Sunday 9 March 2008

Battle of Kalisz (February 1813)

Following an interlude caused by the end-of-semester academic duties, I return again to wargaming by re-fighting the battle of Kalisz (Kalisch).
That battle is considered to be the last of the ill-fated 1812 Russian Campaign or the start of the 1813 Spring Campaign. The pursuing Russian forces, leaded by Winzigerode, catched up the the Reynier's VII Corps. That Corps was almost intact after forming part of the French-Austrian right-flanking column under Schwarzenberg command, and was formed by two Saxons and one French division.
The involved forces were too samll for normal Napoleon's Battles, so again Iill use my
'one-half' Napoleon's Battles version : 1"/50 yds for terrain, 1/60 for men and 15 minutes per turn.
Kalisz is a somewhat obscure battle. The best references available were the Nafziger's (G. Nafziger, 'Lutzen & Bautzen. Napoleon's Spring Campaign of 1813’. The Emperor Press, Chicago, 1992) and Smith's books (D. Smith, 'The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book', Greenhill Books, London, 1998).

A search trough Google books produced some hits: Histoire de la Guerre de 1813 en Allemagne by J.B.A. Charras and Les Allemands sous les aigles françaises. Vol III by Sauzey . A query in the Napoleon-Series Forum, kindly answered by Digby Smith and Thomas Hemmann, also produced the existence of a series of 3 articles "Kalisch, la dernière bataille de la retraite de Russie" by Pierre Juhel in the issues Nos. 196, 199 and 201 of the French magazine Tradition. I have ordered these issues to make a definitive study bfore to play the battle.

Last but not least, I want to acknowlege the efforts of my Argentinian friend Armand d'Arc, which caught my attention on this battle and provided me with the necessary encouragement to further researching. This scenario is for him, sine qua non.

2 comments:

  1. Hi
    I have only recently come across your blog - good stuff! I look forward to seeing pictures of the battle.
    Ian

    ReplyDelete