Saturday, 7 December 2013

Bunzlau. A new Lasalle Project

Macdonald has been defeated by Bluecher at the battle of the Katzbach (see here for a Napoleon's Batles scenario) and the Imperial forces are retreating westward, closely pursued by the Army of Silesia. The French rearguard (Souham’s III Corps) has occupied Bunzlau (present day Bolesławiec, Poland), a small town on the right bank of the Bober River possessing the only bridge suitable for wheeled traffic in several miles around.
At the dawn of August 30 the French main body has crossed the river, leaving behind a small rearguard from the 11th division, with orders to destroy the vital bridge at the Prussian approach. Meanwhile, the Prussian 7th brigade has arrived to the area with the purpose of taking intact the bridge, forcing to the 11th Division and the 23rd Light Cavalry brigade to turn around to face the attack. Both sides fed more units in action but, at the end, the French retreated leaving the bridge in Prussian hands.
This combat was found in Nafziger's 2nd book on the Campaign of Leipzig, and the narrative was after completed with the accounts of Fabry. The OOB's were taken, as always, from the Nafziger collection.

Watch this space!

Sources
- G.F. Nafziger. “Napoleon at Dresden: The Battles of August 1813”. The Emperor Press, Chicago, 1991
- Nafziger Orders of Battle Collection. Combined Arms Research Library.
- G. Fabry ”Etude sur les opérations du maréchal Macdonald, du 22 août au 4 septembre 1813, la Katzbach“ Paris, 1910
- G. Fabry. “Journal des opérations des IIIe et Ve corps en 1813”, Paris, 1902




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1 comment:

  1. Great presentation and detail on your website Rafa; as usual. Those Prussian reserve cavalry are a powerful formation. They seem to have done particularly well here!

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