The Battle is Lost, Retreat towards the Danube
Turn 9
At the start of turn 9, the French morale is at 7 and the
Austrian morale is at 1. The Austrians are in desperate need of reinforcements
to boost morale and provide fresh brigades with which to fight the French.
Even with the arrival of Napoleon, the momentum of the
French army seems to fluctuate across the battlefield. This causes issues all
across the French army command, resulting in failure to launch a full scale
coordinated attack that involves both the fresh reinforcements and the troops
currently engaging the Austrians. Doing what they can, the French launch
attacks hoping to finally break the Austrian morale. The tipping point comes
when the 8th Chasseur Regiment is ordered to charge the Austrian III
Corps 3rd Infantry Division. This charge is desperately needed to
help the lone remaining brigade of the French II Corps 2nd Infantry
division. The hard charging Chasseurs slam into the already unsteady #17
Grenzer Regiment shattering the regiment and forcing them to flee from the
field handing victory to the French. This charge is not the last act in the
battle, but it is the moment from which point the Austrians began to break from
the engagement on mass as von Werneck tries to organize a withdraw of the
remaining intact brigades of his command. His troops are going to have to fight
their way out of this situation to get back across the bridges.
Figure 1
-The 8th Chasseurs Charge into the Austrian Infantry.
Figure 2 – The Breaking Point of the Austrian Army is Reached.
As word spreads of the general retreat of the Austrian army,
Jellačić finds himself in a difficult situation as well. The French light
cavalry is poised to attack his flank should he continue his withdrawal, the
French III Corps 2nd Infantry Division is nearing the town of Donauworth,
and there is still the matter of that fresh French infantry division (or so
Jellačić believes). Jellačić knows he will have to fight his way out of this
situation.
Figure 3
– The Austrian Withdrawal is Contested.
Figure 4 – Massing French Light Cavalry Looking for a Breakthrough to the Bridges.
Small side note, the Artillery of the French II Corps
arrived on the field just as the Austrian army morale broke.
Battle Results and the Developing Rear Guard Actions
This ends the first part of the battle of Donauworth
& Heidenheim, but this does not end the battle. So far, the French have
managed to earn a minor success due to their breaking of the Austrian army
morale, but both sides are still very much in an engaged position. This will
result in two rear-guard actions (one at Donauworth and the other at Heidenheim)
as the Austrian corps commanders attempt to withdraw as much of their forces as
possible. These battles will be fought using the General d’Armee rules sets
with 28mm figures. The results of these two rear guard actions will affect the
final outcome of the battle, possibly swinging the results more in the French
favor or more towards an inconclusive battle.
I say this because the breaking of the Austrian army morale
does not necessarily reflect the actual combat losses of this battle. I will
show the exact breakdown of losses in the battle reports for the rear-guard
actions, but as of now the French have had 1 cavalry brigade and 3 infantry
brigades break as opposed to 3 brigades of infantry and 2 units of artillery
broken for the Austrians. Additional losses will occur in the next two games as
well.
When this all finally reverts back to the campaign side of
the game, both sides will have a chance to try and rally their broken units, as
I consider battlefield losses to be a combination of those killed in action,
wounded in action, dispersed or separated from their units, and otherwise
occupied doing things like helping the wounded off the field. Units that were
badly wounded (lost Èlan) will also be able to recover some of their combat
effectiveness due to similar reasons. Units that were fatigued due to marches
and then lost Èlan in battle, will not be able to recover from that
fatigue as it would now be considered a permanent loss. I will discuss the
battle aftermath and the recovery process in more detail when the game returns
to the campaign map.
Further interesting complications and considerations for the
upcoming rear-guard actions.
Jellačić still has a relatively effective fighting force. His 2nd Infantry Division is very fresh, and he has fresh brigades in both his 1st Infantry Division and Cavalry Division. Davout on the other hand has the worn-out 2nd Infantry Division and a light cavalry division with which he needs to try and contest the Austrians retreat across the Danube River. Davout’s newly arrived 1st Infantry Division has been ordered to march towards Heidenheim to deal with a possibility of General Mack arriving from Ulm, but due to the vagaries of war, this division has not started moving yet (Some aid probably got lost, distracted, or killed by a stray shot). Which means that Davout may try and peel off some brigades (or the whole division) of infantry to support his continued attack on the Austrians. Davout also still has his corps artillery heading for the field, so they could play a role in the coming rear-guard game as well.
Down towards Heidenheim the fight is going to be just
as interesting. General Mack has not had time to receive word of the breaking
of the Austrian army around Donauworth & Heidenheim, which means
that he is still on the march with three fresh divisions from the Austrian III
Corps (2 infantry and 1 cavalry). Therefore, General Mack could arrive in the
middle of von Werneck’s retreat to either offer aid or to offer further battle
to the French army.
Von Werneck is in worse situation that Jellačić, as von
Werneck fought far harder to try and hold his position (thinking General Mack
would arrive) and has all but exhausted his 4th Infantry Division.
His 3rd Division is engaged with the French and is being flanked by
French light cavalry. As well as the fact that there is the very real
possibility that the French Cavalry Reserve will do a great deal of damage to
what remains of von Werneck’s troops as they try to disengage. Which would be
the prime role of such a power division of Cuirassiers.
The direction of retreat for von Werneck is also still in
question. The road to Ulm is still open, but the viability of his 3rd
infantry division being able to disengage and march that far is very slim.
Which may lead von Werneck to resort to retreat across the Danube River. Which
will have the downside of isolating him from the troops with General Mack.
The French army around Heidenheim should be able to
meet any fresh Austrian troops since the rest of Marmont’s II Corps has arrived
and the Cavalry Reserve has not been engaged in any fighting. However, some of
the ultimate success of meeting a fresh attack from General Mack may depend on
the arrival of Davout’s III Corps 1st Infantry Division which
Napoleon is expecting to march to his location.
This all means that a lot of what happens in the next two
games is going to come down to a lot of dice rolls for reinforcements on both
sides.
Figure 6 - Rear-Guard at Heidenheim
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