Sunday, August 28, 2016

OSG's The Last Success: Eckmuhl - 2:00 to 3:00 PM



As the afternoon progresses, things are definitely heating up, despite the pouring rain.

2:00 PM - Vandamme attacks at Unter Deggenbach, routing M. Lichtenstein's Grenzers and lt. cavalry. Clement's HC attacks south of Lindach, pushing back Pfanzelter's piquets.  Lannes advances to vicinity of Lindach.





2:00 PM - Davout's III Corps takes up positions in Dinzling and Luckenpoint to try and hold French left.

Hohenzollern's III Corps pushes back Davout at Luckenpoint (Shock combat, +2 DRM), but Grandeau's brigade throws back an initial cavalry attack against Dinzling.


3:00 PM - Fair weather. Vandamme attacks Eckmuhl and pushes Bieber's brigade out of the chateau. Lannes moves to support Vandamme. Allied cavalry move to form up on the water meadows.


3:00 PM Allied reinforcements in road march to assist Davout and shore up the left.


3:00 PM - Davout holds in Dinzling and Lunckenpoint.

2 comments:

  1. The wider view of the map really shows how exposed the French left was. So were the Austrians trying to drive the French away from the river and cut them off from their reinforcements? I don't know anything about this battle but it looks like a bear for the French.

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    1. It was actually a bit of a walkover for the French! Historically, Davout and Lefebvre started the action the day before with some attacks on Unter and Ober Laiching, which managed to push Rosenberg back on to the Vorberg, but not much else. The next day, Charles intended to launch a major attack against where he thought the Allies were - off to the left of where the French line ends in this game. To get ready, Kolowrat's II Corps marched most of the night, and so the Austrians didn't plan to commence operations until around 2PM, to give II Corps time to rest.

      Meanwhile, the entire valley of the Grosse Laaber was covered in mist that morning. The Allies nervously sat in place, waiting for Napoleon to show up from Landshut (where he thought the Austrian main body was). Davout fervently hoped that the Austrians wouldn't launch an attack, because he knew that the entire Austrian army was there, even though Napoleon didn't believe that to be the case. To make matters worse, much of Davout's III Corps had been attached to Lannes for the attack at Landshut, so he was pretty low on troops.

      Napoleon sent ahead that he would be arriving just after noon. In front of Napoleon and Lannes was Vandamme and the Wurttemburgers.

      Around 2PM the Austrians started to move. Just as they began their march, Vandamme's men attacked some Austrian light troops in Buchausen, routing them. Rosenberg and his men heard the attack, and dispatched messengers to Charles that there were more Allied troops attacking from the direction of Landshut - meaning the Allied main body was not where Charles thought they were.

      At this point, Charles decides that he'd be better off pulling back and defending the crossing of the Danube at Regensburg so he's not cut off south of the river. He issues orders for everyone to pull back...except for Rosenberg, who is tasked with being the rearguard. Essentially, Charles left Rosenberg's corps to face four Allied corps on their own.

      The Austrians pretty much get stomped after that. It turns into a rout and a pursuit all the way to Regensberg. Lots of cavalry action, a gallant attack by Vandamme's Germans to take Eckmuhl, a similar attack by Lefebvre's Bavarians and some of Davout's French to take Unter Laiching, and lots of running Austrians. Despit it all, though, Charles manages to get his army across the Danube, thereby setting off Napoleon's pursuit of the Austrians to Vienna and the Battle of Aspern-Essling, Napoleon's first real defeat.

      Things are obviously very different here, in that the Austrians haven't decided on a General Retreat and are pushing to hit Davout. I'm more or less executing Charles' plan as he conceived it, adjusting for the fact that there aren't any Allied troops where he thought there were. The situation that led up to this entire battle stems from Charles's earlier attempt to destroy Davout against the river - just as you guessed - a plan that didn't really pan out in the battles of Teugen-Hausen and Abensberg in the previous days. Thus, it seems very plausible that Charles would again move to crush Davout, a plan that has a high chance of success if Napoleon and Lannes don't get there in time!

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