Liebertwolkwitz (october 14, 1813)
INTRODUCTION
Saxony, October 1813. Napoleon’s Grande Armee is concentrating around
Leipzig in anticipation of a major action against the combined allied
armies. On the 14th, the leave elements of Schwarzenberg’s Army of
Bohemia appear to the South of the French positions. Needing more time
to assemble his forces, Napoleon orders Murat to fight a delaying
action around the village of Liebertwolkwitz. Meanwhile Wittgenstein,
leading the advance guard of the allied army, believes that he has
caught the rearguard of the retreating French, and quickly deploys
believing that he needs to bring them to battle before they slip away.
HOUSE RULES
This scenario is closely based upon the one designed by Paul Edgar and
posted to the Napoleon's Battles Yahoo group.
- Several house-rules were used:
1) The cavalry scale is 1/120 because the cavalry bases I
use are greater than the standard ones.
2) Command & Control: In this battle I
tested a modification proposed by Michael Rasmussen (Message 4842 in the
news group 'napsbattles' of YAHOO), that gives two command spans to the
Army Commander: the normal (printed in the labels) and other (lesser)
that is used to control generals or units at more than one command level
below.
3) A new category of French light cavalry: Dragoons (FrDC) has been
added, to take into account that the so named heavy cavalry divisions of
1813, included some units of Dragoons retired from Spain, veteran units
that were better trained that the normal french light cavalry (FrLC)
units of 1813. Their ratings are the same than FrLC from 1805-1812.
4) Routed units are allowed to auto-reformed, without an attached
General, with an aditional '-3' modifier (they are disordered).
TABLE-TOP ADAPTATION
| Liebertwolkwitz pdf file |
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| Old map | Game map | |
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| The battlefield | ||
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| The French deployment | ||
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| Allied deployemnt | ||
THE BATTLE IN PICTURES
| THE FIRST SERIOUS ENGAGEMENT | |||||
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| The IV French Cavalry Corps attacks the Cossacks which evade. An unit enter into the Allied lines and the other routs the Prussians of the CRC (Zeiten) | |||||
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| Scheme of the cavalry mele | Polish cavalry, out of control after failing recall, attacks the Reserve Prussian infantry, that forms square and rejects them | The other Polish brigade disordered by artillery fire, is routed by the Prussian 'kuirassiers'. The Prussians make recall and move normally at front. | The ever-oportunist cossacls try to profit from the situation, but are rejected. Both sides bounce in disorder. | ||
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The IV polish Cavalry Corps is broken for the rest of the battle, and two Polish generals are made prisoners: Sulkowsky and the Corps Commandant Sokolniki. | ||||
| THE BATTLE RAGES AT LIEBERTWOLKWITZ | |||||
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| Austrian dragoons from the 1/IVA atack and rout the V Corps light cavalry. | The Austrians fail recall and attack the 19/V infantry, that forms square and rejects them. | ||||
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| The French V Cavalry Corps attempts to diminish the pressure, but is attacked by Austrian and Russian cavalry | |||||
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| The French lanciers win the combat with the Austrian hulans but both sides must bounce disordered | The Russian dragoons rout the french chasseurs but, failing recall, remain disordered. | ||||
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Final situation in the center of battlefield after the cavalry battle | ||||
| THE BATTLE OF CAVALRY IN THE CENTER | |||||
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| French cuirassiers from the I Cavalry Corps attack the russian infantry of I Corps, which fails square and is routed. Then, the french cavalry attempts to close another russian brigade but is rejected. The prussian cavalry from RCR attempts to relieve but is charged and routed by the saxon cuirassiers | |||||
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| FFinal situation after the cavalry battle. Near Wachau, the Prussians have routed the French infantry of the I Corps. | |||||
| THE FRENCH HIGH TIDE | |||||
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| French light cavalry (Subervie/V Corps) attacks and routs Prussian infantry failing to form square. Cossacks try help but are rejected. | |||||
| In those moments (2.00 p.m.), the French have reached all their objectives: they have rejected all allied attacks and have lowered the pression on Lieberwolkwitz and Wachau. Is a false impression, because the allied superiority in artillery will destroy the french-saxon heavys and will eject the french infantry from the above villages. | |||||