Game 97 : Battle of the Katzbach August 26th 1813

 

This battle pitched Marshal MacDonald against Blucher. It was also fought in foul weather, rain occurring a lot of the time with affects on movement, musketry and artillery fire. The armies are reasonably matched and we use some form of variable morale reflecting the troops of the year and theatre.

This is from the initial action on the French left. Some time was spent with forces of both sides taking time to get to grips, but the ebb and flow of battle was soon to be upon everyone. The above village changed hands at least three times.

Further in the centre, the French advance to secure the actual river line to facilitate movement between areas as the river bisects the battlefield in two. The village here was held by the allies throughout the battle.

The first cavalry clash on the French left. It was a fairly bloody affair with the French receiving high casualties, but not broken. Back to the infantry slog.

Remaining on the French left, each side commits two Divisions of infantry to the village combat. The French would win this combat decisively, but trying to make progress further into enemy lines was to prove disastrous.

Another view of the same action. I've now also changed the camera mount to get longer shots.

A long shot along the battlefield. The French are on the right of the picture. It seems to give a better "feel" for the action along the whole front.

This is the same idea, a long shot taken from the other end of the battlefield with the Allies on the right hand side.

The battle still rages unabated on the French left. The Allies are assaulting again. To put things in more context, we must have played about 35 turns. Most of that was fought in some type of "rain" mostly light but sometimes heavy.

Disaster befalls the French. In the centre of the pic is a Prussian Dragoon Regt (I think) that has broken a French column, then rallied and will charge along the flank of the French front. Its a race to see if the French Generals can extricate their Divisions with order changes! They succeed, but not before some horrible losses.

French Formations	Losses %			Allied Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
MACDONALD				BLUCHER
Souham	-	71	38	Sacken
Brayer	43	-	33	Vasiltshikov
Delmas	19	-	41	Lieven	0	-	0
Albert	6	-	14	Neverosky	2	-	14
Ricard	11	-	8	Tschaplitz	-	8	21
Marchand	4	-	0	Karpov	-	15	-
Lauriston	-	17	23	Yorck
Maison	30	-	8	Steinmetz	21	0	28
Rochambeau	25	-	23	Mecklenburg	9	28	31
				Horn	19	17	3
MacDonald	-	22	55	Hunerbein	21	11	16
D’Henin	16	-	17	Jurgass	-	12	33
Charpentier	19	-	8	Scmidt	-	-	34
Sebastiani				LANGERON	-	-	6
D’Hurbal	-	24	0	Sherbatov
Exelmans	-	27	33	Tallisin	50	-	11
St Germaine	-	6	8	Bernodossov	43	-	31
				Alsuviev
WEATHER 35 turns				Udom	31	-	0
				Rudsevich	36	-	0
				Kapzevich
				Urussov	35	-	20
				Turtshaninov	10	-	2
				Korff
				Pantschild		31	44

As with all previous battles, any losses at 30% or higher mean that the formation is combat ineffective. Losses of 40% or higher really mean the formation is wrecked. When we called the battle, the Allies still held their front line and were pressuring both French flanks. The French army would retire, there would be no Allied pursuit.

Here we have the "rogues" gallery. 10 players for a week of gaming, including the bottle of Port. A very civilised time was had by all. Next battle, a surprise new one staying with the Napoleonic theme.