Altenburg (September 1813) The AAR

After a long delay, I have uploaded to main site the Scenario and the AAR of the combat of Altenburg for Lasalle.

Unlike the real battle, the French achieved a tactical victory: they caused more losses than the other side, and the main force retired unmolested from the battlefield. The Young Guard cavalry fought well, although the Grenadiers a Cheval and the Chevauxleger-Lanciers were broken. The arrival of the French reinforcements saved the day for Lefevbre-Desnouettes allowing him to make a haste retreat.

On the contray, the Austrian cavalry do not fought at his habitual level, losing too many units in hand-to-hand combats. In addition, Thielmann resulted badly wounded.

See also the posts with the label Altenburg in this blog to see a day-to-day account of the wargaming refight.

Next Lasalle scenario will be Wethau (date unknown!)

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Altenburg (VI). A French tactical victory

The sunset arrived (i.e. no more additional turns!) and the combat is finished.
The Allied are maintaining a thin line with their right flank resting on Schelditz. The untouched Austrian Grenzer form the extreme of the line, with the intermingled Prussian cavalry and Cossacks at their left. Facing them, two of the Pirè's French Hussars are protecting the retreat of the only Young Guard cavalry unit, the Chasseurs a Cheval.

In the center of the Allied line, the lone Austrian ChevauxLegers Hohenzoller #2 is facing the whole Jacquinot's line Chasseurs a Cheval brigade.

The Russian Cossacks form the Allied left flank while, in the background, the Baden infantry and one French Pire's Hussar regiment can be seen scorting the French baggage, protected by the deployed Old Guard Volante (horse) artillery.

Another view, this time from behind of the French table side, showing the French superiority in the centre

The combat is technically a DRAWN BATTLE, but all the numbers are against the Allied: they were in the verge of the breakpoint after losing 6 cavalry regiments whereas the French losses only amounted to 3 cavalry regiments (although two were Young Guard units).
Additionally, if the number of lost bases is considered, the Allied (37) are again overcome by the French (23).
All in all, the Allied Streifcorps have been no capable to rout a French inferior force, and the combat will pass into history as a French tactical victory.

Edited (12/18/2011). The coloured pins next to the units, show the casualties: green: one ; orange: two and red: three.

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Altenburg (V). An unexpected fall back

The tribulations of the Young Guard Cavalry continue: the Silesian Hussars break at last the Young Guard Chevauxlegers Lanciers de la Garde:

But in the other flank, the Austrian Hohenzoller #2 Chevauxlegers Regiment is routed by the French 5e Chasseurs a Cheval:

Provoking a major disaster because during their falling back from the combat, they disorder and break the Austrian Kienmayer Hussars #8 Regiment!:

Only to be charged and routed again by the French light cavalry Regiment:

Meanwhile, the Baden infantry and the transport is arriving to the safety of Rositz, protected by the deployed Guard Volante Artillery:

And the battle ends. Watch for the final result!

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Altenburg (IV). The end is near

Although the cavalry battle is, in general, degenerating into a series a individual combats, some regiments are making combined attacks. In that way, the Austrian Palatinal Hussars #12 Regiment is taken between the Young Guard Chasseurs and Grenadiers a Cheval, becoming broken in the proccess:

Meanwhile, the Prussian National Cavalry regiment is rejecting the Young Guard ChevauxLegers-Lanciers:

But are broken by the Grenadiers a Cheval!:

The Lorge's Chasseurs a Cheval regiments are arriving in haste to fall upon the Allied left flank:

But surprinsingly, the Gorin II cossacks achieve a victory on the flanking Chasseurs a Cheval!:

The Grenadiers a Cheval are broken by the veteran Silesian Hussars:

The Allied sense the victory upon the almost broken Young Guard remaining regiments:

The end seems near!

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Altenburg (III). The first cavalry clashes

The first serious hand-to-hand cavalry combats are in progress
The Young Guard Chevaux-Legers Lanciers reject the veteran Silesian Hussars in an indecisive encounter forcing them to fall-back.

However, the Prussian Neumarkt Dragoons break the Quinette's Combined Dragoons Regiment.

And after the first combat, the victorious Prussians fall over the Young Guard Chasseur a Cheval Regiment, also routing them!

But the other French 'heavy cavalry' at Altenburg, the Combined Dragoon-Cuirassier Regiment, has rejected the Austrian Kienmayer Hussars #8 Regiment.

The stakes are high!

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Altenburg (II). The reinforcements arrive

After their local triumph, the Young Guard Chasseurs à Cheval fall back along their comrades of the Grenadiers à Cheval, protecting the flanks of the retreating Baden infantry.

The Pire´s Hussars are facing the outflanking Allied cavalry which, after deploying the Austrian Levenehr Dragoons #4 Regiment in line, are ready to the combat with the help of the Cossack battery.

The first Allied reinforcements, the Prussians of the Thielmann's StreifCorps have arrived upon the right flank of the French Quinette's heavy brigade.

However, the French reinforcements also arrive throught the village of Rositz, far away of the actual battle.

A storm is gathering!

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Altenburg (I)

The opposing armies have deployed at Altenburg.
Lefevbre-Desnouettes is defending the bridge with the Baden infantry closely supported by the Young Guard cavalry and the Guard Volante Artillery. Piré is covering the left flank while watching the Allied cavalry. Quinette's heavy cavalry (dragoons and cuirassiers) is in the rear right flank in reserve:

Platov is menacing the French center with his regular Austrians while trying to outflank the French with the mixed Austrian-Cossacks detachments:

The Allied cavalry crosses the stream in two points

While Piré falls back facing the Allied in the left:

And the Young Guard Chasseurs a Cheval routs the veteran ErzHerzog Ferdinand Hussars Regiment #3!:

To be continued....

Note. All the information about the Scenario is now on the main web-site

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Altenburg 1813. The terrain

The table game for Altenburg is ready. There some subtile differences with the proposed map (see here)

The fog of war in action!

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Altenburg update: the optional rules

The combat of Altenburg was a small affaire involving some pulks of Russian Cossacks, irregular cavalry as per Lasalle, as well as the defense and assault of a defile, the bridge at Schelditz. The scenario needs some optional rules to cover both aspects, since Lasalle is best suited to open-field combats involving regular units. The following rules will be used:

Assault of defiles
Lasalle does not allow march columns to fight, so the assaults on defiles, such as bridges, fortified gates, field fortifications, etc. can not be played on the table in a convincing way. There were some friendly discussions in the Lasalle Forum regarding this topic. At last, I have used the Scruf's proposal:
1) A march column can assault a defile like a bridge, a fortified gate, a fort, etc. It represents not only true march columns, but also all those formations with a much reduced front.
2) It fights halved dice and with no previous shooting, adding a -2 for "bad terrain" as they will be fighting in cramped quarters.
3) The defending enemy may use the "cover" or "higher elevation" modifiers when applicable.
3) However the small front, the enemy never halves their dice

Optional rule for charging Cossacks
(1) Irregular cavalry units may charge enemy units standing in 'march column' formation.
(2) Irregular cavalry units must to pass a 'Discipline' test to initiate the charge.
(3) If routed in 'decisive combat' the irregular cavalry unit is immediately broken.

These rules have been used in previous scenarios so they are well tested. Watch and see!

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Terrain for Altenburg 1813 (Lasalle)

The terrain for Altenburg is based on the report of General Lefebvre-Desnouettes to Nansouty the day after the combat of Altenburg (see here). The French general talks about 'four defiles' on the road from Altenburg to Zeist. One of these defiles was located in Schelditz, where a bridge crosses a small stream. Between that point and Meusselwitz, there were some cavalry combats where the French cuirassiers were overcome by the Allied.
The terrain depicted in the tablegame is centered in the road between Schelditz and Rositz, and it is based on the Topographische Karte Der Aemter Altenburg Und Ronneburg found by Steven Smith and also posted in the Napoleon-Series forum (see here). Ths approximate terrain scale has been calculated by using contemporary GoogleEarth images and is almost identical to the Lasalle one, that in my case (i.e. using my own units) is 1:1,000.

Next the scenario specific rules!

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Altenburg 1813: The real thing

The combat of Altenburg (the next Lasalle project) was a fighting retreat, fought bewteen a French force commanded by Lefebvre-Desnouettes and composed mainly from cavalry (6,000 men) and the Streifcorps of Thielmann and Platov (5,500 men), also composed almost exclusively by cavalry. I have collated a summary of the real combat, with the help of the kindly members of the Napoleon-Series Forum that provided me with very useful information, including scaned copies of some books not available in internet. My acnowledgement to all the members of that Forum, and mainly to Hans - Karl Weiss and Steven H. Smith.

The combat of Altenburg (September 28, 1813)
The Allied devised an attack plan on Altenburg, with three columns: Right (Illesky) advancing by the route of Penig; Center (Kudachev) advancing from Waldenburg; Left (Thielmann and Mensdorff) advancing from Zwickeau. The attack would start from the right with Illesky trying to cut the French retreat upon Borma. He and Kudachev (both under Platov) would menace the French retreat upon Borma or Pegau, while Thielmann (with Mensdorff) would menace the French line towards Zeitz.
The three columns would start from a distance of 4 km from Altenburg and the attack will start at 10.00 a.m.
However, this sound plan was not applied. Platov attacked Altenburg at 7.00 a.m. with Illesky and Kudachev, only to find that Lefevbre-Desnouettes, warned by two Austrian prisoners, had already evacuated the village only fifteen minutes before.

Lefevbre-Desnouettes took a first defensive position at Oberlodla with the artillery and cavalry in the centre and the infantry in the flanks (Molbitz and Schlauditz) but the cossacks soon turned his left and he retreated again to Schelditz. In that village there is a defile formed by the Gerstenbach (stream) and a bridge. The rearguard (Piré’s brigade) made some charges to protect the retreat of the French column and at last, it retired protected by a company of the Baden battalion, which held the bridge until forced to surrender after being encircled by the Allied cavalry.
Meanwhile, Mensdorff and Thielmann warned by the sound of guns, arrived to Altenburg at 7.00 a.m. They advance against the right flank of Lefevbre-Desnouettes, where some squadrons were protecting the retreat of the main column. After some combats involving the Prussian and Austrian cavalry (from the corps of Thielman, Mensdorff and Platov) versus the French cuirassiers (Quinette) and Young Guard Grenadiers and Lancers supported by the Baden infantry, the French cavalry retired towards Bockwitz (near the Messelwitz-Zeitz highway) joining the main column, while the remnants of the Baden infantry were taken at Meusselwitz.
The French retreat continued towards Zeitz. Lorge placed 3 guns and the his 3/35 Légère at a height in front of the town to cover the pass of the Lefebvre-Desnouettes’s division over the Elster bridge, which took about 1 and 1/2 hours. The last squadron of the Grenadiers à Cheval of the Guard broke thorough the infantry and caused disorder which was exploited by Austrian cavalry which rushed into town taking the 3 guns.
Some French infantry resisted in a factory near the bridge until forced to surrender by the Allied. After crossing to the left bank of the Elster, the French were allowed to retire almost unmolested.

The French losses (acknowledged by Lefebvre-Desnouettes) were
Brigade Pire 12 killed, 144 wounded or prisoner
1st Guard (YG) Lancers 38 killed, 52 wounded or prisoner
Gd Chas a Chev. 38 killed, 49 wounded or prisoner
Gd Gren a Chev 15 killed, 40 wounded or prisoner
2nd Baden Infantry regiment 417 wounded or prisoner
3/35 Legere IR - 12 killed, 400 wounded or prisoner

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Altenburg. An OOB for Lasalle

This is the first version of the OOB for Altenburg. As was exposed in previous posts, Altenburg was a small combat, a running retreat fought between a small French force searching for Allied Streifcorps near Leipziig in the last days of September 1813. The number of combatants was small and the forces of both sides were almost composed by cavalry, so this game will be a sort of wargaming experiment, because I never did played a such engagement on the tablegame.

French Army
2 Battalions/11 Regiments/1 Battery
Army Moral 27 ; Break point 9
C-i-C Lefevre-Desnouettes (-/-)

2nd Guard Cavalry Division Lefevre-Desnouettes (-/-)
1st (Young) Guard Lanciers V/A
(Young) Guard Chasseurs a Cheval V/A
(Young) Guard Grenadiers a Cheval V/A
5th Old Guard Horse Battery Horse 3 guns/M/1 Hw

1e Light Cavalry Brigade Piré (-1/*)
1/2/6e Hussars R/E/Pu
1/2/3/7e Hussars R/E/Pu
1/2/3/8e Hussars R/E/Pu

Baden Brigade Hochberg (-1/*)
1/2nd Baden IR S/A/SK1

2e Brigade. 4th Heavy Cavalry Division Quinette (-/¶)
Combined Dragoons R/E/Sh/Pu
Combined Dragoons Cuirassiers R/E/Sh/Pu

Reinforcementes

5e Light Cavalry Division Lorge (+1/-)
12e Light Cavalry Brigade Jacquinot (-/-)
3/4/5/5e Chasseurs a Cheval R/A/Pu
3/4/10e Chasseurs a Cheval R/A/Pu
5/6/13e Chasseurs a Cheval R/A/Pu
3/35e Legere R/A/SK1

Allied Army
1 Battalion/9 Regiments/7 Cossack Pulks/1,5 batteries  
Moral 38 Break point 13
No designed C-i-C

StreifCorps Mensdorff (+1/-)
(Austrian) Er. Ferdinand Hussars #3 V/E/Pu + (Includes Hessen-Hornburg Hussars #4)
Illowaisky X Cossacks S/I/Pu
Gorin I Cossacks S/I/Pu

StreifCorps Platov (-/¶)
Austrians. Illessy (-/-)
Walchen Grenzer Regiment R/A/SK1 or R/I/SK2
Palatinal Hussars #12 V/E/Pu
Er. Ferdinand Hussars #3 V/E/Pu
Guns Horse/1 gun/Medium
Russians. Kudachev (-1/-)
Attaman Don Cossacks S/I/Pu
Don Cossacks S/I/Pu
Black Sea Cossacks S/I/Pu
(Austrian) Levenehr Dragoons Regiment #4 R/E/Pu (includes Vincent Chevaulegers #4)
1st Don Cossacks Battery Horse/2 guns/Light/1 Hw

Reinforcementes

StreifCorps Thielmann (+1/¶)
Austrians. Gasser(-/-)Hohenzoller Chevauxlegers #2 R/E/Pu + (includes Klenau Chevaulegers #5)
Kienmayer Hussars #8 V/E/Pu
Prussians. Von Kurland (-/-)
Silesians Hussars V/E/Pu
Silesian National Cavalry S/A
Neumarkt Dragoons R/E/Pu
Russians. Orlow (-)
Gorin II Cossacks S/I/Pu
Yagodin II Cossacks S/I/Pu
Cossack Guns Horse/1 gun/Light

Next, the tablemap and special rules!

NB. The portraits depict Levfebre-Desnouettes and Platov respectively.

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Altenburg: the next Lasalle project

The habitual followers of this blog, already know my Argentinian friend Armand d'Arc which, acting like my resident Jomini, is always proposing me new and colourful Scenarios, to be played in the game table. Armand lives at Buenos Aires, and when he is not frantically painting new units for the big annual battle of his post-Napoleonic Serenghetti War, he is delighting us with his humourous wisdom pearls about history and wargaming, in the Hat or The Miniatures Page Forums.
Some time ago, Armand proposed me to re-fight the raid or combat of Altenburg, a small affaire that took place on 28 September 1813 near Leipzig, with the participation of many colorful units for both sides, Imperial and Allied. According to Wikipedia:

 "The raid at Altenburg on 28 September 1813... was carried out by the Streifkorp under the command of Saxon General Johann von Thielmann (see the above picture) commanding seven regiments of Cossacks, a squadron each of Saxon Hussars and Dragoons, and a detachment of Saxon Freikorps numbering about 1,500 cavalry. The objective of the raid was to attempt harassment of the French lines of communication 25 miles (45 km) south of Leipzig shortly before the Battle of Leipzig.
Thielmann completely surprised and routed a larger force of French cavalry, including Cavalry of the Imperial Guard and a small force of 2nd Baden Infantry Regiment (Infanterie-Regiment No.2 ‘Markgraf Wilhelm’) nominally under the command of Lefebvre-Desnouettes numbering some 6,500. The French, completely surprised, broke and fled from Altenburg losing a third of their number (2,100), in the process running over the Baden infantry which was taken prisoner despite attempting to resist. Thielmann's force lost about 200 in casualties."

The raid is also mentioned in the books of Nafziger (Napoleon at Leipzig) and Digby Smith (Napoleonic Data Book) but significant differences between the OOB's, led to me to search help in the Napoleon-Series Forum. Almost at the instant, several very interesting threads developped in the Forum about the subject (see some of the threads here and here), with the help of some of the habituals of the Forum: Steven Smith, Hans-Karl Weiss and many others, including Digby Smith himself! These gentlemen kindly provided me with very useful information, maps included, extracted from contemporary sources and/or unavailable books. A very fine example of internet comradeship!
Using all the accounts, the combat of Altenburg was a fighting retreat, fought bewteen a French force commanded by Lefebvre-Desnouettes and composed mainly from cavalry (6,000 men) and the Streifcorps of Thielmann and Platov (5,500 men), also composed almost exclusively by cavalry. The infantry contingents were very small: the 1/2 Baden and the 3/35e Legere battalions for the Imperial side, and one batallion of the Wallach Grenzer for the Allied.. The artillery was also scarce and the cavalry quality was medium-low.
All in all, and because of the small size of the involved forces and their cavalry-biased composition, this small affaire is a challenge for any Napoleonic ruleset!

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