BATTLES OF NAPOLEON |
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佚名 |
Battles of Napolean
Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI)
Scenerio Overviews
Compiled by: David Landrey, Novastar Games
ALBUERA
Authors: Mike Musser, Richard Hooks, Gunter Meyer
ALBUERA HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In May 1811 Marshall Soult was in the process of moving
troops to relieve Badajoz which was under seige. Marshall
Beresford moved 35000 troops to intercept Soult's advance.
Beresford took up position at the river crossings near the
village of Albuera which was located along the Albuera
River. He then waited for the French to attack. Soult had
only 24260 men and 48 artillery pieces. He sent a strong
force of infantry against the bridge and village. In
addition he sent his cavalry and more infantry farther to
the south to cross the fords there. The French force of 4000
Cavalry and 19 infantry battalions scattered the weaker
Spanish troops holding this area of the battlefield. The
French were threatening to roll up the Allied line.
Beresford ordered General Blake to form a defensive right
flank, but he maneuvered only four battalions against two
French divisions. The Spanish forces gallantly held off the
French columns giving time for General Stewart's 2nd
division to reinforce. Colbourne's brigade suffered 60%
casualties against the French when charged in the flank by
Polish Lancers. The Spanish line still held. The French
attacked again in a huge column with close artillery
support. The Spanish Houghton's brigade lost 80% of their
force. Sir Henry Hardinge and General Lowry Cole brought up
an additional 4000 men on their own initiative and helped
repulse the French attack. A charge by the Fusilier Brigade
routed the French. After the French were cleared out of
Albuera, the battle was over. In just four hours the French
had lost 8000 men, while the Allies lost 6000.
AUSTERLITZ
Author: J. Ashley Brown III
AUSTERLITZ HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The battle of Austerlitz occurred on December 2, 1805.
Napoleon had about 73200 men and 139 artillery guns while
the Allied army commanded by General Kutusov deployed 85400
men and 278 artillery pieces. On December 1, the Russian
army pressed forward and occupied the Pratzen Heights which
the French had previously abandoned. Napoleon anchored his
left flank with Lannes on the Santon hill. Soult's IV Corps
held the villages near the Bosenitz and Goldbach streams.
Davout's recently arrived division held the right flank. The
front was nearly five miles long. Napoleon's cavalry, Guard,
and reserves were hidden on the French left wing behind a
hill. The Allied General Buxwoden advanced 60000 men south
and west of the Pratzen Heights while 17600 men attacked
towards Santon hill in the north. The Russian Imperial Guard
with 8500 men was held as reserve in the center. By 9:00 AM
Napoleon ordered Marshall Soult's two divisions to attack
southeast towards the Heights. He was supported by
Bernodotte's corps on the left. Meanwhile a large cavalry
action occurred in the north by Santon hill. At 10:30 AM
Kutusov attacked Soult's divisions, but they managed to hold
by the strategic placement of artillery. At 1:00 PM the
Russian Guard routed Soult's troops from the hill. French
cavlary then charged repulsing the Russian Guard. Bernodotte
threw in a division to hold the center. The French Imperial
Guard advanced southeast onto the Pratzen Heights and then
turned southwest to envelop Buxhaden's men. The Allied left
flank was routed. The French had lost 8300 men, while the
Russian army lost 16000 men, 11000 prisoners, and 180
artillery pieces.
CORUNNA
Author: Thomas Sparhawk
CORUNNA HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In November of 1807 the French invaded Portugal, by way
of Spain, in an attempt to solidify Napoleon's Continental
Blockade of England. All other powers on the continent were
controlled by Napoleon or paying lip service to him.
Realizing that Spain was barely pretending to enforce the
blockade, and that the Spanish monarchs were getting ready
to change sides, Napoleon imprisoned the Spanish monarchs
and invaded Spain.
The British landed at Portugal with Arthur Wellesley in
temporary command. After the Battles of Rolica and Vimiero,
Wellesley had the Army of Portugal trapped and was preparing
to annihilate it. His immediate superiors arrived and
allowed the French to go home on British ships. All three
British commanders were brought home to be court-martialed
and Sir John Moore became commander of the Peninsular
expedition.
Hearing mistaken information from the Spanish, and
thinking Soult's corps was overextended and could be trapped
and destroyed, Moore invaded northern Spain. It was a
serious mistake that would tarnish his memory for decades.
The French had just crushed the northern Spanish armies and
were heading south. Napoleon wanted a British defeat more
than many Spanish ones, and saw a chance to finally fight
back against his mortal enemies. The French converged on
Moore's small force. Moore retreated desperately towards the
nearest fleet. Napoleon himself followed until news of
Austrian aggression urged him home. The retreat was a
nightmare. Moore barely arrived at La Coruna, with Soult
close behind.
As the troops were preparing to embark, the French
arrived. Moore placed most of his troops on the heights near
Elvina, with others guarding his right flank. Soult made no
attempt at maneuver. Leaving his cavalry to protect his left
flank, Soult charged headlong into the British. The Rifles
were in the village, but the French column drove them out.
The French then split into two columns, one advancing on
Baird's division, the other trying to outflank it. The 42nd
and 50th were sent forward and fired into one column's
exposed flank. That column could not break through the light
infantry, and ground to a halt. Moore then ordered Fraser's
Division to go up the valley past the French cavalry, and
outflank the attackers.
The 42nd and 50th drove the French back into Elvina and
out the otherside. Moore sent forward a battalion of the
guards. Baird was here hit by grapeshot in the arm and left
the field. Moore then ordered the 42nd to charge with the
bayonet. The British in the valley had repulsed the French
cavalry effectively and were stopping the second column. It
looked as if it were about to retreat. At this moment Moore
was fatally wounded and taken to La Coruna.
The French retreated. Soult's troops were so badly hurt
that they made no attempt to stop the British from boarding
the rest of their troops the next day. The British escaped
to England, and Arthur Wellesley returned to command the
rest of the Allied forces in Portugal. As important,
Napoleon never returned to Spain to finish off the
Spaniards.
Cavalry don't charge as often as normal. Infantry forms
squares more often than normal. Redoubts are 60% fire and
80% melee as a target square. The 1/6th had 391 deserters
before it ever went into combat, and was considered the
worst battalion in the army. The 2/59th lost 143 men in the
Corunna campaign.
French player goes first. The French AI should be set to
Counterattack-Analyze. Allied AI should be set to Hold
Positions-Analyze.
CRAONNE
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
CRAONNE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The disastrous campaign in Russia cost 200,000 soldiers
of the 600,000 French army. The Prussians deserted, and the
Austrians absconded into Austria, forcing the Saxons with
them. Combined with the massive desertions among the
survivers, and a large number of men in the hospital, as
well as many men guarding fortified depots, La Grande Armee
was down to 40,000 men. But the French still had 400,000 men
in Spain, France and Italy. Napoleon created a second La
Grande Armee.
Drafting men from the classes of 1813 and 1814, as well
as many men from Spain and Italy, Napoleon launched an
attack against the combined Prussians and Russians. At
Lutzen his young troops held their ground and won a decisive
victory, but lack of cavalry prevented him from chasing them
down. At Bautzen he nearly annihilated the enemy, but the
trap was not closed by a slow moving Ney. Napoleon agreed to
an armistice, so he could round up stragglers and reform his
army. Unfortunately, Wellington's victory at Vitoria
convinced the Austrians it was time to go to war.
The new round opened with Blucher defeating Macdonald at
the Katzbach, and capturing 15,000 men and 100 guns in the
process. Napoleon achieved a great victory at Dresden
causing 38,000 casualties to his own 10,000. It would be his
last victory in Germany. Oudinot was defeated by Bernadotte
at Gross Beeren. Vandamme was defeated by Ostermann and
Kleist at Kulm, losing half his corps and being captured
himself. Ney was defeated by Bernadotte at Dennewitz.
Napoleon's victory was wasted by other's defeats. He
retreated to Leipzig and caused 54,000 casualties to his own
38,000, but 30,000 more were captured when the only bridge
was blown up before they could cross. All of the German
allies and most of the Poles had now defected. Napoleon
crushed the Bavarians at Hanau as he returned to France.
Napoleon now had to create a third army in 2 years. He
took a few more troops from Italy and Spain, called up more
men from previous classes, and raised the old cry of
patriotism. He would never lead more than 70,000 men during
the campaign, and usually not over 40,000.
The allies started into France, but Napoleon struck the
first blow. Napoleon badly mauled Blucher at Brienne.
Following with 40,000 men, Napoleon ran into Schwarzenberg's
110,000 at La Rothiere, and barely got out alive. But
Blucher was still careless. At Champaubert Napoleon
destroyed Olssufief's corps. Next day he drove back Sacken
at Montmirail, and then pushed back Yorck. He attacked again
at Chateau-Thierry the day after and drove the two across
the Marne. Two days later Napoleon trapped Blucher at
Vauchamps, who barely fought his way out after losing 7,000
men.
Napoleon turned south against Schwarzenberg. At Nangis
he surprised Wittgenstein and sent his corps into Wrede's
Bavarians. The next day he defeated Eugene of Wurttemberg.
Schwarzenberg began withdrawing. Napoleon went after
Blucher, but Schwarzenberg turned on Macdonald and defeated
him at Bar-sur-Aube. Napoleon meanwhile was coming near
Craonne.
During the night of 5-6 March Marmont and Mortier fell
on Blucher's rearguard at Soisons and suffered 1500
casualties. Come morning P. Boyer began his march on Laon.
Meunier found the abbey of Vauclere occupied by Russians and
sent two battalions of Old Guard to drive them from the
villages. Caramon cleared the villages but was unable to
take the plateau above. Napoleon ordered Caramon and Meunier
to assault together. Meunier took the abbey, but had a
desperate fight over the Heurtebise farm. The farm was taken
and retaken several times until it was firmly in Russian
hands. Caramon's foothold on the plateau forced the Russians
to retreat from the eastern plateau with the coming of
night.
At 9 AM both sides opened fire with cannon. Ney launched
an attack on the Russian left when he heard the roar of
cannons. He sent P. Boyer against Ailles and Meunier against
the heights to the SE. Unfortunately for the French, this
flank attack began before the Russians were pinned in place.
Meunier lost heavily before Victor arrived and sent B. de
Rebeval to support him. Nansouty was sent against the
Russian right flank. A fire in Heurtebise caused the
Russians to abandon it.
By 10 AM Meunier and P. Boyer had taken terrible
artillery losses due to the fact Ney's artillery couldn't
keep up with the infantry. By 11:30 the artillery arrived
and relieved some pressure off the infantry, causing
grevious damage on the Russian left. Meanwhile Nansouty
defeated 2000 cavalry and cossacks and two infantry
battalions sent against him in the south.
At noon Boyer de Rebeval attacked the Bois Marion,
capturing the wood and relieving Meunier's division. Boyer
de Rebeval and Meunier reached the plateau. By 1 PM they
were in grave danger of being pushed back off. South of
Ailles a Russian battery was causing the French high
casualties. Sparre's dragoons charged the battery, both
Sparre and Grouchy being wounded. Meunier's men fled back
down the hill. Boyer de Rebeval's men retreated to the Bois
Marion and rallied.
At 1:45 PM the cavalry guard charged the Russian guns
across the Chemin des Dames. They reached the artillery but
were driven back. Charpentier's division had taken the Boise
de Quatre Heures. By 2:30 PM Charpentier had contacted
Nansouty and they started forcing the Russians back. Rebeval
and the guard placed their guns between the two woods and
started hammering the Russian lines. Nansouty charged the
Russian cavalry and pushed them back, but was forced to
retire. Ney got Meunier back on the plateau. Napoleon
ordered up reserve artillery to join the grand battery.
The massed 88 guns poured grape at 400 yards, while P.
Boyer assaulted Ailles. Nansouty and the rest of the
infantry pressed the Russians. Belliard took over Grouchy's
troops and started to turn the Russians but was
counterattacked. Belliard was driven back. P. Boyer was sent
against them. The Russians fell back all along the line,
covered by their cavalry. The French pursued until 7 or 8 PM
and quit.
After defeating the rearguard at Craonne, Napoleon
attacked Blucher at Laon and lost, Marmont's corps being
almost destroyed while he was sleeping comfortably
elsewhere. An enraged Napoleon told Marmont what he thought
of Marmont's generalship. A few days later Napoleon
destroyed a Prussian corps at Rheims. Then he met the
Austrians at Arcis-sur-Aube and won. But Marmont and Mortier
were overrun at La Fere-Champenoise. With fighting in the
streets of Paris, Marmont, still angered at the words he had
with Napoleon at Laon, agreed to march into allied lines and
surrender. Paris was captured. His marshals refusing to obey
orders to liberate Paris, Napoleon abdicated for the first
time.
The loss of Germany removed the only source of good
horses in Europe. All French cavalry has 10 less
effectiveness due to poorer horses. Losses to the Imperial
Guard caused some reduction in effectiveness to artillery,
cavalry and the Young Guard. French casualties are worth
more points to the allied player than is usual. Cavalry
charges less frequently. Infantry forms squares more
frequently.
SCENARIO NOTES
Conv stands for converged. The Russians had been
fighting the French for almost two years straight, and many
units were experienced, and reduced to one battalion.
French player moves first. French AI should be
Counterattack-Analyze. Allied player should be Hold
Positions-Analyze.
ASPERN-ESSLING
Author: Michael Lee Merritt ASPERN-ESSLING
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
While heading after Moore in Spain, Napoleon received
news that the Austrians were finally on the move against
him. He left Spain before the battle of Corunna, and missed
destroying Moore's corps. But he arrived just in time to
stop the French army from being destroyed by the Archduke
Charles of Austria. In five days Napoleon fought five
different battles and turned a strategic blunder into a
series of victories. The Austrians were badly mauled, but
they retreated behind the Danube before they could be
destroyed. They had had 20,000 casualties and 15,000 taken
prisoner.
Capturing the island of Lobau, Napoleon built a pontoon
bridge across the river. The bridge had no protection from
fireships. And good weather caused a great deal of snow to
melt in the mountains. Napoleon waited in vain for the
25,000 Russians Czar Alexander had promised him. With the
bridges finished, Napoleon sent Lasalle and Molitor across
to push outward as far as possible. The rest of Massena's
corps followed. A boat smashed into the bridge and halted
the crossing. Napoleon was convinced the Austrians were far
away. There wasn't so much as a campfire.
The next day the bridge was repaired and Lannes' corps
got across. The Austrians formed up behind hilly ground,
attacking at noon. Three Austrian columns moved against
Aspern, two against Essling. The French had only 12
battalions at Aspern against 54 Austrian. At 3 PM the
Austrians were within range. Fighting for the two villages
was vicious. Both were taken and retaken many times in the
next four hours. Only supreme effort by French cavalry saved
the day. Charging infantry one moment, cavalry the next, and
artillery the moment after, the French cavalry managed to
keep the infantry from being overwhelmed. D'Espagne was
killed in a cavalry battle.
At 6 PM another damaged bridge was repaired and St.
Cyr's division arrived. At 7 PM Nansouty's heavy cavalry
came across and charged the Austrian guns. Night fell and
Essling was still in French hands. But half of Aspern had
been lost. The Guard artillery on Lobau could not get a
clear field of fire.
The bridge broke again and Napoleon sent his last
reserve to support Aspern. Learning that the center of the
Austrian line was made up of landwehr, Napoleon ordered
Lannes to attack there. The French broke the Austrian line
in two, but Archduke Charles personally lead his cavalry
against Lannes. The French were stopped. Napoleon learned
the bridge was permanently out of action and pulled Lannes
back. Charles ordered Dedovich to assault Essling for the
8th time. Rapp with 2 battalions of the Imperial Guard
convinced Mouton to countercharge the Austrians, and between
them they broke the Austrian assault.
The French retreated. The Austrians let them. In the
last hours of the retreat Marshal Lannes was mortally
wounded. St. Hilaire died a few days later. Napoleon would
have to wait until July before he could finally end the
campaign.
SCENARIO NOTES
The Guard artillery was actually on Lobau island, and was
blocked much of the time by the large number of French
troops in the area. Demont did not actually fight in the
battle, his job was to protect the bridges. After the battle
Demont's division was distributed among the army to make up
for casualties. It ceased to exist. The 8/5 weapon uses row
23, the 6/9 weapon uses row 24, and the 6/7 weapon uses row
26 on the Weapon/Range Casualty Chart.
The EKL is the Archduke 30 Legion. Grenz units are
German border units trained to skirmish. The #97 I Corps
unit is a combination of men from regiments with more than
the 3000 maximum. The V.F. units are Vienna Freiwilliger
volunteer militia. Polish units were formed from Austrian
occupied Galicia.
French AI should be Hold Positions-Analyze. Allied
Player should move first. Allied AI should be Counterattack
Automatic.
EYLAU
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
EYLAU HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
When Napoleon became Emperor of the French he needed
something to solidify his power. Napoleon had seized power
after his return from Egypt just after Massena had saved
France from annihilation. This rivalry, and his need to
expand the French borders, caused him to look for trouble.
He had gathered all the armies into La Grande Armee under
the pretext of invading England, but he really wanted to
train them for the war he hoped to provoke. Austria, which
had lost to Napoleon in two Italian campaigns, was the first
to seek revenge.
Thinking Napoleon would fight in terrain he knew, the
Austrians sent large armies into Italy while Napoleon
entered through Germany. Napoleon went past Mack at Ulm, and
would have been in bad trouble had not Archduke Ferdinand
refused to fight. Napoleon returned to siege Mack, and
Ferdinand escaped with 6000 men, while 35,000 others fled to
the Tyrol. Murat chased down Ferdinand and Mack got penned
in. Mack refused to surrender or negotiate, but his officers
disobeyed him and surrendered in his name. In 1797 Mack had
surrendered to the French to escape his own soldiers. The
only man willing to fight Napoleon would have his career
ruined by an incompetent archduke and disloyal officers.
The Russians began retreating until Czar Alexander took
over command. Napoleon looked for the ideal battlefield for
a spectacular victory and waited for the allies to attack
him. His plan at Austerlitz was so spectacular, that had
Murat done as he was told, there would have been no fighting
in 1806-1807, and probably not in 1812. It was to be
Napoleon's best battle, and end the war with Austria.
The Prussians, meanwhile had been watching the fighting
with interest. Having conflicting interests with Austria,
the Prussians wanted better concessions from France by
defeating Napoleon after he had taken territory from
Austria. With the war in Austria over, the Prussians began
to arm and movedagainst France, thinking the French Army
would have gone home. Napoleon was expecting Prussia to go
to war, and had left La Grande Armee in Germany.
As the Prussians were marching against Napoleon he was
outflanking them. They began to retreat causing the twin
battles of Jena and Auerstadt. Thoroughly mauled, the
Prussian army was chased down and annihilated before it
could recover. All of Prussia was occupied, and only one
corps was left to fight the French.
With Russia at the border of Poland, and Prussia nearly
out of the war, Napoleon moved into Poland for winter
quarters. The Russians attacked in the hope of catching the
French spread out, but Napoleon outflanked them and caused
them to retreat. After a series of large delaying actions,
the Russians finally made a stand at Preussich-Eylau.
As night was arriving Napoleon had the Russians pushed
off the heights overlooking the town. Murat impetuously
followed the retreating Russians, Soult's men charged after,
and Russian cavalry mauled French infantry. After eight
hours of vicious fighting in the cold, the French took Eylau
and used it to shelter from the bitter cold, while wounded
Russians froze to death.
On the eighth Napoleon prepared to wait for Davout, Ney
and Bernadotte, but the Russians began an artillery barrage
and started to attack Napoleon's left flank. Wanting to
regain the initiative, Napoleon ordered Augereau to advance
up the center without preparation. He got lost in a
snowstorm and wandered into a massed Russian battery. The
Russians followed with cavalry and infantry. The corps
disintegrated. With no center and the enemy fast
approaching, the imperial guard destroyed a column heading
towards Napoleon, while Murat performed the greatest cavalry
charge of the Napoleonic wars.
Davout began to arrive and pushed back the Russian left
flank. The imperial guard were now the center. The Prussians
arrived on the Russian right flank and travelled all the way
over to the Russian left flank. When they arrived Davout was
pushed back until he formed a massed battery which kept the
Prussians at bay. Ney arrived late and did little more than
defeat the Prussian rearguard before rejoining the French
left flank.
The battle was a disaster for the French. Augereau's
corps was disbanded among the other corps and 25,000 French
were casualties. The Allies lost 15,000 men. This began the
decline of the greatest army of the Napoleonic era. German
auxiliaries were desperately organized to replace French
losses. Friedland would be their first taste of battle. That
decisive battle would end in the Treaty of Tilsit. Had the
Russians been defeated more decisively at any of the
battles, the invasion of Russia in 1812 would have been
unnecessary.
SCENARIO NOTES
The Russians should move first. The Russian computer
player should be set to Hold Positions-Analyze The French
computer player should be set to Counterattack-Analyze.
JENA
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
JENA HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
During the 1805 campaign against Russia and Austria, the
Prussians had been convinced to join the Allies against
Napoleon. The creation of the Confederation of the Rhine
threatened them. But the movement of Bernadotte's Corps
through Ansbach was a violation of their neutrality. So the
Prussians sent Napoleon an ultimatum in a way that would
disagree with him. The ultimatum arrived several days before
the battle of Austerlitz, and Napoleon refused to see the
messenger until the battle was over. The messenger wisely
changed the message to one of congratulations. Napoleon
punished Prussia for this with humiliating terms. And with
no army mobilized to defend herself, Prussia had to accept.
In 1806 Napoleon offered Hanover to England in return
for peace, after already promising it to Prussia. This was
the last straw. Queen Louise would stand for no more.
Napoleon would call her the only man in Prussia. The
Prussians occupied Saxony, while hotheads sharpened their
swords on the French embassy steps in Berlin. Saxony
reluctantly agreed to join Prussia against Napoleon once it
realized it could not remain neutral. Napoleon called up the
class of 1806. War had begun.
While the Prussian high command debated every plan that
came up, Napoleon was acting. He formed his corps in a large
square and headed through Bamberg and the Thuringerwald.
Lannes ran into the troops of Prince Louis Ferdinand at
Saalfeld and overran them, the Prince being killed in
combat. Napoleon expected to give battle near Erfurt on the
16th. But on the 13th Lannes found himself in front of what
appeared to be the whole Prussian Army, and his corps was
all alone. Napoleon gave orders during the night for
everyone to hurry towards Jena. There would be a battle the
next day.
Lannes began an attack on Closewitz at 6:30 AM. Due to
intense fog, his troops veered to the left and hit the road
between Closewitz and Lutzeroda. The infantry slugged it out
for over 2 hours, while 28 French guns fought it out with
the Prussian artillery. Suchet took most of Closewitz and
much of the road to Lutzeroda. Gazan was repulsed at
Lutzeroda, but the Prussians abandoned the village to form a
new line. Lannes continued attacking towards
Vierzehnheilegen, taking the village and much of the
Dornberg heights as well. But a counterattack by Prussian
cavalry and infantry pushed the French back to the road
between Lutzeroda and Closewitz, taking both villages in the
process.
Meanwhile Soult was pushing through the Closewitz woods.
Prussian light infantry was no match for French tirailleurs,
and the French cleared the woods by 8:15. As Soult headed
toward Rodigen, his troops were hit in the flank by
Holtzendorff's cavalry and infantry. Holtzendorff decided to
pull back to a new position. Soult's light infantry caught
the Prussians in the act, and they began to break.
Holtzendorff ordered a general retreat. Guyot's cavalry
caught one Prussian column, capturing two colours, 6 guns,
and 400 prisoners.
Ney arrived on the field at 9:30, personally leading
3,000 of the best troops in his command. Ordered to the east
of Veirzehnheilegen, Ney attacked to its west, taking the
burning village from the startled Prussians, who had just
pushed out Lannes. He captured the Steinmetz battery, pushed
away two cavalry regiments, and started to take the Dornberg
heights. But the Prussians counterattacked with 45 squadrons
and 11 battalions, supported by 35 cannon and the Saxon
Division. Ney's cavalry was chased off, and the Prussian
cavalry went around his squares and into the French rear.
Ney was surrounded.
Napoleon was aware of what had happened and ordered two
cavalry regiments to counterattack, Lannes to support Ney,
and Augereau to take Isserstedt and link with Ney's left
wing. Lannes pushed into Vierzehnheilegen and beyond,
linking with Ney briefly before being forced back into the
village. Augereau took Isserstedt and linked up with Ney.
Ney retreated to Isserstedt, out of ammunition. It was now
11:30 AM.
The Prussian advance stopped short of Veirzehnheilegen.
It wasn't the French shooting that stopped them, it was
Hohenlohe's desire to wait for Ruchel's 15,000 men. And so
the Prussians stayed in the open under heavy artillery fire
for a whole hour. At 12:30 PM Napoleon began his coup de
grace. He ordered attacks on both flanks, to push the
Prussian army off the roads they would retreat by. At the
same time all the French artillery moved forward to hit the
Prussians with canister at close range. The Prussians tried
to hold, but the advance of three corps against their center
caused them to fall back.
Hohenlohe ordered a general withdrawal to another
position. The Prussians started retreating well, but then
Napoleon unleashed Murat's heavy cavalry at 1:45. Many
Prussians fled from the onslaught. Winkel's battalon formed
a square in the road to buy time, as did what was left of
Tauentzien's Division. The Prussians lost 8 colours, 16
cannon and 2,500 more prisoners. By 2:30 PM the battle for
Jena was over.
But Hohenlohe wasn't done making mistakes. While the
army was retreating it ran into Ruchel's 15,000 men.
Hohenlohe ordered it to attack the French instead of forming
a rear-guard. This brought Lannes to a halt. Soon St.
Hilaire started outflanking Ruchel and he began to fall
back. Ruchel tried to cover his retreat with cavalry, but
artillery fire broke them up. Then Murat's cuirassiers came
upon the infantry, and they too fled to the rear. Half the
Prussian army was in retreat.
At the battle of Jena Napoleon's forces lost 5,000 men.
In return, the Prussians had lost 10,000 casualties, 15,000
prisoners, 34 colours and 120 cannon. But the real victory
had been at Auerstadt. Bernadotte's corps, which fought in
neither battle, would head up the chase of the Prussians.
Within 60 days, only 10,000 Prussians would remain in arms,
and all of Prussia would be conquered.
SCENARIO NOTES
The 12/6/3 artillery type uses the same casualties as
weapon 24. The 12/6 artillery uses the same casualties as
weapon 6. French cavalry was not up to the standards of
European cavalry, mostly due to their inferior horses.
Napoleon also feared they would have trouble from the
Prussian cavalry and ordered them to stay close to the army.
French cavalry effectiveness is reduced to represent this.
The 8/8H artillery uses the same casualties as weapon
23. The 6/7H artillery uses the same casualties as weapon
26. Cavalry charges less often. Infantry forms squares more
often. The jager companies are Valentini, Masars, Werner and
Kronheim. Artillery includes the Schulenburg heavy battery.
French player goes first. The French AI should be set to
Counterattack-Analyze. Allied AI should be Hold Positions
Automatic.
LEIPZIG 1
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
LEIPZIG 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The German campaign of 1813 is remarkable in many ways.
After losing one army Napoleon created another one and
defeated the armies of the allies at Lutzen and Bautzen. The
allies decided not to attack Napoleon himself, but fought
his subordinates and defeated them viciously at battles like
Gross Beeren. Napoleon had several chances at keeping his
throne but threw them away. He was finally trapped at
Leipzig in a 3-day battle which cost him his second army. He
then went on and built a third army.
The battle at Leipzig could have been a major victory.
Napoleon put minor forces to the north as a rearguard,
expecting Blucher to be too far away to arrive in time to
spoil his plans. He then pinned down the Army of Bohemia
with the intention of destroying it. After heavy fighting
the French were causing serious damage to Schwarzenberg. But
Blucher arrived in the north and pushed the French out of
Mockern, and Schwarzenberg sent reserves on the French
flank. Having to use up his reserves, Napoleon could not
achieve the victory he needed on the 16th.
The next day was mostly spent in negotiations while
Napoleon waited for the rest of his men. But the allies
received even more reinforcements than Napoleon, and by the
18th he was on the defensive. The allies attacked all along
the front, giving and taking ground, but much of the day was
fought by artillery. Most of the Saxons deserted to the
Allies. By nightfall the French had again given far more
casualties than received, and Napoleon pulled back to a line
he had chosen earlier, closer to the city. During the 19th
the French began to retreat over the only bridge.
As the French were crossing the bridge the sounds of
firing got nearer. A corporal of the guard was left to watch
the bridge and lost his nerve, destroying the bridge while
covered with troops. Over 30,000 men and 260 cannon were
still on the other side. There was bloody hand-to-hand
fighting in the city, until the Russians allowed the French
to surrender. The end of the Napoleonic Empire was just over
the horizon.
SCENARIO NOTES
The French computer player should be set to Hold
Positions-Analyze. The Allied computer player should be set
to Counterattack-Random. The Allied player should move
first.
LEIPZIG 2
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
LEIPZIG 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The German campaign of 1813 is remarkable in many ways.
After losing one army Napoleon created another one and
defeated the armies of the allies at Lutzen and Bautzen. The
allies decided not to attack Napoleon himself, but fought
his subordinates and defeated them viciously at battles like
Gross Beeren. Napoleon had several chances at keeping his
throne but threw them away. He was finally trapped at
Leipzig in a 3-day battle which cost him his second army. He
then went on and built a third army.
The battle at Leipzig could have been a major victory.
Napoleon put minor forces to the north as a rearguard,
expecting Blucher to be too far away to arrive in time to
spoil his plans. He then pinned down the Army of Bohemia
with the intention of destroying it. After heavy fighting
the French were causing serious damage to Schwarzenberg. But
Blucher arrived in the north and pushed the French out of
Mockern, and Schwarzenberg sent reserves on the French
flank. Having to use up his reserves, Napoleon could not
achieve the victory he needed on the 16th.
The next day was mostly spent in negotiations while
Napoleon waited for the rest of his men. But the allies
received even more reinforcements than Napoleon, and by the
18th he was on the defensive. The allies attacked all along
the front, giving and taking ground, but much of the day was
fought by artillery. Most of the Saxons deserted to the
Allies. By nightfall Napoleon had pulled back to a line he
had chosen earlier, closer to the city. During the 19th the
French began to retreat over the only bridge.
As the French were crossing the bridge the sounds of
firing got nearer. A corporal of the imperial guard was left
to watch the bridge and lost his nerve, destroying the
bridge while covered with troops. Over 30,000 men and 260
cannon were still on the other side. There was bloody hand
to-hand fighting in the city, until the French to
surrendered. The end of the Napoleonic Empire was just over
the horizon.
SCENARIO NOTES
Almost all of the Saxons deserted during the later part
of this battle. You may attempt to remove them from battle
on the 11th turn if you want to reflect this. Souham's Corps
moved back and forth all day without entering battle. You
may keep them out off the front line to reflect this. The
6/9 weapons use #24 on the Weapon/Range Casualty Chart.
Though there is a large number of Allied cavalry in the
scenario, cavalry charges occur less frequently, and
infantry forming squares occurs more frequently. The rocket
weapon uses #25 on the Weapon/Range Casualty Chart. Rocket
casualties should be considered just missing. The commander
of the Rocket Troop was killed at Leipzig.
The Allied player should move first. Allied AI should be
Counterattack Random. French AI should be Hold Positions
Analyze.
LIGNY
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
LIGNY HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Napoleon began his last campaign with a brilliance not
to be found later in the campaign. He shut down the borders
and stopped all mail, and replaced troops so inconspicuously
that no one noticed any change. Though the allied commanders
knew what he was likely to do, they were caught completely
by suprise. Large masses of campfires were reported by
Prussian patrols, but General Ziethen ordered only local
precautions. Reaching the border on June 14th, Napoleon gave
command of the left wing to Marshal Ney and the right wing
to Marshal Grouchy.
The next day the campaign began with a series of
blunders. The III and VI Corps got entangled and lost five
hours getting sorted out. Division general Bourmont deserted
to the Prussians, seriously undermining the morale of his
men. Napoleon himself took command of the Imperial Guard and
forced Ziethen to retreat. Tough fighting throughout the day
caused 600 French casualties and 2000 Prussian. The emperor
again had to go to the front to break the stalemate at
Gilly. By the end of the day Napoleon's right wing had
barely entered Fleurus, and his left stopped just short of
Quatre Bras. Wellington ordered his men to the south and
west of Brussels (out of Napoleon's way), and Blucher
decided to concentrate all his men at Sombreffe, just north
of Ligny. Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar disobeyed Wellington
and kept his 4,000 Nassauers at Quatre Bras.
Napoleon had expected to defeat Wellington first, but
news of the entire Prussian army consolidating within reach
excited him more. He would destroy the Prussian army
tomorrow. Ney, on the other hand, had been defeated by
Wellington in the Spanish campaign, and thought Quatre Bras
was full of troops ready to ambush him. This mistake would
keep the Prussians from being destroyed the next day, and
was the first of many major occurrences that would cause
Napoleon his last campaign.
On the 16th began the first two of four battles that
would decide the fate of Europe. At 2 p.m. Ney finally
attempted to take Quatre Bras, after receiving a note from
Napoleon expressing suprise that he had not taken the hamlet
as ordered. About 20,000 men and 60 guns attacked 8,000 men
and 16 guns. Still afraid of an ambush, Ney waited for
another corps to arrive before pushing onward. While he was
wasting his opportunity, 13,000 allied troops reinforced
Quatre Bras.
Napoleon started the battle of Ligny at 2:30 p.m.
Grouchy's cavalry tried to pin down Thielemann's III Corps,
while Vandamme led 4 divisions against St. Armand, and
Gerard sent 2 divisions to pin down the Prussians at Ligny
and caused them to draw upon their reserve. French artillery
pounded the Prussian II Corps troops held in reserve, and
exposed on the facing hillsides. Fighting was extremely
heavy along the brook and many commanders were killed or
wounded. Napoleon requested D'Erlon's Corps from Ney, then
remembered he had left 10,000 men of the VI Corps at
Charleroi, and ordered them to Ligny as well. General Girard
was killed at St. Armand and a small foothold was gained at
Ligny.
At 4 p.m. Ney received Napoleon's order to take Quatre
Bras immediately. He decided to send in D'Erlon's Corps.
That Corps was right now about to take Blucher in the flank,
being ordered to Ligny by an aide to Napoleon, without
informing Ney. Ney did not know this, and after being
counterattacked by General Alten's 3rd Division, ordered the
men back to Quatre Bras. The Corps would have proven
decisive at either battlefield, but would not participate at
all this day. So Napoleon lost his chance to destroy
Blucher's army (less the IV Corps). At 6 p.m. Ney finally
found out about Napoleon's request for D'Erlon and threw
himself into the front-line fighting in despair. This
achieved nothing, and Wellington counterattacked at 6:30
p.m.
Meanwhile Blucher had launched a counterattack at St.
Armand and recaptured part of it. Napoleon sent the Young
Guard to throw them out. At 7 p.m. 60 guns fired into the
Prussians while the Imperial Guard attacked Ligny. With
Milhaud's cavalry to the guard's left, the Guard heavy
cavalry followed them through the resulting gap. After 6
hours of fighting the Prussian lines broke, but Blucher
personally lead 32 squadrons of cavalry in a counterattack
which gave the infantry a few more minutes to retreat.
By 9 p.m. both battles were over. At Quatre Bras the
Allies had regained almost all the ground they had lost
during the day, at the cost of 5,000 casualties and the Duke
of Brunswick. Amazingly, the French lost only 4,000 men in
the same battle. At Ligny the Prussians left 16,000
casualties and 21 guns, as well as a stunned Blucher. Though
Blucher later escaped to his own troops, while he was away
the army would retreat in the wrong direction, away from
Wellington, and 10,000 men would desert. Napoleon lost
11,500 men in the battle, the 7th Infantry Division so
mauled it was left behind at Ligny for the rest of the
campaign.
The third disaster of the campaign was about to occur.
With Blucher defeated Wellington had to retreat to Waterloo.
Had Ney attacked him before noon, he would have been locked
in battle for Napoleon to pounce on from the flank and rear.
Had Napoleon not waited until 11 a.m. to get moving he could
have enagaged Wellington in battle. But at 11 a.m. Napoleon
had finally ordered Grouchy to pursue Blucher, and finally
headed towards Wellington to cut him off. Wellington slipped
away before Napoleon arrived, but a chase could still have
finished him. A storm turned the roads into mud and cost
Napoleon another chance at victory.
A smashing French victory at Ligny or Quatre Bras would
have changed the situation two days later when the Prussians
reinforced Wellington at Waterloo and changed the outcome of
the battle. A victory at both would have won the campaign!
SCENARIO NOTES
In 1815 Lancers and Dragoons became Line Regiments, and
dragoons quit skirmishing like infantry. Full name of French
guard units are Tirailleurs, Voltigeurs and Gendarmerie
d'Elite (The Immortals). The 2nd Foreign Regiment was all
Swiss. The 12/6" weapon uses #18, and the 6/7H weapon uses
#24 on the Weapon/Range Casualty Table. Since the French can
less afford attrition than the allies, the French only get
7/10ths of the points for capturing, and 5/10ths of the
points for casualties.
Though many of the WE units did come from Westphalia,
Kurmark and Elbe landwehr did not. Towns are reduced to 50%
for Fire and 70% for Melee, due to Prussian attempts at
fortifying them. River branches are considered stream
branches and can be moved through at 4(6), 6(9) or 9(12).
Fire and melee into at 70%, out of at 30%. Cavalry units
charge less frequently and infantry units form squares more
frequently.
French player should move first. French AI should be
Counterattack-Analyze. Allied AI should be Hold Positions
Automatic.
MAIDA
Authors: Mike Musser, Richard Hooks, Gunter Meyer
MAIDA HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In June 1806 the British landed an expeditionary force
in southern Italy. They soon left Messina, Sicily on June 27
and three days later on June 30 they anchored in the Gulf of
Euphemia. The French commander, General Reynier quickly
marched towards the 5000 British troops with 5000 infantry
and 1000 cavalry. The British commander was General John
Stuart. The two forces clashed near the village of Maida on
July 6. Reynier advanced in column formation across a river
onto the open plain. Stuart's infantry deployed in line
formation two deep along a low ridge. The British held their
fire and advanced firing at point blank range. They then
followed up charging with the light infantry. The French
left flank soon routed with the British in pursuit. Reynier
lost 700 killed, 1000 wounded, and 1000 prisoners while
Stuart lost only 330 men. This action proved that British
tactics were more than a match for the French column.
MARENGO
Authors: Mike Musser, Richard Hooks, Gunter Meyer
MARENGO HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
On June 14, 1800, the French forces rapidly advanced
over the river Scrivia toward the town of Alessandria and
the nearby village of Marengo. They were completely unaware
however that 31000 Austrians were close at hand. The French
Army of the Reserve had 23700 men but only 23 cannon pieces.
The confident French commander did not anticipate the
Austrians to take the initiative and attack. The early
morning hours of June 14 saw three large Austrian columns
coming from Alessandria. The French Victor's division gave
ground from around Marengo even with the support of Lannes'
division and Murat's cavalry. By 11:30 AM there were no
French reserves left plus ammunition was in extremely low
supply. The Austrians stopped briefly to regroup the
victorious forces for a renewed assault. Fighting again
broke out with the French in retreat around Marengo. The
Consular Guard and Monnier's division was in the north
attempting to thwart General Ott's flanking maneuver. At
5:00 PM the tired French reinforcements of Boudet's division
marched up from the south and deployed just in time behind
Victor's shattered left wing. Napoleon ordered a
counterattack. French artillery rushed to the flank of the
huge Austrian column and fired case-shot at point blank
range. A lucky shop exploded an ammunition wagon stunning
the Austrians. Then Killermann's cavalry charged and 6000
Austrians fled in rout pursued by Boudet's bayonet infantry.
Soon panic spread through most of the army, except for the
Austrian left flank with Ott's troops who retreated more
orderly towards Alessandria. Both sides lost about 7000 men,
but the Austrians also had 7000 men taken prisoner.
MEDELLIN
Authors: Mike Musser, Richard Hooks, Gunter Meyer
MEDELLIN HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The battle of Medellin occurred on March 28, 1809.
Marshall Victor with 18000 men took up position on the south
of the town of Medellin with the Guadiana River in their
rear. There they awaited the attack of General Cuesta and
24000 men of the Spanish Army of Estremadura. Although
outnumbered, the French had more artillery and cavalry.
Cuesta advanced along a four mile front hoping to turn the
French flanks, but the French retreated orderly to a new
position where the French commander Victor had previously
planned to make his stand. The French hussars charged the
Spanish lancers on the Spanish left wing. The Spanish fled
with other cavalry as well. Cuesta managed to barely escape
capture. French dragoons next charged and the entire Spanish
army became a mass of routed troops. Up to 10000 Spaniards
were killed or captured in the rout.
PLANCENOIT
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
PLANCENOIT HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Napoleon began his last campaign with a brilliance not to
be found later on in the campaign. He shut down the borders
and stopped all mail, and replaced troops so inconspicuously
that no one noticed any change. Though the allied commanders
knew what he was likely to do, they were caught completely
by suprise. Large masses of campfires were reported by
Prussian patrols, but General Ziethen ordered only local
precautions. Reaching the border on June 14th, Napoleon gave
command of the left wing to Marshal Ney and the right wing
to Marshal Grouchy.
The next day the campaign began with a series of
blunders. The III and VI Corps got entangled and lost 5
hours getting sorted out. Division general Bourmont deserted
to the Prussians, seriously undermining the morale of his
men. Napoleon himself took command of the Imperial Guard and
forced Ziethen to retreat. Tough fighting throughout the day
caused 600 French casualties and 2000 Prussian. The emperor
again went to the front to break the stalemate at Gilly. By
the end of the day Napoleon's right wing had barely entered
Fleurus, and his left stopped just short of Quatre Bras.
Wellington ordered his men to the south and west of
Brussels(out of Napoleon's way), and Blucher decided to
concentrate all his men at Sombreffe, just north of Ligny.
Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar disobeyed Wellington and kept
his 4,000 Nassauers at Quatre Bras.
Napoleon had expected to defeat Wellington first, but
news of the entire Prussian army consolidating within reach
excited him more. He would destroy the Prussian army
tomorrow. Ney, on the other hand, had been defeated by
Wellington in the Spanish campaign, and thought Quatre Bras
was full of troops ready to ambush him. This mistake would
keep the Prussians from being destroyed the next day, and
was the first of many major occurrences that would cause
Napoleon his last campaign.
On the 16th began the first two of four battles that
would decide the fate of Europe. At 2 p.m. Ney finally
attempted to take Quatre Bras, after recieving a note from
Napoleon expressing suprise that he had not taken the hamlet
as ordered. About 20,000 men and 60 guns attacked 8,000 men
and 16 guns. Still afraid of an ambush, Ney waited for
another corps to arrive before pushing onward. While he was
wasting his opportunity, 13,000 allied troops reinforced
Quatre Bras.
Napoleon started the battle of Ligny at 2:30 p.m.
Grouchy's cavalry tried to pin down Thielemann's III Corps,
while Vandamme led 4 divisions against St. Armand, and
Gerard sent 2 divisions to pin down the Prussians at Ligny
and cause them to draw upon their reserve. French artillery
pounded the Prussian II Corps troops held in reserve, and
exposed on the facing hillsides. Fighting was extremely
heavy along the brook and many commanders were killed or
wounded. Napoleon requested D'Erlon's Corps from Ney, then
remembered he had left 10,000 men of the VI Corps at
Charleroi, and ordered them to Ligny as well. General Girard
was killed at St. Armand and a small foothold was gained at
Ligny.
At 4 p.m. Ney received Napoleon's order to take Quatre
Bras immediately. He decided to send in D'Erlon's Corps.
That Corps was right now about to take Blucher in the flank,
being ordered to Ligny by an aide to Napoleon, without
informing Ney. Ney did not know this, and after being
counterattacked by General Alten's 3rd Division, ordered the
men back to Quatre Bras. The Corps would have proven
decisive at either battlefield, but would not participate at
all this day. So Napoleon lost his chance to destroy
Blucher's army(less the IV Corps). At 6 p.m. Ney finally
found out about Napoleon's request for D'Erlon and threw
himself into the front-line fighting in despair. This
achieved nothing, and Wellington counterattacked at 6:30
p.m.
Meanwhile Blucher had launched a counterattack at St.
Armand and recaptured part of it. Napoleon sent the Young
Guard to throw them out. At 7 p.m. 60 guns fired into the
Prussians while the Imperial Guard attacked Ligny. With
Milhaud's cavalry to the guard's left, the Guard heavy
cavalry followed them through the resulting gap. After 6
hours of fighting the Prussian lines broke, but Blucher
personally lead 32 squadrons of cavalry in a counterattack
which gave the infantry a few more minutes to retreat.
By 9 p.m. both battles were over. At Quatre Bras the
Allies had regained almost all the ground they had lost
during the day, at the cost of 5,000 casualties and the Duke
of Brunswick. Amazingly, the French lost only 4,000 men in
the same battle. At Ligny the Prussians left 16,000
casualties and 21 guns, as well as a stunned Blucher. Though
Blucher later escaped to his own troops, while he was away
the army would retreat in the wrong direction, away from
Wellington, and 10,000 men would desert. Napoleon lost
11,500 men in the battle, the 7th Infantry Division so
mauled it was left behind at Ligny for the rest of the
campaign.
The third disaster of the campaign was about to occur.
With Blucher defeated Wellington had to retreat to Waterloo.
Had Ney attacked him before noon, he would have been locked
in battle for Napoleon to pounce on from the flank and rear.
Had Napoleon not waited until 11 a.m. to get moving he could
have enagaged Wellington in battle. But at 11 a.m. Napoleon
had finally ordered Grouchy to pursue Blucher, and finally
headed towards Wellington to cut him off. Wellington slipped
away before Napoleon arrived, but a chase could still have
finished him. A storm turned the roads into mud and cost
Napoleon another chance at victory.
While the 3 armies spent the 17th avoiding each other,
Grouchy informed Napoleon that Blucher wasn't retreating
away from Wellington, and that he could head the Prussians
off from joining Wellington. Napoleon received this note at
4 a.m., but did not respond until 10 a.m., and Grouchy did
nothing in the interim.
By 6 a.m. Wellington received word that Blucher was
coming to support him. Grouchy sent Vandamme after the
Prussians at 8 a.m., and Gerard got going at 9 a.m. By 10
a.m. Grouchy realized most of the Prussian army was around
Wavre. By 11 a.m. Blucher was leading Bulow's IV Corps
towards Waterloo. By noon the Prussian I and II Corps were
also sent towards Waterloo. A major fire in Wavre delayed
the two corps. Only Thielemann's III Corps, which had
suffered only 764 casualties at Ligny, was left to stop
Grouchy from intercepting the Prussian army.
At Waterloo the grand battery opened up at 11:25 a.m.,
but the main attack would not occur until 1 p.m., to allow
the ground to dry out enough for the cannon to do damage.
Grouchy could hear the firing at his HQ near Wavre, and left
his breakfast because of it. General Gerard demanded that
Grouchy head towards Waterloo and join Napoleon. Since
Napoleon's last received order was for the capture of Wavre,
Grouchy decided that that was what was most important.
Napoleon's first big attack at Waterloo was of 4 infantry
divisions. Unfortunately, 2 were formed in revolutionary
type columns instead of the checker-board type. Artillery
damaged them considerably, then a cavalry charge routed them
with great loss of life. Napoleon's first big attack was a
shambles, with perhaps 5,000 casualties. Wellington pulled
his infantry back over the ridges to avoid cannon fire, and
Ney, thinking they were retreating charged with 5,000 French
Cavalry. Again and again they achieved nothing but the
destruction of the cavalry. Napoleon, appalled, was forced
to throw in the other 5,000 cavalry to extract them.
At 4 p.m. Grouchy finally launched his attacks against
Wavre, and Bulow finally arrived at the Waterloo
battlefield. Napoleon sent Domont's cavalry and Lobau's VI
Corps to attack. Bulow tried to outflank Lobau by heading
towards the village of Plancenoit. The French had to fall
back, and by 5 p.m. the Prussian II Corps was supporting
Bulow in a three-sided assualt on Plancenoit. Napoleon sent
the Young Guard division to recapture parts of Plancenoit,
but fresh troops pushed them back. Two Old Guard battalions
were then sent into Plancenoit while 11 other guard
battalions were facing east to stop a breakthrough.
This was Napoleon's last chance for victory. At the very
moment his guard were waiting Ney had finally broken part of
Wellington's line and had asked for reinforcements from the
guard. "Troops? Where do you expect me to get them from? Do
you expect me to make some?" The two old guard battalions
pushed 14 Prussian battalions out of Plancenoit, stabilizing
the line. By the time the guard were back in reserve
Wellington had filled the gap in his line and the moment was
lost. Napoleon would not have his victory.
Meanwhile, Grouchy was trying to take Wavre. He sent
Gerard's and Hulot's Divisions to affect a passage across
the River Dyle. Skirmishers and heavy artillery fire
prevented any success. Learning of Bulow's advance on
Plancenoit, Grouchy sent Gerard's corps towards Limale in
the hopes of outflanking Wavre, knowing he could not reach
Waterloo in time to help Napoleon. He then lead a new
onslaught against Wavre, where Gerard was severely wounded.
Grouchy left Vandamme and Exelman's cavalry to pin down the
Prussians. Taking Pajol's newly arrived cavaly, Grouchy took
over at Limale personally, and Pajol was soon across the
river.
With Stengel retreating from Limale, and Wavre holding
nicely, Thielemann sent Stupnagel's brigade to Limale, where
a badly confused night attack did nothing to budge the
French. Thielemann sent an urgent plea for reinforce- ments.
"It doesn't matter if he is crushed, providing we gain the
victory here" was the response.
At Waterloo Ziethen's Corps was now arriving, and at 7
p.m. Napoleon sent 6 middle guard battalions, with support
from Reille and D'Erlon, to attack Wellington. The guards
could not withstand the firepower of the British and were
eventually routed. By 8 p.m. Prussians took La Haie and
Papelotte and occupied parts of Plancenoit again. Most of
the army broke, and Wellington charged after them. Only the
guard rallied, holding parts of Plancenoit until 9 p.m., and
blocking allied pursuit of the army. Even Napoleon could not
rally the army. The French lost 25,000 casualties and 8,000
prisoners at Waterloo, as well as 200 cannon. The Allies
lost 15,000 and the Prussians 7,000.
At Wavre the fighting continued through the night. Pajol
and the IV Corps expanded their bridgehead around Limale.
The French learned nothing of Waterloo though the Prussians
did. At dawn Thielemann launched a probing attack that got a
strong French response. With Stengel marching off to
Waterloo without orders, Thielemann ordered a retreat at 10
a.m. Having been reinforced by Teste's Division during the
night, Grouchy was in a position to claim victory, but at
10:30 a.m. he finally learned about Waterloo. He therefore
retreated his 30,000 men, eventually entering Paris with
50,000. Grouchy lost 2,600 men, Thielemann 2,500.
There would be battles on other frontiers and several
sieges, but the campaign was over. Had Napoleon not
abdicated there could have been one more battle outside
Paris, as the allies were left with only 118,000 men, while
Soult had 120,000 men in Paris. But Soult would have no more
bloodshed, and the Provisional Government would not give
Napoleon a temporary command, for there were too many other
armies to defeat. Napoleon surrendered to the British, was
sent to St. Helena, and died 6 years later of arsenic
poisoning, from a man employed by his father-in-law!
SCENARIO NOTES
The Prussians should move first. The French computer
player should be set to Hold Positions-Random. The Prussian
computer player should be set to Counterattack-Automatic.
PODUBNO
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
PODUBNO HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The broken promises of the Russians in 1809 began
Napoleon thinking of punishing them again. He expected a
quick campaign with one great battle and paid little
attention to the fighting in Spain. When he latched upon an
objective he was always single-minded about it. Once he
formulated a plan he stuck to it to the end. Having decided
to punish Russia he ignored Spain.
While Napoleon was advancing towards Smolensk, and later
Moscow, his right flank was protected by Schwarzenberg's
Austrian corps and Reynier's Saxon corps. He called
Scwarzenberg towards him, just as Tormassov assaulted
Reynier and destroyed one of his isolated brigades. Always
the dependable general, Schwarzenberg headed back to help
Reynier while sending a note to Napoleon explaining his
actions. Against 25,000 Austrians and 13,000 Saxons,
Tormassov had only 18,000 men to defend himself. He began
retreating until he found a strong position. There he waited
for his 13,000 man reserve.
The Russian position was a strong one. Tormassov was
behind a river with swampland on his flanks. A frontal
assault would be bloody. Schwarzenberg had no desire to get
Austrians slaughtered for a French Emperor. He would fight
minor skirmishes if necessary, but maneuvering in the old
Prussian style was his main form of attack. Reynier
suggested that he strike the Russian left flank.
Schwarzenberg agreed, and gave him two Austrian corps to
help him do so. The Saxon light infantry reached the
crossroads, were pushed back, reinforced, and advanced
forwards again. Reynier emerged from the woods onto a plain.
The Saxon left moved forward. Lilienberg was wounded and
Bianchi took over his command. The Russians had hurriedly to
change their positions to face the Saxons. The Saxon left
attempted to cut the Russians only line of retreat, the
Kobrin to Gorodetschna road. The Russians concentrated their
artillery against the Saxon left and the Austrians across
the river. Russian dragoons repeatedly charged the Saxon
left, forcing them into square. Other Russian cavalry
charged the Saxon center. Reynier's cavalry drove them off
and attempted to cut the Russian retreat. The Russian
cavalry in turn drove them off. The cavalry began to tire
and the Saxon left began moving forward towards evening.
The Austrians finally started moving slowly against the
Russian right around 5 PM. As the Russians began withdrawing
from his front, Frimont advanced across the river. The
Russians sent infantry and cavalry to await Frimont's
attack. Finding the position too strong, Frimont withdrew
across the river as night was falling. Tormassov received
his 13,000 reinforcements, but decided to find a better
position to make a stand. Russian losses were 4000, with 500
captured, the Austrians lost 2000. Saxons lost 832 men and 5
guns(all destroyed in artillery duels). For the moment, it
was safe for Napoleon to march on Moscow. Had Reynier lost
the battle of Podubno, Napoleon might have wintered at
Smolensk.
SCENARIO NOTES
The Saxon Cuirassiers fought in this battle without
their cuirasses. Grenz units are light border German units.
Casualties from the 12/7H weapon uses slot #22, and the 6/7H
weapon uses slot #24 of the 20.5 Weapon/Range Casualty
Table. Both sides have lost many stragglers and deserters
from their armies, as well as casualties from many
skirmishes.
French player should move first. French AI should be
Counterattack-Random. Allied AI should be Hold Positions
Analyze.
SMOLENSK
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
SMOLENSK HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Napoleon's most implacable enemy had always been England.
Since he couldn't defeat the English on the seas, he had to
defeat them through commerce. Napoleon declared a
Continental blockade, and enforced it by occupying Prussia.
England retaliated with a real blockade. The neutrals got
caught in the middle. To enforce the Continental Blockade
and bring England to its knees Napoleon needed Russia's
help. So he cultivated a friendship with Czar Alexander to
get him to enforce a blockade too. At Tilsit Alexander
agreed to the blockade.
As part of the agreement with Russia, Russian troops were
supposed to help Napoleon fight the Austrians in 1809. When
they didn't arrive in time, and Alexander lifted the
blockade against England, Napoleon began preparation for war
against Russia, by reading how Charlemagne and others had
faired against Russia. He planned to destroy the Russian
army early, then winter in Smolensk.
Considering the war in Spain to be a mopping up exercise,
Napoleon took away his veteran troops and replaced them with
secondary troops. He drafted soldiers from Italy, Prussia,
Austria and the German states. He kept hoping Alexander
would come to his senses before bloodshed was spilt. But in
June he finally invaded Russia, while the Russians were
about to attack him.
The main object was to destroy Bagration's army, but
Jerome went too slowly, and even stopped for several days,
eventually leaving the army in anger when placed under
Davout's command. Bagration therefore escaped Napoleon's
trap, and joined Barclay de Tolly at Smolensk. Smolensk was
a regional capital with great religious significance.
Napoleon thought the Russians would have to fight there, and
had planned a big fight here to win the campaign. Barclay
upset his plans.
Taking time to rest and remove precious artifacts the
Russians remained in the vicinity until Napoleon arrived.
Napoleon deployed his troops in a semi-circle around
Smolensk and waited. In the morning hours heavy skirmishing
developed among the Russians and Wurttemburgers, and the
Russians sallied from the fortress to push the picquets out
of the suburbs. Napoleon waited until he received reports of
columns of Russians heading away. Napoleon then decided to
outflank the Russians and was forced to pin down the
garrison to do so. At 2 PM he ordered the attack.
Heavy artillery fire from across the river hit the Poles
in the flank. Poniatowski set up a battery to supress the
enmy fire and pushed the cossacks out of the Nicolski
suburb. Polish infantry got into the Malakov suburb and
headed for the Malakov Gate. Ney's French and Wurttemburgers
couldn't get into the western suburbs. Davout made little
headway against the southern suburbs.
Napoleon got all his howitzers in a battery and fired on
the city, in an attempt to set it aflame. He also got the
Guard artillery and all his 12-lbers into a battery and
aimed them at the fortress walls. The cannonballs bounced
off. He then aimed the guns at the bridges to slow down
reinforcements from crossing.
By 5 PM Davout got up to the city walls. Barclay sent
Eugene against Poniatowski and Mouton, but was driven back.
Ney still couldn't make any headway. The Poles attacked the
Malakov Gate heavily, and Barclay sent reinforcements to
prevent a breakthrough. The Poles were pushed back. With
nightfall the French were still outside the city. The
Russians had suffered 6000 casualties, the French 9000. The
Russians slipped away quietly into the night, retreating
again.
SCENARIO NOTES
The French should move first. The French computer player
should be set to Counterattack-Automatic. The Prussian
computer player should be set to Hold Positions-Analyze.
UTITSA
Authors: Mike Musser, Richard Hooks, Gunter Meyer
UTITSA HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the battle of Borodino on September 7, 1812, the
battle of Utitsa occurred on the south flank. The French
forces in the area were Poniatowski's 5th Corps and some
cavalry. They were opposed by the Russian Tuchkov's Corps
along with the reserves of Baggavout. Early in the battle
the French attacks managed to gain control of the town of
Utitsa and part of the neighboring forest. Russian reserves
were being committed in large numbers to the center and left
flanks. Attempts to turn the Utitsa flank failed as the
Russians used the broken and wooded terrain to their
advantage. General Tuchkov, however, was killed. The
fighting was very heavy and by 4:00 PM the Polish troops
managed again to retake Utitsa and the nearby hill. The
arrival of fresh Russian troops caused the Polish Prince to
pause and by 5:00 PM the battle was over.
VIMIERO
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
VIMIERO HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In 1807 Napoleon had conquered half of Europe. He had
destroyed Austria at Austerlitz, Prussia at Jena-Auerstadt,
and Russia at Eylau and Friedland (mostly the latter). But
he still had England to finish. Since he could not beat the
English fleet to invade England, Napoleon could only defeat
England by cutting off all trade. So he began the first land
blockade of a naval power. He closed the ports of all
continental Europe except Spain and Portugal. He got the
King of Spain to come to France and forced him to abdicate.
Napoleon declared Joseph Bonaparte the new King of Spain.
The Spanish revolted against the French, and some requested
aid from the British. The British landed in Portugal under
Sir Arthur Wellesley.
With only some of his 30,000 men unloaded, Wellesley
repulsed Junot sharply at Rolica. Wellesley continued to
Vimiero where he became surrounded by French cavalry. He
found a good defensive position and waited for Junot to
attack. Junot had tried hard to reach Vimiero in time for a
dawn attack, but terrain slowed him down. Believing the
British were massed at the center, Junot decided to pin down
the center while sending a brigade of his army against the
left flank. That brigade had to detour around a ravine and
was late in supporting the frontal assault. Though British
outposts were pushed back, the troops fired devastatingly
steady volleys into the assaulting French.
Thomiere's brigade reached Vimiero and got into a nasty
fight around the town cemetary. The 43rd Foot ejected them,
while the other French were being pushed back and almost
surrounded. Margaron's cavalry slowed the British down
enough to allow Junot to escape, but Junot was cut off from
Spain. Luckily for him, Wellesley's two superiors arrived to
take over command of the British corps. They signed a
convention with Junot allowing him to return to France on
British ships. The British were outraged. All three British
commanders were called home to face a court of inquiry while
Sir John Moore took over command of the British Corps. All
three were exonerated, but Wellesley's superiors never saw
combat again. Junot had almost been court-martialled
himself.
Moore decided to head into Spain to do some damage.
Unfortunately for him, the surrender of 22,000 Frenchmen at
Baylen had forced Napoleon to enter Spain himself. After
sweeping aside the Spanish armies, Napoleon headed straight
for Moore. Moore's men got onto transports after a bloody
fight, but Moore was dead, and Wellesley would become
commander of British forces in the Peninsula once again.
SCENARIO NOTES
The French should move first. The French computer player
should be set to Counterattack-Random. Allied AI should be
Hold Positions-Analyze.
WAGRAM
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
WAGRAM HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Austrians had harbored resentment against Napoleon
for a long time. Since the disaster of 1805 the Austrian
army had undergone many changes under the Archduke Charles.
Though far from complete, the opportunity given them by
Napoleon was too great to pass up. While Napoleon was in
Spain scattering the rebels, Austria was gearing up for war.
Napoleon was already heading for France with the Imperial
Guard when Soult was defeated by Moore at Corunna.
With Berthier commanding Army of Germany while Napoleon
was in Paris, the French where nearly mauled by an advancing
Austrian army at Eckmuhl. Napoleon arrived, called Lannes
back from his victories, and forced the Austrians into
retreat. Using the Danube as a natural barrier, Charles
pulled back his forces in an attempt to crush the French
after they crossed. At the battle of Aspern-Essling
Napoleon's army was so badly mauled that all his marshals
and corps commanders wanted to retreat. Napoleon, instead,
built many bridges over the Danube and crossed all at once.
Crushing the Austrian advance guard observing them, the
French headed towards Wagram and the main Austrian Army.
Napoleon wanted to pin down the Austrians so that they
wouldn't get away. Oudinot's men fought into the village of
Baumersdorf, taking 4 colors and 2000 prisoners from Brady's
division. Archduke Charles led a cavalry counterattack that
forced the French to retire. Marshal Macdonald was attacking
to Oudinot's left and was fired upon in the flank by
Bernadotte's Saxons, followed by Charles and his cavalry.
During a night retreat they mistook friendly cavalry for
enemy and routed into the Imperial Guard. Bernadotte was
attacking Wagram with the support of 36 horse guns of the
guard, but didn't have enough of a corps present to make
headway. Dupas was particularly hard hit, and his command
almost destroyed. Davout to the east made some headway, but
abandoned his successes.
The Austrians began the morning by attacking the French.
Bernadotte had abandoned a key position and was sent back to
retake it, but failed miserably. Artillery and the main
brunt of the advance severely damaged the Saxons, who broke.
Napoleon relieved him of command on the spot. Massena
plugged the gap, until Eugene could shift his army left.
Klenau destroyed the French division at Aspern and stopped
to wait for Kolowrat. With 2 Austrian Corps to his rear only
Reynier's heavy artillery and Lasalle's and St. Germain's
cavalry kept the Austrians from cutting the French off from
their supplies. Massena swept down from the north and forced
the Austrians back, and then threw Klenau out of Aspern.
Napoleon sent Lauriston with 112 guns from the Guard, Wrede
and Eugene to stop Kolowrat. This devastating fire stopped
them dead. Meanwhile Nansouty kept Bellegarde occupied when
Massena turned south. With his rear secure, Napoleon now
concentrated on the attack.
Davout attacked Rosenberg, and overran his batteries.
Archduke Charles arrived with much cavalry and saved the
flank. But thousands of cavalry fought until the French
could move forward again. Sensing victory, Napoleon ordered
his Marshals to attack everything in front of them. Davout
destroyed Rosenberg and fell on Hohenzollern, who was
already fending off Oudinot. His line was quickly pierced,
and many were captured. Lauriston's grand battery advanced
before Macdonald's attack to punch a hole in the Austrian
line, but was badly coordinated. Cavalry support was foiled
by Archduke Charles' dispositions, and Macdonald suffered
80% casualties. He was supported by Durutte, Wrede and
Curial. Napoleon then sent Marmont to Oudinot's left.
Bellegarde and Hohenzollern melted away. Charles ordered a
general retreat.
The battle of Wagram was a great victory, but could have
been a devastating defeat. As it was, the war didn't end
until 5 days later, as Charles was badly outmaneuvered at
Znaim. The French lost 32,500 at Wagram, including Lasalle,
and had lost Lannes at Aspern-Essling. The Austrians lost
43,000, including 6,000 prisoners. A greater victory would
have left a smaller army in the field in the 1813-1814
campaigns. But worst of all, the Austrians got Napoleon out
of Spain, where he never went back. Had he won in Spain,
Napoleon would have had 200,000 extra men for the 1813 and
1814 campaigns!
SCENARIO NOTES
The Allies should move first. The French computer player
should be set to Counterattck-Analyze. The Allied computer
player should be set to Counterattack-Random.
WAVRE
Author: Michael Lee Merritt
WAVRE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Napoleon began his last campaign with a brilliance not
to be found later on in the campaign. He shut down the
borders and stopped all mail, and replaced troops so
inconspicuously that no one noticed any change. Though the
allied commanders knew what he was likely to do, they were
caught completely by suprise. Large masses of campfires were
reported by Prussian patrols, but General Ziethen ordered
only local precautions. Reaching the border on June 14th,
Napoleon gave command of the left wing to Marshal Ney and
the right wing to Marshal Grouchy.
The next day the campaign began with a series of
blunders. The III and VI Corps got entangled and lost 5
hours getting sorted out. Division general Bourmont deserted
to the Prussians, seriously undermining the morale of his
men. Napoleon himself took command of the Imperial Guard and
forced Ziethen to retreat. Tough fighting throughout the day
caused 600 French casualties and 2000 Prussian. The emperor
again had to go to the front to break the stalemate at
Gilly. By the end of the day Napoleon's right wing had
barely entered Fleurus, and his left stopped just short of
Quatre Bras. Wellington ordered his men to the south and
west of Brussels (out of Napoleon's way), and Blucher
decided to concentrate all his men at Sombreffe, just north
of Ligny. Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar disobeyed Wellington
and kept his 4,000 Nassauers at Quatre Bras.
Napoleon had expected to defeat Wellington first, but
news of the entire Prussian army consolidating within reach
excited him more. He would destroy the Prussian army
tomorrow. Ney, on the other hand, had been defeated by
Wellington in the Spanish campaign, and thought Quatre Bras
was full of troops ready to ambush him. This mistake would
keep the Prussians from being destroyed the next day, and
was the first of many major occurrences that would cost
Napoleon his last campaign.
On the 16th began the first two of four battles that
would decide the fate of Europe. At 2 p.m. Ney finally
attempted to take Quatre Bras, after receiving a note from
Napoleon expressing suprise that he had not taken the hamlet
as ordered. About 20,000 men and 60 guns attacked 8,000 men
and 16 guns. Still afraid of an ambush, Ney waited for
another corps to arrive before pushing onward. While he was
wasting his opportunity, 13,000 allied troops reinforced
Quatre Bras.
Napoleon started the battle of Ligny at 2:30 p.m.
Grouchy's cavalry tried to pin down Thielemann's III Corps,
while Vandamme led 4 divisions against St. Armand, and
Gerard sent 2 divisions to pin down the Prussians at Ligny
and cause them to draw upon their reserve. French artillery
pounded the Prussian II Corps troops held in reserve, and
exposed on the facing hillsides. Fighting was extremely
heavy along the brook and many commanders were killed or
wounded. Napoleon requested D'Erlon's Corps from Ney, then
remembered he had left 10,000 men of the VI Corps at
Charleroi, and ordered them to Ligny as well. General Girard
was killed at St. Armand and a small foothold was gained at
Ligny.
At 4 p.m. Ney received Napoleon's order to take Quatre
Bras immediately. He decided to send in D'Erlon's Corps.
That corps was right now about to take Blucher in the flank,
being ordered to Ligny by an aide to Napoleon, without
informing Ney. Ney did not know this, and after being
counterattacked by General Alten's 3rd Division, ordered the
men back to Quatre Bras. The Corps would have proven
decisive at either battlefield, but would not participate at
all this day. So Napoleon lost his chance to destroy
Blucher's army (less the IV Corps). At 6 p.m. Ney finally
found out about Napoleon's request for D'Erlon and threw
himself into the front-line fighting in despair. This
achieved nothing, and Wellington counterattacked at 6:30
p.m.
Meanwhile Blucher had launched a counterattack at St.
Armand and recaptured part of it. Napoleon sent the Young
Guard to throw them out. At 7 p.m. 60 guns fired into the
Prussians while the Imperial Guard attacked Ligny. With
Milhaud's cavalry to the guard's left, the guard heavy
cavalry followed them through the resulting gap. After 6
hours of fighting the Prussian lines broke, but Blucher
personally lead 32 squadrons of cavalry in a counterattack
which gave the infantry a few more minutes to retreat.
By 9 p.m. both battles were over. At Quatre Bras the
Allies had regained almost all the ground they had lost
during the day, at the cost of 5,000 casualties and the Duke
of Brunswick. Amazingly, the French lost only 4,000 men in
the same battle. At Ligny the Prussians left 16,000
casualties and 21 guns, as well as a stunned Blucher. Though
Blucher later escaped to his own troops, while he was away
the army would retreat in the wrong direction, away from
Wellington, and 6,000 men would desert. Napoleon lost 11,500
men in the battle, the 7th Infantry Division so mauled it
was left behind at Ligny for the rest of the campaign.
The third disaster of the campaign was about to occur.
With Blucher defeated Wellington had to retreat to Waterloo.
Had Ney attacked him before noon, he would have been locked
in battle for Napoleon to pounce on from the flank and rear.
Had Napoleon not waited until 11 a.m. to get moving he could
have enagaged Wellington in battle. But at 11 a.m. Napoleon
had finally ordered Grouchy to pursue Blucher, and finally
headed towards Wellington to cut him off. Wellington slipped
away before Napoleon arrived, but a chase could still have
finished him. A storm turned the roads into mud and cost
Napoleon another chance at victory.
While the 3 armies spent the 17th avoiding each other,
Grouchy informed Napoleon that Blucher wasn't retreating
away from Wellington, and that he could head the Prussians
off from joining Wellington. Napoleon received this note at
4 a.m., but did not respond until 10 a.m., and Grouchy did
nothing in the interim.
By 6 a.m. Wellington received word that Blucher was
coming to support him. Grouchy sent Vandamme after the
Prussians at 8 a.m., and Gerard got going at 9 a.m. By 10
a.m. Grouchy realized most of the Prussian army was around
Wavre. By 11 a.m. Blucher was leading Bulow's IV Corps
towards Waterloo. By noon the Prussian I and II Corps were
also sent towards Waterloo. A major fire in Wavre delayed
the two corps. Only Thielemann's III Corps, which had
suffered only 764 casualties at Ligny, was left to stop
Grouchy from intercepting the Prussian army.
At Waterloo the grand battery opened up at 11:25 a.m.,
but the main attack would not occur until 1 p.m., to allow
the ground to dry out enough for the cannon to do damage.
Grouchy could hear the firing at his HQ near Wavre, and left
his breakfast because of it. General Gerard demanded that
Grouchy head towards Waterloo and join Napoleon. Since
Napoleon's last received order was for the capture of Wavre,
Grouchy decided that that was what was most important.
Napoleon's first big attack at Waterloo was of 4
infantry divisions. Unfortunately, 2 were formed in
revolutionary-type columns instead of the checker-board
type. Artillery damaged them considerably, then a cavalry
charge routed them with great loss of life. Napoleon's first
big attack was a shambles, with perhaps 5,000 casualties.
Wellington pulled his infantry back over the ridges to avoid
cannon fire, and Ney, thinking they were retreating charged
with 5,000 French Cavalry. Again and again they achieved
nothing but the destruction of the cavalry. Napoleon,
appalled, was forced to throw in the other 5,000 cavalry to
extract them.
At 4 p.m. Grouchy finally launched his attacks against
Wavre, and Bulow finally arrived at the Waterloo
battlefield. Napoleon sent Domont's cavalry and Lobau's VI
Corps to attack. Bulow tried to outflank Lobau by heading
towards the village of Plancenoit. The French had to fall
back, and by 5 p.m. the Prussian II Corps was supporting
Bulow in a three-sided assualt on Plancenoit. Napoleon sent
the Young Guard division to recapture parts of Plancenoit,
but fresh troops pushed them back. Two Old Guard battalions
were then sent into Plancenoit while 11 other guard
battalions were facing east to stop a breakthrough.
This was Napoleon's last chance for victory. At the very
moment his guard were waiting Ney had finally broken part of
Wellington's line and had asked for reinforcements from the
guard. "Troops? Where do you expect me to get them from? Do
you expect me to make some?" The two Old Guard battalions
pushed 14 Prussian battalions out of Plancenoit, stabilizing
the line. By the time the guard were back in reserve
Wellington had filled the gap in his line and the moment was
lost. Napoleon would not have his victory.
Meanwhile, Grouchy was trying to take Wavre. He sent
Gerard's and Hulot's Divisions to affect a passage across
the River Dyle. Skirmishers and heavy artillery fire
prevented any success. Learning of Bulow's advance on
Plancenoit, Grouchy sent Gerard's corps towards Limale in
the hopes of outflanking Wavre, knowing he could not reach
Waterloo in time to help Napoleon. He then lead a new
onslaught against Wavre, where Gerard was severely wounded.
Grouchy left Vandamme and Exelman's cavalry to pin down the
Prussians. Taking Pajol's newly arrived cavaly, Grouchy took
over at Limale personally, and Pajol was soon across the
river.
With Stengel retreating from Limale, and Wavre holding
nicely, Thielemann sent Stupnagel's brigade to Limale, where
a badly confused night attack did nothing to budge the
French. Thielemann sent an urgent plea for reinforcements.
"It doesn't matter if he is crushed, providing we gain the
victory here" was the response.
At Waterloo Ziethen's Corps was now arriving, and at 7
p.m. Napoleon sent 6 Middle Guard battalions, with support
from Reille and D'Erlon, to attack Wellington. The guards
could not withstand the firepower of the British and were
eventually routed. By 8 p.m. the Prussians took La Haie and
Papelotte and occupied parts of Plancenoit again. Most of
the army broke, and Wellington charged after them. Only the
guard rallied, holding parts of Plancenoit until 9 p.m., and
blocking allied pursuit of the army. Even Napoleon could not
rally the army. The French lost 25,000 casualties and 8,000
prisoners at Waterloo, as well as 200 cannon. The Allies
lost 15,000 and the Prussians 7,000.
At Wavre the fighting continued through the night. Pajol
and the IV Corps expanded their bridgehead around Limale.
The French learned nothing of Waterloo though the Prussians
did. At dawn Thielemann launched a probing attack that got a
strong French response. With Stengel marching off to
Waterloo without orders, Thielemann ordered a retreat at 10
a.m. Having been reinforced by Teste's Division during the
night, Grouchy was in a position to claim victory, but at
10:30 a.m. he finally learned about Waterloo. He therefore
retreated his 30,000 men, eventually entering Paris with
50,000. Grouchy lost 2,600 men, Thielemann 2,500.
There would be battles on other frontiers and several
sieges, but the campaign was over. Had Napoleon not
abdicated there could have been one more battle outside
Paris, as the allies were left with only 118,000 men, while
Soult had 120,000 men in Paris. But Soult would have no more
bloodshed, and the Provisional Government would not give
Napoleon a temporary command, for there were too many other
armies to defeat. Napoleon surrendered to the British, was
sent to St. Helena, and died 6 years later!
SCENARIO NOTES
The 1/2 For. unit is part of the 2nd Foreign Regiment.
In 1815 Napoleon made all dragoons and chasseurs line
regiments, and got rid of their carbines. The 12/6" weapon
uses the #18 column for casualties.
The Krmk units are from the Kurmark section of Prussia.
The PR 5th LT UH Regiment had 1 squadron from the Berg
Hussars attached. Targets in a town are modified 50% for
fire damage and 70% for melee damage due to fortification.
Cavalry charge less. Infantry form square more. The 12/7H
artillery uses the #22 row for casualties, and the 6/7H uses
the #24 row. Abbreviation: HW7 for How 7.
French player moves first. French AI should be set to
Counterattack-Random. Allied AI should be set to Hold
Positions-Analyze.
ADDITIONAL SCENARIO DISKS FOR
BATTLES OF NAPOLEON
BON Scenario Disk 1: Includes the battles of Austerlitz,
Marengo, Redoubt, Utitsa, and Maida.
BON Scenario Disk 2: Includes the battles of Bridge, New
Orleans, Medellin, Albuera, and Santon.
BON Scenario Disk 3: Includes the Revolutionary War
battles of Camden, Hobkirk, Guilford's Courthouse, Cowpens,
Eutaw Springs, and King's Mountain.
BON Scenario Disk 4: Includes the battles of Hill, Eylau,
Wagram, Leipzig I, Smolensk, Plancenoit, Waterloo II, and
Bladensburg.
BON Scenario Disk 5: Includes the battles of Ligny,
Vimiero, Village, Retreat, Leipzig II, Podubno, Quatre Bras
II, and Aspern-Essling.
BON Scenario Disk 6: Includes the battles of Pyramids,
Jena, Corunna, Raab, Borodino II, Craonne, North and Wavre.
BON Scenario Disk ARW: Includes 40 Revolutionary War
battles of Concord, Great Bridge, Quebec, Harlem Heights,
Pelham, Trenton, Hubbardton, Oriskany, Freeman's Farm,
Germantown, Paulus Hook, Yorktown, Bunker Hill, Long Island,
Kip's Bay, White Plains, Fort Washington, Princeton,
Bennington, Brandywine, Bemis Heights, Monmouth, Savannah
1779, Staten Island, Lexington, Moore's Creek, Three Rivers,
Five Mile Run, Paoli, Redbank, Newport, Boonesborough,
Savannah 1778, Vincennes, Stony Point, Newtown, Charleston,
Ninety-Six, Green Spring Farm, and Gloucester.
BON Scenario Disk 8: Includes the battles of Toulon,
Mondovi, Friedland, Ebelsberg, Talavera, Polotsk, Lutzen, La
Rothiere, Lundy's Lane, and Gilly.
BON Scenario Disk 9: Includes the battles of Valmy, Lodi,
Nicopolis, Elchingen, Sacile, Bussaco, Berezina,
Liebertwolkwitz, Montmirail, Villere Plantation
BON Ancients Scenario Disk 10 : Includes the battles of
Marathon, Thermopylae, Plataea, Delium, Mantinea, Cunaxa,
Leuctra, Herkleon
BON Ancients Scenario Disk 11: Includes the battles of
Chaeronea, Granicus, Issus, Gaugamela, Hydaspes, Asculum,
Raphia, Pydna
For more information please contact:
David Landrey
Novastar Game Co.
P.O. Box 1813
Rocklin, CA 95677
(916) 624-7113