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After being beaten by the French Corps VI (Ney) at Gerona the Spanish Army of Catalonia, commanded by Chervellon retreated to Barcelona. They were pursued by Ney. From the West – coming from Zaragoza – a second French force was approaching, Soult with his Corps II. The meeting point of these two Crops was Sabadell near Barcelona.
Here the Spanish army tried to regroup. Meanwhile, a British Corps under command of Wellesley disembarked in Barcelona. After being informed of the appearance of the 2 French corps, he immediately ordered his troops to support the Spaniards.
After the stalemate that was the first battle at the gates of Barcelona near the village of Sabadell, the two French corps under command of Soult (as C-in-C) and Ney launched a second attack on the combined forces of Spain and Britain. The Spanish army, heavily weakened after the costly battles of Gerona and Sabedell, is commanded by Chervellon while the British army is led by Wellesley. These armies are prepared for a defensive battle just south of Barcelona near a river called El Llobregat.
1809 Battle of Badajoz Vienna, 15th of Januar 2022 After being informed that Lefebvre had left Badajoz with his entire army, Moore began to advance
1808 Battle Of El Llobregat Although the French failed to take Sabadell in the first battle of Barcelona, the British were not able to pressure and pursue the retreating French. Thus, the two French Corps were able to unite under Soult’s command. The British-Spanish armies remained in the field, positioning at Fort Montjuic along the river El Llobregat, in order to keep all routes open. The British and Spanish can only wait as the united French
1808 Battle Of Sabadell To force the Anglo-Spanish troops to withdraw, the French had to capture Sabadell; To prevent the conjunction of the French corps,
This 1813 what-if Spring Campaign in Germany started with a „real“ battle of Lützen (May 2nd, 1813) with some 10,000 figures on the table. The outcome of this first battle was quite historic in seeing the Prussians and Russians holding the villages of Gross- and Klein-Görschen and Napoleon falling back on Lützen.
After this, we are going along the calendar and the actual marching distances step by step further, the unusual part being the fact that the „designer“ of the whole thing manages both sides – a fun for him to compose OoBs and build the terrain on the table. Although the factor of „what-if“ is prevailing, he bases the story on the book of F. Loraine Petre „Napoleon´s last campaign in Germany 1813“ – at least as far as numbers and units are concerned.
1813 Battle of Plau am See Situation May 15, 1813 The Battle oh Havelberg ended in a French victory which was not complete as the
1813 Battle of Havelberg Situation Report May 11,1813 After the battle of Lützen/Görschen Napoleon is slowly moving eastwards to gather more refreshed troops from Mainz and
1813 Battle of Elbe Day 1 General Situation, 7th of May 1813 After the Battle of Luetzen/Gross-Goerschen the Prussians spent the night in those two
1813 Battle of Lützen The Battle of Lützen started in the early hours of May 2nd 1813. The Prussian centre under Blücher advanced against the
The river crossing somewhere between Dessau and Wittenberg was based on the situation where Eugene and his Army of the Elbe was on the northern side and is called by Napoleon to come to the southern river bank, supported by XI Corps McDonald with a bridge-train. Unfortunately, Eugene is halted by Bernadotte, with his Swedes and a Prussian Corps by his side. McDonald and his infantry stumbles into a Russian Cavalry Corps („Streif-Corps“), mainly composed of Cossacks with orders to get behind French lines and cut their supply lines.
It was interesting to see that an Infantry Corps without Cavalry can be held in check even by Hussars and Cossacks. Therefore, the crossing was only partly successful, resulting in Eugene remaining on the northern side of the Elbe.
So there is a good chance that the next battle will be around the fortress of Torgau. One of our colleagues has created a big fortress with his 3D-printer, an impressive item which we want to bring into action.
August Q4, 1808
On his way from Badajoz to Madrid Lefebvre heard rumours about the advance of the British-
Portuguese Army on the right bank of the Rio Guardiana bypassing the Fortress of Badajoz
(according to the rules British, Portuguese and Spanish troops are in supply in this area
whereas French troops are not). Lefebvre immediately returned to Badajoz with his entire
corps and ordered Moncey, the commander of the III Corps, to follow him. Only one Division
of the III Corps followed its original orders to move to Madrid. After Lefebvre’s corps
reached Badajoz, he learned about the approach of a Spanish Army on the left bank of Rio
Guadiana threating the supply line from Badajoz to Medellín. At that moment the Corps of
Moncey coming from Medellín entered the theatre of operations.
And so, the double battle near Badajoz begins, on the right bank the sub-battle between the
British-Portuguese Army and the French IV. Corps near Fuerte (Fort) de San Cristobal, on the
left bank the sub-battle between the Spanish Army of Andalusia and the French III. Corps in
the Sierra de San Miguel.
After the battle of Lützen/Görschen Napoleon is slowly moving eastwards to gather more refreshed troops from Mainz and Erfurt. The Imperial Guard is strengthening substantially. The main army is reaching Meissen on May 11th. A decision has to be taken to march on Dresden and force the Saxon king back into the alliance with the French or to find other more important targets.
In the battle of the Elbe Eugène was unable to cross the river and join XI Army Corps/McDonald. He stayed on the left bank of the Elbe and moved northwest to join Davout’s Ist Corps which left Hamburg with two divisions of veterans from Russia. Doing this Davout is weakening the Hamburg garrison and risking the defection of the Danes.