Trafalgar and Vitoria

I am a fan of Curro, a great maker of military dioramas, author of many of Napoleonic subjects, and whose work can be seen at his 'blog of curro'.
However, this post is about his other blog: 'Diorama de Trafalgar'. A sample piece of this amazing diorama is now in the main Exposition about the Bicentennial of the Battle of Vitoria in the Sala Fundación Caja Vital Kutxa  (c/ Postas, 13 and 15 - 01005 Vitoria-Gasteiz), until October 31. Yan can see below two pictures of this singular piece

In addition to the above curro's blog, you can also read a full report (in Spanish) with many, many pictures about the diorama at the 'Todo a babor' page.

And you could say: Trafalgar and Vitoria? Well, the nexus is the figure of Miguel Ricardo de Álava y Esquivel (7 July 1770 – 14 July 1843), a.k.a. the General Alava, which holds the distinction to have been the only man who was present at both Trafalgar and Waterloo, fighting against the British on the former and with them on the latter.
He was present as a Marine at the Battle of Trafalgar on board the flagship of his uncle Admiral Ignacio Álava and served as delegate of the Spanish forces in the British units during the Peninsular War, wehere he saw action in the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and the storming of Badajoz as well as in the battles of Bussaco, Salamanca and Vitoria.

After the battle of Vitoria, the General Álava, in command of a British cavalry unit, took his native city, thus preventing it from being plundered by the British: 'These (the British) are worst ever than the French'. The town acknowledged his exploit by giving him a sword. The below picture (from the Vitoria comics book) depicts this incident.

He was appointed Spanish ambassador to The Hague in 1815, and he incorporated to the Wellington's staff during the Waterloo campaign. Álava stuck close to the Duke during the battle yet, despite being in the thick of the action, both Wellington and Alava survived the 10 hours' slaughter without so much as a scratch, with the Duke declaring to Alava: 'The hand of Almighty God has been upon me this day.'

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Raghun for Lasalle: the full report

I have uploaded the full Scenario and After Action Report (AAR) of the combat of Raguhn to the main web site. You can watch the development of the battle (76 pictures) by following the instructions to use the visor

And, naturally, you can watch and/or download, the rest of the scenarios (for Napoleon's Battles, Lasalle and Song of Drums and Shakos) of the site!

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The emotive bicentennial of Vitoria

On Sunday 23 of June there was a moving ceremony at the height of Júndiz near Vitoria.
The direct descendants from the Duke of Wellington, Charles Wellesley, and the General Alava (one of the Spanish ADC's of the Duke also present in Trafalgar and Waterloo), Gonzalo Serrats, were preparing to place a commemorative plate with a Latin inscription on the cross remembering the battle held on June 21, 1813.
At the last moment, a man came forward saying "My name is Peter Bult, and I am the grandson of the grandson of the grandson of Luke Smith, a soldier of the 40th Regiment Infantry of the Anson brigade. I want to put that plate"
The answer was a round of applause from those present, members of the Historical Association Vitoria 2013. When Mr. Bult took the drill to place the plate, he burst into tears. It was a very touching moment.

Taken from the Facebook wall of Miguel Ángel Garcia
More pictures at the Miguel Ángel's blog Guerra de la Independencia

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A (French) comics about Waterloo

And now for Waterloo! See the new series posted by Alfons Cánovas: Waterloo (La chute de l'aigle) by Liliane and Fred Funcken

 

Be careful. The Alfons's numbering system is somewhat... unpredictable

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A (Spanish) comics about Vitoria

The Spanish miniaturist, wargamer and blogger, Alfons Cánovas, is publishing in his blog Miniaturas Militares (Military Miniatures), a series of scanned images of a rare comic book about that battle. The title of the comic is La Batalla de VITORIA (21 DE JUNIO DE 1813) and the authors were Jose Luis Salinas and Adolfo Usero with a text of Hernandez Cava. It was published in 1985 by Ikusager Ediciones at Vitoria-Gasteiz.
See below two samples of the comics (part No. 4)

The full set of scannings can be downloaded following this link

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Wargaming Vitoria 1813

Today, June 21, is the bicentennial of the battle of Vitoria, the last big battle of the Peninsular War (you can see the previous post for a historical introduction).
This battle saw the fight between the Wellintong's full Army, comprising British, German, Portuguese and Spanish allies, and a combined French force formed by the Armies of Portugal, North and Centre, under the nominal command of Joseph Bonaparte, the intruder king of Spain.
I have re-fought this battle in 2007 using Napoleon's Battles. However, the nature of the battlefield, forced me to make two different scenarios:
1) The main southern battle in which the right, right-center and left-center Allied columns (commanded respectively by Hill, Wellington and Delhousie) crossed the Zadorra river and fought against the French Armies of South and Centre (commanded respectively by Gazan and d’Erlon)
2) The northern battle, between the Graham column, sent to turn the French left and cut their main retreat line towards France and the French forces in the area commanded by Reille and his under-strength Armée de Portugal.
The Scenarios and AAR of the two games can be found in the main web site: Vitoria. The main battle and Vitoria. The North flank respectively. Below you can see two chosen pictures for each game.

a) Main battle

British replace the Spanish in the fight line on the Highs of Puebla dispersing Maransin's forces

British reinforcements cross the Zadorra at Tres Puentes

b) Northern battle

Graham advances Southwards while the Spanish start their outflanking movement

The fight at Gamarra

The OOB's were taken from the books of J. Sarramon (‘La bataille de Vitoria. La fin de l’aventure napoléonienne en Espagne’. J.C. Bailly Editeur, 1985) and C. Oman (‘A History of the Peninsular War. Vol. VI', Greenhill Books, 2005).

The games ended with a 'Substantial British Victory' (main battle) and a 'Substantial French Victory' (north battle). It can be rationalized as the British winning the main battle but being unable to avoid the French retreat towards France.

The next rendez-vous in the field took place during the Pyrenees Campaign in July 1813.

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100 years from Vitoria

Taken from Vittoria 1813 of I. Fletcher

Tomorrow is the bicentenial from the battle of Vitoria, the last big battle of the Peninsular War.

"Battle of Vitoria - Background:
In 1812 Wellington routed the French at Salamanca (Los Arapiles) and then he captured Madrid, advanced northwards but was unable to take Burgos and consequently he retreated back to Portugal. In the winter quarters, he reinforced and reorganized his army and with near 120,000 men (British, Spanish, & Portuguese), he entered in Spain in several columns, heading towards the north of Spain, always outflanking the right of the diminished French forces of the King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jourdan. The intruder King, whose armies had been stripped by Napoleon to rebuild the French armies in Germany, only could oppose around 68,000 men and halted at Vitoria, in order to await further reinforcements of the rest of the French armies in the Peninsula. It was June 21, 1813.
The French Position:
The French forces took defensive positions north and west of the town while a massive baggage train, consisting of siege artillery and loot taken from Spain (‘The luggage of King Joseph’) stood idle in Vitoria. The town was located to the south of the Zadorra River in the middle of a valley and was a major crossroads town with roads leading in all directions. West of the town, the Zadorra made a hairpin turn to the southwest, leaving the area through a narrow defile.
To the south of the bend were the Heights of Puebla, while the rugged terrain of Monte Arrato rose across the river to the northwest. To hold the area around Vitoria, Gazan's Army of the South was positioned north of the heights facing east, with Maransin's division in an advanced position at Subijana. They were supported to the east by D'Erlon's Army of the Centre. The Reille's Army of Portugal initially formed a third line, but it was shifted to guard the river crossings north of Vitoria
The Wellington's Plan:
Approaching Vitoria, Wellington sought to envelop the French position. To achieve this, he sent Hill's Right Column across the Zadorra to the south with orders to drive the French from the defile and move onto the Heights of Puebla. While the French were occupied with Hill, he intended to cross the river at the hairpin to get behind the enemy's right flank. While fighting was developing west of the town, Graham's Left Column was to move behind the Monte Arrato and attack Vitoria from the north along the Bilbao Road.
Battle of Vitoria - The Armies Meet:
To support Graham's operation and connect his advance to Wellington's fight, the Left Dalhousie’s Centre Column was to move over the Monte Arrato and attack the river west of Vitoria. Key to the coming fight was the fact that D'Erlon had failed to destroy key bridges over the Zadorra. Advancing up the Burgos Road on June 21, Hill sent Morillo's Spanish Division to occupy part of the heights while Lieutenant General William Stewart's 2nd Division's deployed closer to the river. Seeing the threat, Gazan ordered Maransin to advance to block Morillo.
As the fighting grew in intensity, both sides reinforced with Hill sending in a brigade and Gazan committing Villatte's reserve division. With the battle raging, the French began to notice Wellington's movement along the west bank of the river. Understandably concerned about his right flank, Gazan requested aid from the recovering Jourdan. More concerned about the fight on the heights, Jourdan refused this request. Meeting little resistance, Wellington pushed a brigade of the Light Division, under Kempt, across the river near the hairpin.
As Kempt's men were crossing, Hill was making progress as Stewart's men succeeded in taking Subijana. Though Stewart and Morillo were repeatedly counterattacked by Gazan's divisions, they succeeded in holding their positions in the village and on the heights. Aware of Graham's approach, Wellington paused in his advance. Rolling down the Bilbao Road, Graham succeeded in driving the Army of Portugal's 4th Division back across the river. Intense French resistance blocked Graham from crossing. To the east, Spanish Longa’s forces defeated the Spanish Royal Guards and severed the high road leading north to Bayonne.
Battle of Vitoria - The French Collapse:
Grasping the severity of the situation, Jourdan issued orders for Gazan to fall back towards Vitoria. Arriving on the field, Dalhousie began pushing Picton's 3rd Division across the Zadorra with aid from Kempt. Coming under heavy French counterattack and bombardment, Picton's men were able to hold their ground as Cole's 4th Division crossed to the west. Retreating, Gazan attempted to make a stand with D'Erlon at the village of Ariñez. Uniting, the Allied forces south of the river succeeded in driving the French back from this position to one on Zuazo Ridge. Attacking again, Wellington's forces were able to take the ridge despite the efforts of the French artillery.
Their line shattered, Gazan and D'Erlon's men began fleeing the field. Only the determined efforts of Reille's men prevented a complete rout as they held off Graham and allowed their comrades to escape. Retreating from the field, they departed to the southeast on the Salvatierra Road. Entering Vitoria, discipline among the Allied troops broke down as the men began plundering the abandoned French baggage train. Enraging Wellington, these actions along with the fatigue of his men prevented him from mounting a determined pursuit of Jourdan's wrecked army.
Aftermath of Vitoria
The Battle of Vitoria cost Wellington 5,158 casualties (3,675 British, 921 Portuguese and 562 Spanish) while the French incurred around 8,000 as well as lost the majority of their artillery. The defeat at Vitoria effectively broke the back of French power in Spain and forced Joseph and Jourdan to continue retreating towards France."

The above text is taken from the article of Kennedy Hickman in the About.com - MilitaryHistory site

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Final considerations about Raguhn

Actual position of the Russian forces

The battlefield was, in theory, dominated by the bridges located in the center and eastern zone, which could make possible the stopping of Russian columns or even their break into two parts, out of range of each other.
However, the French vanguard lost a precious time, which turned out to be unrecoverable, cleaning the central wood of enemies, so only a lone lancer regiment was available to try the taking of the strategic central features. Additionally, the appearance of the Russian units (based on the dice), allowed Osteman-Sacken to deploy his forces in a way facilitating the defense, and thus the line of western hills at South of Brugerkint, become the actual focal point of the battlefield.
That hill line protected the only escaping route available to the Russians, i.e. the road running through Burgkemnitz, since the other road was cut off by the French advance almost from the beginning of the fight. The French C-iC- realized its importance and left to their own devices to his right flank forces in a continuous and futile skirmishing with the Russian Cossacks and regular cavalry, which protected the withdrawal of the infantry units in that area. The French vanguard also had a secondary role in the central sector, and although they cleared the forest from Russian Jaegers, they suffered greatly at the hands of Russian units covering the exits of the forest. Actually, the French vanguard acted as a covering force of the French main attack.
That main attack was launched in the western sector, where the bulk of the French forces inclined to the left. First the cavalry and then the infantry, advanced uphill against the defensive line formed by the Russian C-i-C, which also realized the importance of the position. At last, the Russian units rejected several attacks of the French line infantry, which were left next to collapsing point. This fact was used by the Russian forces to follow their march westwards under the protection of their victorious infantry, because of the excessive time needed by Bertrand to mount another assault.
 
French losses
1/, 2/ and 3/8e Legere; 4e Chevaux-Legers Lanciers (8 moral points). The actual units onto the battle field were 14 battalions/6 regiments/3 batteries (43 moral points), so the losses amounted to 19%.
Russian losses
1/8th and 1/ and 2/39th Jaegers; 1/Simbrisk IR; Light Battery #35; Kourland DR and Karpov#2; Loukoffkin and Kutainikov #4 Cossack Pulks (14 moral points). The actual Russian forces used were 14 battalions/5 regiments (3+)/2 batteries/3 cossacks (46 moral points), so the Russian losses were 30%. However, if the total Russian forces are taken into account (i.e. the un-used units are considered to successfully pass along the battlefield), that were 19 battalions/6 regiments/(4+)/5 batteries/8 cossacks (67 moral points), i.e. 21% of losses.
 
This is a combat where the assignment of victory is not easy and it can ba a drawn battle.

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Raguhn for Lasalle (and VI)

Bertrand and his men make a last effort and advance to take the hills before the village of Burgkemnitz, the key for the Russian retreat, now that the southern  exit has been made unavailable by the French...

... but the Smolensk Dragoons break the 9e Hussars...

...and the French battalions atacking the hill are repulsed one after other...

... and at last, and near the exhaustation, Bertrand concedes the day and the Russian retire, relatively unmolested

... under the close menace of the fresh French infantry battalions of the Hulot brigade (12th Division)

Who's the winner? Watch this space for the final analysis

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Raguhn for Lasalle (V)

The French C-i-C is trying to cut the the Russian retreat line and launches his left flank cavalry. The 5e Hussars breaks the Kourland Dragoon Regiment...

...and then, the battle-crazed Hussars rush up the hill to break and disperse the Russian gunners

... until they are finally stopped by the 1/Tarnopol IR in square, and fall back on the edge of collapse.

Meanwhile, in the central sector, the 12e Chasseurs a Cheval Regiment is forced to fall back before the square of the 1/Bieloserk IR...

... while their exhausted comrades of the 2/8e Legere are broken after a vicious firefight with the deployed 2/Bieloserk IR

At last, in the French right flank, the White Russia Hussars have routed the 2e Chevaux-Legers Lanciers, momentarily relieving the pressure on the retiring Russian infantry units in that sector.

The Russians are retreating while defending their ground inch by inch!

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Raguhn for Lasalle (IV)

The French main body inclines to left, to cut the Russian line of retreat

and the last Russian units (see here for the mechanics) have appeared

The Russians are really retiring westwards, protected by their left flank guard

To be continued

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Raguhn for Lasalle (III)

The 1st and 2nd battalions from the 8e. Legere have broken the Russian 1/8th Jaegers in the big wood

while the 2e. Chevaux-Legers Lanciers Regiment also disperses the Cossack Karpov #2 Pulk

thus triggering the aparition of the Russian second line (see here)

The Bertrand's task is is becoming more difficult!

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