Pitschenberg: the forces

The Allied OOB has been taken from Plotho (Der Krieg in Deutschland und Frankreich in den jahren 1813 und 1814 Vol 2) and the article in Militair Bochenblach  (No. 778 (1831) 4501), that provided the data for the Prussian advance guard composition. An educated guess was made for the composition of the accompanying Russian units and for the Prussian reinforcements.
The French OOB has been made from information collated from the Nafziger's Orders of Battle Collection. and the two Fabry's accounts of the campaign ("Etude sur les opérations du maréchal Macdonald, du 22 août au 4 septembre 1813, la Katzbach“ and"Journal des opérations des IIIe et Ve corps en 1813”).
Some units were deleted from the OOB's, to avoid a too large Scenario

Le Maréchal Macdonald

French Army
Army Morale: 51; Morale break point: 17
16 Battalions/7 Regiments/5 Batteries (12,900 men)

C-i-C Macdonald (-/¶)

III Corps Gerard (-/*)

35th Division Henin (+1/*)
   1st Brigade Dumouton (-/¶)
      3/6e Légère Regiment R/A/SK1
      4/6e Légère Regiment R/A/SK1
      7/6e Légère Regiment R/A/SK1
      1/112e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
      2/112e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
      3/112e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
   2nd Brigade Zucchi (-/-)
      3/2 Legere Italian R R/A/SK1
      4/2 Legere Italian R R/A/SK1
      1/5th Italian Ligne R R/A/SK1
      2/5th Italian Ligne R R/A/SK1
      3/5th Italian Ligne R R/A/SK1
6/1e Foot Artillery Foot 3Guns/M/1Hw
3/1e Italian Horse Artillery Horse 2Guns/M/1Hw

28th Light Cavalry Brigade Beurmann Montbrun (-/-)
   Italian Chasseurs a Cehval R/A/Pu
   Neapolitan Chasseur a Cheval S/E/Pu
   Neapolitan Horse Artillery Horse 2Guns/M/1Hw

Reinforcements
16st Division Maison (+1/*) (From the Lauriston's V Corps)
   1st Brigade Penne (+1/-)
      1/151e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
      2/151e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
      1/152e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
      2/152e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
      3/152e Ligne Regiment R/A/SK1
1/1e Foot Artillery Foot 3Guns/M/1Hw

2nd Light Cavalry Division Roussel d'Hurbal (+1/-) (From the LSebastiani's II Cavalry Corps)
   7th Light Cavalry Brigade Gerard (-1/-)
      4th Chevauléger-lancier Regiment R/E/Pu/Ln
      5th Hussar Regiment R/E/Pu
      9th Hussar Regiment R/E/Pu
   8th Light Cavalry Brigade Dommanget (+1/-)
      2nd Chevauléger-lancier Regiment R/E/Pu/Ln
      11th Chasseur à Cheval Regiment R/A/Pu
8/6e Horse Artillery (3-6pdrs & 1-24pdr how) Horse 2Guns/M/1Hw

General Nikolai Vasilyevich Vasilchikov

Allied Army
Army Morale: 44; Morale break point: 15
14 Battalions/6 Regiments/3 batteries/2 Cossacks

C-i-C Vassilchikov (+1/¶)

Prussian Adv. Guard von Katzeler (+1/-)
   Brandenburg Uhlan Regiment R/E/Pu/Ln
   Hussars (Brandenburg+Leib) V/E/Pu
   W. Prussian Dragoon R R/E/Pu
   Fus/1/East Prrusian IR R/E/SK2
   1/2 Guard/East Prus. Jaegers V/E(I)/SK3  (Can act as Regular (Experienced) or Irregular)
   Horse Battery #2 Horse 3Guns/M/1Hw

Prussian Detachment Hiller (-/-)
   Grenadiers East Prussia V/E/SK2
   Leib Grenadiers V/E/SK2
   1/14th Silesian Landwehr U/A/SK1
   2/14th Silesian Landwehr U/A/SK1
   Fus/12th Reserve IR R/E/SK2
   10th Silesian LWr Cavalry S/A
   6 pr Foot Battery #24 Foot 3Guns/M/1Hw

2nd Russian Cavalry Division Lanskoi (-/¶)
   1st Brigade Yurkovski (-1/-)
      Marioupol Hussar R V/E/Pu
      Alexandria Hussar R V/E/Pu
   Cossacks Karpov II (-1/-)
      Karpov #2 Cossack R S/I/Pu
      Loukoffkin Cossack R S/I/Pu

Reinforcements
8th Prussian Brigade von Hünerbein (-/-)
   1/Brandenburg IR R/E/SK2
   2/Brandenburg IR R/E/SK2
   Fus/Barndenburg IR R/E/SK2
   1/12th Reserve IR R/E/SK2
   2/12th Reserve IR R/E/SK2
   6pdr Battery #15 Foot 3Guns/M/1Hw

15th Russian Division Rudsevich (-/¶)
   3rd Brigade Tichanovsky (+1/*)
      1/12th Jager R R/E/SK2
      2/12th Jager R R/E/SK2

Next, the Scenario rules!

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Pitschenberg: the map

The general area of the battle was found in the Nafziger's book “Napoleon at Dresden: The Battles of August 1813”. The Emperor Press, Chicago, 1991.
A visit to the GeoGREIF site, a map repository of the German Univesity of Greifswald, and a search for Bautzen and Lobäu, provided several 1/25,000 scale maps, that were joined with Photoshop to make a map of the Breitenfeld- Pitschenberg área:

1/25,000 join map of the área

Zooming in the above map, the area of interest can be located:

The Pitschenberg area

Producing at last, the following game table map:

The stream is fordable for infantry and cavalry at rough terrain cost, but artillery must cross at the bridges. The only dominant feature is the Pitschenberg hill, used by Vassilchikov as a strong rally point of their advance guard units. The Allied line of communicatios runs from east to west, while the French one runs in the opposite direction.

Nextt, the troops. Watch this space!

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Pitschenberg, the next Lasalle project

After escaping from Bluecher's advance-guard at Bunzlau (see Bunzlau scenario) Macdonald is marching at full speed westwards towards Bautzen. The Allied advance guard, commanded by Vassilchikov, has crossed the Löbauer Wasser and has garrisoned the Pitschenberg (a hill near the Bautzen-Löbau high-road) with a Prussian detachment, and is actively following the dispirited French with the rest of their Prussian-Russian command.
However, Napoleon has returned to Bautzen at the head of a large forcé, and has ordered Macdonald to turn around and advance again with his army group (XI, V, III and II Cavalry Corps). At the 6 p.m. of September 4, the35th French/Italian division (XI Corps), supported by the 16th division (V Corps) and the 28th Light Cavalry brigade (XI Corps) and the 2nd Light Cavalry Division (II Cavalry Corps) attacked Vassilchikov, forcing him to retire. The Allies started again the cat-and-mouse game dictated by the Trachtenberg Plan and retreated eastwards.
Sources
- 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
- K. von Plotho, Der Krieg in Deutschland und Frankreich in den jahren 1813 und 1814 (1817)
- Militair Bochenblach No. 778 (1831) p. 4501

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How difficult is to find a ford?

During the Bunzlau scenario, the Karpov's Cossacks were trying to find a ford upstream the watermill. If they had found it, they could have crossed the river Bober outflanking the French defense.
Although the capabilities of irregular cavalry units in Lasalle are quite limited (despite my home rule), the presence of this force in the area had surely hampered the French defense of the bridge and would have contributed, in combination with the frontal attack of Prussian infantry, to the Allied victory.
To find a ford, the Cossacks were to be in contact with the river for a full turn without doing anything else, and roll a die. A result equal or greater than 4 would mean that a ford had been found, and the Cossacks could have passed the river the next turn. However, they were seeking for a ford for 6 consecutive turns with negative results!
The chances of such an event can be found by means of statistics. The problem is based on the binomial distribution, B(n,p), that gives the probability of the number of successes in a sequence of n independent yes/no experiments, each of which yields success with probability p. In our case, n=6 and p=0,5 (a ford is found by rolling 4, 5 or 6 with 1D6). Using the adequate formula, the probability to achieve 6 failures in 6 successive rolls can be calculated as 0,5^6 = 0,015625 = 1,56%.
The Cossacks were really unlucky!

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The fight at Bunzlau is over

While the French and Baden cavalry was stopping the Russian infantry in the central ford, the Prussian horse artillery was keeping a duel with the French foot artillery at the southern ford, which ended with the dismounting of the latter.

The 5/9e Foot Artillery is broken by the explosion of a caisson

and 1 hour later, the 10/2e Foot Artillery suffers the same fate!

Meanwhile, the infantry of the Prussian advance guard is making a last effort at the bridge sector, after a brief and ineffectual artillery support.

The 4/65e routs the 2/Leib Regiment that falls back...

... but the Prussian infantry charges one more time, only to be routed again (a tie so the defender wins)...

.. leaving the 4/65e Ligne almost broken (only one morale point left) but triomphant

This is too much for the Allies, and the French retire almost unmolested, covered by their light cavalry!
Losses:
French: 1/9e Legere; 3/50 Legere; 19/7e Foot artillery (5 points plus 17 points of losses currently on the table)
Allies: 1/49th and 2/49th Russian Jaegers; Kamchatka IR; Fusiliers/Leib IR (8 points plus 8 points of losses currently on the table)
The final result can be considered a draw: The French have less losses but the Prussian are the masters of the battlefield and the bridge over the Bober is intact.
This is a good result for the French after their rout at the Katzbach!

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The fight at the ford

Whereas the Prussian advance guard was trying to take the bridge over the Bober to catch the French rearguard, another Russian column has probed for and found a ford downstream.

The Prussian Jaegers have found the ford...

... and immediately cross the Bober, screenig the Russians Jaegers

The Baden Dragoons charge the Russians (the Jaegers have recrossed) but are unable to break the unformed infantrymen...

Afterwards, the Russians cross again in forcé (under the cover of the nearby Russian artillery)...

The full 23rd Light Cavalry Brigade charges again: the 10e Hussasrs are rejected...

... but the Baden Dragoons break the other Russian square

The French-Baden cavalry is master of the area, while the Russian square remains isolated in the wrong bank of the Bober

The time is passing by and the Allied are not being able to cut through the French rearguard.
The end is near!

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The bridge at Bunzlau

The battle of Bunzlau is again on the way! The final result is still undecided, but the fight around the bridge over the Bober River is proving quite bloody. The bulk of the 11th French division has withdrawn to the left bank, after losing the 1/9e Légère Regiment, defeated by the East Prussian National Cavalry (see the previous post).
However, the 3/50e Ligne Regiment has defeated the assault of the Fusilier battalion of the Leib Regiment that has been broken, as well as a subsequent charge of the East Prussian National Cavary Regiment that has been also pushed back.

The 3/50e Ligne rejects the Fus/Leib Regiment ...

...and run for the Prussians and break them!

The East Prussian National Cavalry regiment charges the triomphant French...

... only to be stopped and forced to fall back

Although the result of the two hand-to-hand combats seems logical, maybe my Lasalle home-rule for assault in defiles is too biased towards the defenders. The current rule is as follows:

Assault of defiles (optional)
1) A column of march 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 reduced front.
2) It fights at 1/2 dice and with no previous shooting, adding a -2 for "bad terrain" as they will be fighting in cramped quarters.
3) The enemy can use the "cover" or "higher elevation" modifiers when applicable.
3) However the small front, the enemy never halves their dice.

As the rule cannot be changed until the battle is finished,  the Prussians must try other options (artillery close support?) in order to take the bridge in good state (i.e. intact).

Watch this space!

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Busy with real work

I am very busy with real-world work, but I'm still here, waiting to go back with recharged energy.

Wait for me!

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