mockern (october 16, 1813)
INTRODUCTION
The Battle of Mockern is the northern section of the first day of the
battle of Leipzig (October 16, 1813) and was fought between the
French Marmont's VI Corps and the Blucher's Russian/Prussian Army of
Silesia.
HOUSE RULES
The order of battle (OOB) is based on the book of George Nafziger 'NAPOLEON
AT LEIPZIG. THE BATTLE OF NATIONS' (Chicago, Emperor's Press 1997)
The second edition of Napoleon's Battles edited by Five Forks has been
used with some modifications:
1) The cavalry scale is also 1/120
2) To display small cavalry groups (regiments), units of cavalry
from 480 men upwards are allowed,
3) Units of infantry with less than four elements are allowed to
display under-strenght French light infantry or Russian jager units.
4) Routed units can try to rally without an attached general
with an additional '-3' modifier.
5) The attempts to avoid routs and/or dispersal (14.2.1) can be
made without an attached general. The attempt to avoid the dispersal
requires a previous rout movement.
TABLE-TOP ADAPTATION
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Mockern pdf file | |||
| Old map | Game map | ||||
| The battlefield | |||||
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| From left to right (1) Mockern from the far side of Elster River; (2) The plain of Breitenfeld; (3) The twin villages of Klein and Gross Widderitzsch; (4) The main road to Mockern from the Prussian side. | |||||
| French deployment | |||||
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| From left to right (1) Deployment 'en avant ' of the French VI Corps; (2) The cavalry covers the center; (3) The Polish and the III Corps protect the right flank. | |||||
| Allied deployment | |||||
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| From left to right (1) The Langeron's Russian avant-guard; (2) The Yorck's Prussian avant-guard; (3) ThePrussian advance against the French VI Corps; (4) Schematic view of the battlefield at 9.00 h. | |||||
| Arrival times | |||||
| French Ney 11.00 h Souham-8/III 13.00 h 23LC/III 14.00 h 11/III 15.00 h |
Allied 1/IP-2/1P-7/1P-RC/1P-Blucher-Yorck 9.00 h 8/1P-Corps Ar. 1P 9.30 h 8/10R-Langeron 10.00 h 15/9R-22/10R-Ar. 10R 10.30 h 17/8R-St. Priest 12.30 h Corps Ar. 8R 13.00 h 8CR-11/8R 13.30 h 11CR-Sacken 1430 h 16/11R-11Co 16.00 h 27/11R does not arrived |
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SPECIFIC RULES OF THE SCENARIO
Ney is busy
Ney was the overall Commander of the northern Leipzig front but he was very busy
all the day, so Marmont was the effective C-i-C but his authority only extended
to his own VI Vorps. To simulate this situation, Ney is an independent Wing
Commander for all units except the Marmont’s VI Corps. However, Ney always must
to test for Command Control against his Response Number (6) in the Command Step.
If successful (in command) he is present in the battlefield. If not (out of
command) he is riding through the battlefield so their subordinates must
test for Command Control.
The vacilations of III Corps
After their arrival, 8/III, 11/III and 23LC/III must test to see if they remain
in the battlefield or march towards Leipzig and Lindenau. To remain in the
battlefield, they must pass a Command Control test (with the following modifiers:
+2 for Excellent; +1 for Good and -1 for Poor Generals). Failing the test, the
unit must circulate in march column, exiting the table by the D3 road. Marmont
can make a last attempt before the unit leaves the battlefield, by attaching
himself to the commanding General and using his ‘+1’ modifier (he is a Good
General) in a last Command Control test. All these tests simulate the repeated (and
historically unsuccessful) attempts made by Marmont to get reinforcements during
the day.
THE BATTLE IN PICTURES
| FIRST PRUSSIAN ATTACKS | |||||||||||
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| 9.30-10.00 h. From left to right: (1) Prussian I Corps advances against the french; (2-3) A semi-failed combined-arms attack of the Prussian Avant-Guard; (4-5) Antoher failed Prussian combined-arms attack. The VI Corps resists the assault! | |||||||||||
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| 10.30 h. From left to right (1) The Prussian grenadiers deploy and disorder the French marines; (2) these are unable to form square and arede dispersed by the prussian cavalry....(3) that fails 'recall' and attacks another French square that rejects them. | |||||||||||
| CAVALRY SKIRMISHES | |||||||||||
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| 9.00 -10.30 h. From left to right (1) The Russian Avant-Guard makes evade the French Horse Artillery; (2) The French Light Cavalry counter-attacks the Russian cavalry, but becomes disordered and withdraws; (3) After an artillery duel, the Cossacks take the disordered French horse battery... (4) but, failing recall, they attack the French light cavalry, and are routed. | |||||||||||
| INTERLUDE | |||||||||||
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| 11.30 h. From left to right (1) The French occupy Mockern and the nearby heights and bombard the approaching Prussians; (2) The Russians deploy in the center, whereas ... (3) the Polish deploy in and around Gross Widderitzsch; (4) Schematic view of the battlefield at 11.30 h. | |||||||||||
| FIGHT IN THE HEIGTHS | |||||||||||
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| From left to right and from up to down: (1) 12.00 h The French await the Prussian assault; (2)-(3) 13.00 h. Prussian cavalry attack the French, which form square and reject them; (4)-(5) 13.30 h The French first line is dispersed, and the Prussian cavalry again attack the French marines, which rout them with the aid of French light cavalry; (6) The French cavalrymen reject the Prussian horse artillery; (7) Marmont makes a successful combined-arms attack: The Mockern heights are still in French hands! | |||||||||||
| ... AND IN THE CENTER | |||||||||||
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| From left to right; (1) 12.00 h The 9/III French division occupy the center of battlefield; (2) 12.30 h Saint-Priest starts to arrive; (3)-(4) The Russian deploy slowly starting a long-range bombardment of the French line. Langeron is not in hurry! | |||||||||||