Napoleon routed!

The battle of Sellerhausen has finished with a decisive Allied victory.
The French has suffered additionally, the shameful rout and dispersal of two famous Regiments of the Imperial Guard: the Grenadiers a Cheval de la Garde (a.k.a. the (fallen) gods) and the Dragons de la Garde (a.k.a. Dragons de l'Imperatrice). The presence of l'Empereur in the battlefield has added insult to the injury. The numerical superiority of the Allied cavalry, that mustered until five cavalry regiments against two, was the main cause of this unexpected rout. The death of the General Letort, commanding both Guard regiments, in the first hand-to-hand combats, avoided the use of his favourable tactics modifier, thus also contributing to the rout of these previously invincible warriors. On the contrary, the Grenadiers a Pied de la Garde maintained their reputation, with the 1/1st Grenadiers smashing a Prussian Reserve batallion and leaving the field unmolested. The Guard Horse Artillery was at last deployed and used to cover the retreat of the rest of the French forces.

The rest of the battle was on head-to-head fight between French and Prussian infantry. The French were garrisoning the twin villages of Sellerhausen and Stunz with the Durutte's division, but were outnumbered and evicted by the Hessen-Homburg's Prussians in that zone of the battlefield. The superior weight of the Prussian artillery fire forced to the removing of the French artillery of the front line. Whereas Stunz was taken by the Prussians, Sellerhausen remained in French hands during all the battle, and was only evacuated, in an orderly fashion, when the left flank units left the field in the last stages of the fight.

In the French left flank, the Delmas´s division faced the Kraft's Prussians. Here, the figth was more leveled although so fierce asin the rest of the battlefield. The French maintained their terrain, and only retreated when the ir right flank collapsed.

In summary, the result was similar to the historical facts. In the real world, the attack of the French cavalry was unsucessful because of the lack of infantry support, and the French were forced to retreat towards Leipzig. This was a very funny battle full of alternatives.

A long AAR is available at the main website.

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