Mockern April 1813

A Shako scenario this week, it is a long time since the Napoleonics managed to get on the table.  This is not a totally historically accurate scenario, the terrain has been tweaked and the OOB's come from a League of Augsburg weekend game (link ).  That was spread over three tables using 25mm figures, so I had to make some changes to get it onto one 6 x 4 table.

Strategically Eugene has been driven back from the line of the Oder river and is now trying to hold the line of the Elbe.  His task is to hold the Russian armies back whilst Napoleon creates a new army around the survivors of the 1812 disaster.  Eugene had advanced a couple of divisions eastwards, pushing back the Prussians of Borstell's brigade.  The allied army under Wittgenstein which was facing Eugene had been ordered to move southwards towards the other allied armies.  Concerned that Eugene may be advancing on Berlin he ordered Borstell to retake the villages he had lost, supporting him with Bulow and Berg's divisions.The two forces clashed in the vicinity of Mockern, but without a clear victor.  However, Eugene decided to pull back to the Elbe, allowing Wittgenstein to continue his march south.

The map above shows the terrain for the battle.  The river Ehle is described by Nafziger ( in his book Lutzen and Bautzen), as "not wide or deep but having banks that were swampy and difficult to cross".   Later he says it is 2 - 3 feet deep and c12 feet wide.  We therefore decided that formed units crossing the river (cavalry and infantry only) would become disordered, or 'staggered' in the Shako rules.  On the French side of the river, roughly half way between the villages is an area of marsh which is impassable to all troops.  There are two lakes near the western edge of the table and near the road junction an area of rough ground passable only to skirmishers. (Gamers may find this restricts the field too much and prefer to ignore it).

Vandamme sends off his aides with orders for his divisional commanders

For the French, General Morand holds the northern village of Vehlitz with his Westphalian division (6 battalions, a foot battery and one skirmisher stand).  The village of Dannigkow is held by Grenier's Wurttemburg division (7 battalions and a skirmisher stand).  Marshal Vandamme has the divisions of Puthod (6 battalions, a foot battery and 2 skirmisher stands), Fontanelli (6 battalions and a skirmisher stand) and Bianchi (4 light cavalry regiments and a horse battery) marching east from Magdeburg.  They can arrive from turn 4 onwards depending on a d6 die roll, 6 at the end of turn 3, 5/6 at the end of turn 4 etc.  NB a '1' is always a fail.

Morand prepares to defend Vehlitz

Wittgenstein's forces are as follows.  General Borstell's brigade (5 battalions, a regiment of hussars, 2 skirmisher stands and a field battery) will attack Vehlitz.  Von Roth's advance guard, (4 battalions, 2 regiments of cavalry, 2 skirmishers and a field battery) will attack Dannigkow.  Berg's division (8 battalions, a skirmisher and an army gun) arrives at the beginning of turn 5 between Borstell and Von Roth.  In addition, the divisions of Denisov (4 regiments of cavalry,( 2 uhlans, 2 dragoon), and a horse battery) and Bikov (4 battalions of infantry and 2 skirmishers) will arrive on the road from the north.  Their arrival is on the turn following that on which Wittgenstein accumulates a score of 16 or more from rolling a single d6 at the end of each move from turn 2 onwards.

Borstell prepares to attack

The French will win if they can hold both villages and maintain their lines of communication back to Magdeburg.  Their opponents win if they can capture the villages and block the road west.

With the 1st Silesian infantry regiment leading the way, Borstell sent a column of infantry over the bridge towards Vehlitz.  Two more battalions moved forward towards the Ehle covered by skirmishers.  Morand's Westphalians also advanced and soon musketry volleys echoed across the river.  The Silesians had almost crossed the bridge when the first volley swept through their ranks.  A few men dropped but the remainder swept on, increasing pace, charging towards the white clad line opposing them.  A point-blank volley stopped them in their tracks, but they regrouped and charged again.  Another volley caused them to falter, but urged on by their officers, the battered battalion came on a again.  This time it was the Westphalians who faltered, their ragged volley being totally ineffective and they routed as the Prussians crashed into them.  The Silesians had little time to recover, Morand quickly ordered a battalion to move out of the village and take the place of the unit which had routed.

The 1st Silesian infantry trying to capture Vehlitz

 To the left of the Silesians a battalion of Pomeranian militia had crossed the river.
Supported by skirmishers and artillery this had forced back another Westphalian unit and created the space for the Hussars to cross. 

Von Roth was making slow progress towards Dannigkow.  His first push across the river, by the Pomeranian infantry regiment, had been repulsed and the fire from the 1st battalion Prinz Friedrick regiment inflicted severe losses on the 1st battalion of the Brandenburg infantry regiment as it crossed the bridge. Nevertheless it pressed on and charged  the Wurttemburg battalion, but was repulsed, falling back behind its supports.

Von Roth's first attack

 Von Roth had ordered his cavalry to stay in reserve until a secure footing had been secured across the Ehle, but the commander of the Frei Korps cavalry was keen to prove himself and rashly took his regiment across the river.   He spotted the Konig Jaeger battalion which was supporting the flank of the battalion opposing the push up the road and decided to charge, even though his men had not had time to re-order themselves after crossing the river.  The jaeger colonel was alert and spotted the cavalry and ordered his men to form square.  This was done with precision and the enthusiastic but barely trained Prussian horse galloped to their doom.  They could make no impression on the square and having lost many men they retreated back across the river, too battered to take any further part in the battle.

The ill-fated Frei Korps cavalry charge

Berg's division now began to arrive, the grenadier brigade moved to support Borstell's attack on Vehlitz, whilst the line brigade moved south to aid Von Roth.  The leading grenadier battalion managed to cross the Ehle unopposed and it moved forward to allow more to cross in its wake.  However the 1st battalion New Ingermanland had more difficulty.  It was opposed by the Konig Jaeger who lined the bank of the Ehle and held firm against the Russian infantry.  As more battalions 'stacked up' behind them the Russians tried again and again to dislodge their opponents but to no avail.  The battered remnants, utterly spent, fell back their work done.

Vandamme could draw comfort from the gallant defence offered by his Westphalian and Wurttemburg troops, but his lack of cavalry and inferior number of guns would make prolonged resistance difficult.  Therefore he was glad to see the first squadrons of Bianchi's light cavalry appear along the road from Magdeburg.

Bianchi's division arrive

 St Priest, the allied commander also saw the cavalry arriving and hoped his flanking column would not be long delayed.  He urged his three divisional commanders to redouble their efforts to take the villages and the response was immediate.  Von Roth, supported by Berg's artillery pounded the Wurttemburg troops in front of Dannigkow.  The 1st battalion of the Prinz Paul regiment was badly hit, losing half its men to canister fire and then plagued by enemy skirmishers.  As it attempted to pull back a final blast of canister drove the remnants of the battalion from the field.  Also suffering were the jager battalion Konig.  They too were subjected to canister and skirmisher fire, before being charged by a fresh battalion of Russian infantry.  Much reduced in numbers they could offer little resistance, being wiped out as a fighting force.  Just as there seemed to be a chance that the Russians would advance further westwards Bianchi's cavalry appeared before them.  This checked Berg's infantry but his artillery now targeted the nearest enemy cavalry, the Westphalian Hussars.  They stood and took the punishment, losing over half their number, but still posing a threat to any advancing Russian infantry.

Bianchi had ordered two of his regiments, plus his horse battery, to move north towards Vehlitz to contain the advance of the Russian grenadiers.  This they achieved, as the 2nd battalion of the Siberian Grenadier regiment formed square against the light cavalry and were then subjected to canister from the horse artillery.  Morand moved one of his battalions to support Bianchi, hoping its volleys would inflict further casualties on the grenadiers.  Unfortunately for the Westphalians this move opened them to attack by the Prussian Hussars.  Just in time the infantry colonel saw the enemy cavalry and ordered his unit to form square.  Undeterred, the cavalry closed and sensing a nervousness amongst the ranks of the infantry hacked their way into the square.  Once breached, the square was doomed and barely a man escaped.  Command was lost as the Prussian horsemen galloped on towards the Bavarian Cheveauleger who were behind the square.  Their impetus broke the Bavarian formation inflicting significant loss on them, forcing them to fallback to recover.  Their job done, the Prussians fell  back to reform.  Before this could take place, the Polish Hussars, who were supporting the Bavarians charged and drove the remains of the Prussian cavalry back into the river, finishing them as a fighting force.

The Prussian cavalry break the Westphalian square

Borstell's attack on Vehlitz was making progress.  Led by the Pomeranian Grenadier regiment the Prussian infantry smashed the battalion defending the approaches to the village and then cleared the village itself. 

The Pomeranian Grenadiers capture Vehlitz

Morand had now lost his artillery and one third of his battalions and another third were reduced to shadows of their establishment.  The troops he had were insufficient to recapture the village and the proximity of the Russian grenadier battalions could spell disaster.  He was therefore mightily relieved to see Puthod's leading battalions heading towards him.  Four fresh battalions could swing the balance again.

Puthod's leading battalions

The Russian flanking column had at last arrived and Denisov's cavalry had almost reached the road. Puthod had had to leave two battalions plus his artillery to block the defile between the woods and the rough ground to protect his rear from the Russian cavalry.  Bisov's infantry was making for the crossroads to block the road back to Magdeburg.  Vandamme had placed Fontanelli's division behind Dannigkow to support Grenier, who now faced a renewed attack from Von Roth's division.  The 2nd Brandenburg infantry regiment now crossed the bridge with cavalry and artillery in support

Von Roth's final attack

With game time running out Steve launched Puthod's battalions against Vehlitz.  Two were stopped by volleys from the grenadiers, but the third closed to melee and in a finely balanced melee just edged a victory.  The grenadiers were forced out and the French re-garrisoned the village.

At this point we had to call time and adjudicated a tactical victory  to Vandamme as he still held both villages.  However, with the Russians blocking the road back to Magdeburg, Vandamme would have to find an alternative route back across the Elbe, so strategically the allies had forced him to pull back.  Honours even?