Fast Play Grande Armee - Campaign of Nations - Battle of LOSCHWITZ - day 2

An After Action Report for the Campaign of Nations game, rules used were Fast Play Grande Armee.

The Russian Austrian allied forces under Prussian Command: Oberst von Müssling from the Army of Silesia as ordered by General der Kavallerie Blücher had the overnight period of September 7-8, 1813 to move in the Austrian brigades and another Russian Corps in order to force the bridge and gain access to Dresden.

French forces had only time to recover some of the stragglers from the day of battle on the 7th and be ready to face an even larger assault on the 8th.

The Russians stormed the bridge at dawn after a furious short artillery barrage.

field at 06h00

the Austrian foot were positioned to harass French batteries in the north

masses of Russians packed the road east of the bridge

all available Russian and Austrian batteries were massed along the river to dominate the far side of the bridge

view looking east from French side of rver

the forest and town occupied by French

Maréchal Macdonald, Duke of Tarente must hold here or face attacks on both flanks of his army

French batteries had proved their power the day before

long view of the table looking from behind the French lines

Austrians could not skirmish across the wide river

Russians made ready to storm across the bridge as the artillery barrage began ...

The first pulse was devastating, as an entire French brigade simply ceased to exist under combined artillery and infantry assault.

Russians stormed across the bridges and took out a French brigade

Austrians moved to cover the bridge approaches with their own bodies so that the French batteries in the north could not hit any of the bridge storming parties

suddenly there were NO FRENCH in the defenses on the west side of the bridge

The French got a break as the turn ended after only 2 pulses, then managed to win the initiative in the next turn.

even winning initiative was not enough as the Russians swarmed over the defneses

even more Russians were moving forward now as there appeared to be a break in the French defenses

Then another quick only 1 pulse turn, giving more chance to the French to hold their ground for the day.

Now at mid-day the French seemed ready for a counter-attack as the sluggish Russian assaults had slowed down.

high noon over the field of battle

Russians still storming over the bridge

one Russian brigade had moved off to the cover of the woods to the south

Austrians had lost their nerve under artillery fire and had moved east

Austro-Russian batteries had fallen silent as the infantry assaults continued to have success

a new French brigade moves into the bridge barricades

the Austro-Russian artillery readies for resuming fire

while the barricades are manned the Russians will face greater challenge in crossing

One Russian brigade was still across in the woods, though injured it could move west to threaten the French rear

Austrians had recovered their courage and moved to block the artillery from the north again

Count Lievn III 10th Div was now on the bridge and the Sass Brigade was able to utterly shatter a French brigade with a ferocious battle in the barricades which were now piled high with some 20,000 casualties in the area in the past 6 hours.

Russians that had failed to assault the bridge were recovering in the rear

The Austrian division had suffered another morale collapse and was also recovering in the rear

The long turn 3 came to an end only after a brutal fourth pulse, by now both commanders had no command dice to influence any actions and simply had to trust to luck or have enough reserves to keep from losing the ground advantage into the next turn.

a wild fourth pulse in the mid day third turn

Sass Brigade suffered under counter-attack and was replaced

Count Lieven became a casualty as the French fire cut down the Sass Brigade

more Russians continued to pack into the blood soaked bridgehead

while in the rear many brigades were down to only 1/5th of their original strength

a gap had appeared in the Russian columns, could this be the end of the Russian assault?

Three casualties were all that the French force could withstand before having to start rolling for retreat ... the first roll was below 14 total and so the battle would continue.

with a gap in the Russian assault column the bridge could be held, yet there was still a Russian brigade in the woods

now that Russian brigade emerged and shattered another French brigade, threatening the road west

Macdonald must now re-deploy to cover front and rear

Another short turn and with the start of turn five, came a French initiative victory ...

French secure the west road, with commitment of reserves

Victor using the remains of II Corps to hold the town

Russians continue to cross the river

the high command had to 'grab lapels' to get the columns moving

Austrians continued to have morale problems

a new Russian Division were being driven across the bridge

Stavitzky was challenged by the limits of his command ...

Another turn ended, another check for retreat for the French, again passed.

Late in the day, down to the last fighting effective Division, the only 'reserves' were cobbled together formations that had already failed to cross the river, the Russians went in for one last assault ...

crushing forward one last effort is made to break through the bridgehead

literally walking on the dead and dying these Russian Jagers picked their way across the bridge

Russians firmly held a position on the west bank

meanwhile the allied rear was struggling to form a 'reserve' formation

the second pulse of turn 6 was only marginally better for the allies

the human tide of Russians just did not appear to have an end!

forced back in the town now Victor only had a remnant of II Corps to work with

in the fading light of the day, now both Russian and French commands had reached their army morale test numbers

It was to be a brutal battle of attrition, one that the Russians had just enough strength to last.

Both armies passed their final morale tests.

Overnight the French withdrew, as the Army of Bohemia had now crossed over the mountains and was closing in from the west.  The Austro-Russians were to have the crossing of the Elbe and access to Dresden via the east road.

the French would retreat into the fortress of Dresden

the Austro-Russians held a bridgehead on the west bank of the Elbe

another fun and fast-paced game with the Campaign of Nations played using Fast Play Grande Armee