at the approach of the three French Corps.

In the northern sector the Prussians advanced again (after calling in some reserve forces) towards Braunsburg. When General L'Estocq arrived opposite Braunsburg (12 June) he discovered that the French I Corps had moved south leaving the town unoccupied. General L'Estocq crossed the river and occupied Braunsburg, on the 13th June and ordered his sappers remove the French defence works that faced east. A couple days later the French VIII Corps (Mortier-20,130) arrived from Elbing and attacked General L'Estocq (25,200) forcing him and his troops out of Braunsburg. The French VIII Corps lost 5,400 men and the Prussians General L'Estocq retreated to Gallou to rest and reform his shattered regiments.

On the same day as Braunsburg the Russian 7th Column attacked the Poles at Neigenburg. This Polish force was beaten and forced to retreat to Hohenstein. Next the 7th Column advanced towards Graudenz to relieve the Prussian garrison.

The French I and IV Corps plus some of the cavalry reserve under Murat (47,550) moved south from Mehlsack towards Wormditt at the same time the Russian 2nd and 4th Columns (53,225) moved north towards Wormditt. These movements resulted in the two battle (16-18 June) at Wormditt which in the end was another French (loss 7,290) victory, forcing the Russians (loss 19160 [4,190 captured]) to retreat towards Heilsberg. The French then moved from Wormditt to Prussian-Eylau and cut the Russian 2nd & 4th Columns main supply line. The Russians had the intention of not stopping at Heilsberg after Worditt and continue to Eylau, so the French did not force a retreat on the Russians from Heilsberg as they had hoped but brought the Russians to Eylau earlier that the French would have expected them if the Russians had stopped at Heilsberg.

On the 22nd June the Russian 7th Column attack the French forcings at Graudenz. The attacked was unsucceful and the Russians withdraw, leaving General Royuer to continue his blockade of Graudenz.

On this same day the Battle of Prussian-Eylau started with the French I & IV Corps being attacked by the Russian 2nd and 4th Columns. This was a hard fought action but the French had to withdraw a few miles when the Russian Army of Moravia arrive from the east which exposed the French left flank and rear. The Russians moved forward and went into the attack again on the 23rd June (this will be fought on the 10th Feb 08).

Below is a list of battles by date:

Battle Date	Battle	French Force	Allied Force	Victory
4 June 1807	Battle of Braunsberg	I Corps	Prussian Corps of Lt General Anton-W L'Estocq	French
4 June 1807	Battle of Spanden	1 division from I Corps	Russian Division of Major General Kaminskoi	Russian
5 June 1807	Battle of Allenstein	III Corps	3rd & 5th Columns	French
5 June 1807	Battle of Lomitten	IV Corps	1st Column-Major Général Ivan Semenovich Doctorov	Russian
8 June 1807	Battle of Reichertswalde	IV Corps, Cavalry Reserve	2nd & 4th Columns	Russian
10 June 1807	Battle of Prussian-Holland	IV Corps, VI Corps, Imperial Guard, Reserve Cavalry & General Salvador del Muro y Salazar, Marquis de Someruelas Spanish Div	6th Column-1st Guard Division-Lieutenant General Grand Duke Constantine & Russian Division of Major General Kaminskoi	French
14 June 1807	Battle of Leibstadt	Imperial Guard, Reserve Cavalry & General Salvador del Muro y Salazar, Marquis de Someruelas Spanish Div	1st, 2nd & 4th Columns	French
16 June 1807	Battle of Neigenburg	Polish Divisions	7th Column	Russian
16 June 1807	Second Battle of Braunesberg	VIII Corps	Prussian Corps of Lt General Anton-W L'Estocq	French
17-18 June 1807	Battle of Wormditt	I & IV Corps & Cavalry Reserve	2nd & 4th Columns	French
22 June 1807	Battle of Graudenz	IX Corps	7th Column	French
22-23 June 1807	Battle of Prussian Eylau	I & IV Corps & Cavalry Reserve, + Reserve Corps and Imperial Guard	2nd & 4th Columns + Army of Moravia (for 23rd)
25 June 1807	Battle of Passenheim	III Corps + 1 div of cavalry reserve.	1st & 3rd Columns (5th column disbanded)	Russian

THE 1809 PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN

This campaign is being played in 25mm using WRG rules with a few modifications for simultaneous movement.

For the French, British and Portuguese armies the only forces involved are those owned by the players, as for the Spanish it is based on the forces available to the Spanish at the time with a little artistic licence. Don McIntyre is at the moment providing the bulk of the Spanish units with a growing number coming from Robert Horspool (as I paint more of his Front Rank units so more will be his). Any extra units painted arrive in a reinforcement town and are then marched to their command.

We started the campaign as of 1 May 1809 with the French controlling Northern Portugal, Northern Spain, and Central Spain. The Anglo-Portuguese under Sir Arthur Wellesley controls all Portugal south of the Douro and the fortress of Almeida and Elvas. The Spanish control Southern Spain and also have an Army in North-West and have the fortress of Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Eastern Spain is not being covered in this campaign due to a lack of resources.

The campaign opened with an advance by the Anglo-Portuguese army against the French in Northern Portugal, this resulted in a number of small actions (Amarante 8 May 1809 and Villa Real 12 May 1809) and at least two major battles (Oporto 12 May 1809 and Vila de Ledra 17 May 1809). The result is that the French VII and VIII Corps of the Army of Portugal have been forced to leave Portugal, which allows the Anglo-Portuguese to move against the French forces laying siege to Cuidad Rodrigo.

Meanwhile the Spanish Army of Estremadura, with the support of the British 4^th Division advanced on the French II Corps at Merida fighting a battle on the 15^th May 1809. The Spanish Army of La Mancha advanced to Toledo in order to move onto Madrid however, this army was stopped by the French I Corps at Almonacid de Toledo on the 22^nd May 1809. The Spanish Army of Galicia advanced from Leon towards Valladolid to cut the French main supply route, the French Army of the North concentrated and fought the Spanish at Medina de Rio Seco on the 25^th May 1809

On the 28th May 1809 the Army of Portugal managed to make one breech in the walls of Ciudad Rodrigo. Marshal Massena decided to attempt a storming of the breech. The storming was assigned to two brigades of the IV Corps with support of a third brigade and the corps field artillery plus two batteries of siege artillery. After 4 hours of fighting the Spanish governor decided to withdraw from the main walls and then to leave Cuidad Rodrigo. As the IV Corps only had one brigade left attempting watch the remainder of the fortress walls, the Spanish managed to slip out of the fortress to the south on an unguarded road. In the end the Army of Portugal had taken one of the two fortresses it needed to captured in order to invade Northern Portugal.

Sir Arthur Wellesley after hearing the besieging guns fallen silent and then receive word that Ciudad Rodrigo had fall decided to advance from Guarda to the lost fortress. In the process of his advance the Anglo-Portuguese Reserve Corps Beresford forced the French watching the Guarda road to withdraw beyond Ciudad Rodrigo (after placing a garrison in the town and quickly filling at least half of the trenches and battery positions and partly repairing the breech. This French withdrawal from the Guarda road also forced the withdrawal of the forces watching the Almedia road or they could have been cut off by the English.

Marshal Massena assembled his army and advanced towards Sir Arthur. This advance forced Sir Arthur to withdraw from Ciudad Rodrigo and take up a position at Fuentes d'Onoro. Massena advanced to Fuentes d'Onoro and attacked the British on the 6th June 1809. Two divisions of French cavalry and one and half divisions of infantry supported by most of the artillery attacked Fuentes d'Onoro which was being defended by the Light Division and with 7th Division in support to the right. Three French cavalry divisions & one and half infantry divisions advanced on the British centre being held by Picton's 3rd Division, the British cavalry and Portuguese Loyal Lusitanian Legion, these forces where behind the ridge crest with only their artillery forward. On the French right the Marshal sent one division of cavalry and the remaining one and half divisions on a small front against a Spanish division. The Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish forces were beaten and forced to retreat towards Viseu.