A Tale of Two Battles (2)

 

Our second visit was to the battlefield of Lutzen, fought on May 2nd 1813. This time we were on our way home and having travelled from near Salzburg to here was a fair drive. As we had a restaurant booked, we only had about 90 minutes or so to have a quick look round. This time it was more of a whistle stop tour as my wife gamely drove from key point to key point whilst I leapt out of the car to take a few snaps. All a bit hectic but again well worth the effort (for me at least!!).

The starting point for any tour of the Lutzen bttlefield has to be the Monarch's Hill. I thought that the allied leaders were simply at the top of a long slope leading down to the French positions around the quadrilateral of villages that were the focus of the battle. Not so. As you can see from the first photo it is an actual mound. Another lesson that there is no substitute for walking the ground.

As is clear from the next two photos it offered a superb view of the positions of the French army. 

The first village we reached was Starsiedel, which was on the French right flank, where Marshal Marmont's 6th Corps was deployed. The church here was the one I used as a reference for TM Terrain's project on my own German church.

Nations In Arms: Another Present to Myself!

The central "quadrilateral" of villages: Gross and Klein Gorschen, Rahna and Kaja were next on the list. Here is the church of Klein Gorschen as it would have appeared in 1813

The churchyard, surrounded by a wall on three sides and a row of houses on the fourth was the scene of terrible fighting as the village changed hands during the course of the battle.

Inside a memorial to the Hessian Leib Regiment, part of  General Marchand's 39th (German) Division of Ney's 3rd Corps, which was deeply involved in the to and fro fighting, suffering heavy losses.

In Gross Gorschen a plaque giving an overall view of the fighting and some points of interest.

A memorial to the Prussian dead in the battle.

A memorial to General Scharnhorst, reformer of the Prussian army after the Jena debacle. He was wounded in the foot at Lutzen. Unfortunately complications developed and he died several weeks later.

The village of Rahna, also the scene of very heavy fighting. The solidly built houses and farms must have presented serious difficulties to an attacking force.

The smallest of all was the hamlet of Kaja. The track to it was cobbled and extremely rough - my wife had to drive at a snail's pace to spare the car's suspension!!

The village of Eisdorf was on the extreme French left and was fought over by the troops of Marshal MacDonald's 11th Corps and Russians under Eugene of Wurtemberg. The eventual French success here and a massive counter-attack in the centre by the Young Guard threatened the entire allied position and forced their retreat.

Lutzen (or Gross Gorschen as the Prussians call it), is one of the most interesting and hard-fought battles of the Napoleonic Wars in my opinion. We have fought it as a wargame several times and it is always a great punch up. 

It was nice to be able to walk the ground, albeit for a short time and I would very much like to go back and take a couple of days to do it properly.

Interestingly on the very fringes of the battlefield is the village of Rocken, north-west of Starsiedel, birth and final resting place of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Anyway I hope you have found the last couple of posts an interesting diversion from the usual wargaming fare. Now I am back home and in the swing of things again, there will be a lot more WWII, Napoleonic, AWI and so on. I am also (finally) closing in on getting at least phase 1 of the 7YW project on the table. Bagration to Berlin is also progressing nicely, so more on that too.

A Tale of Two Battles (1)

 

Whilst on a two week driving holiday in Europe, I managed to fit in a couple of (very) quick visits to battlefields that have always interested me. The first was the battle of Froeschwiller on August 6th 1870; we had driven all day to get there, but managed to spend a very interesting 90 minutes doing a quick tour of the central part of the battlefield around the focal points of Froeschwiller and Elsasshausen. It really is a fascinating battlefield and full of tactical interest for the Franco-Prussian enthusiast - so much so that I am hoping to go back for a week next year to do a more detailed walk over the ground with a view to doing a book on the battle.

The best vantage point was from the top of this imposing monument built in honour of the Prussian 11th Artillery Regiment in 1913. From here you get a great view over the central and southern sectors of the battlefield.

Here are three shots of the village of Froeschwiller itself. Apart from modern traffic the village looks very similar to the way it would have appeared in 1870.

The position offered fantastic observation and fields of fire to the defending French as can be seen here:

The tiny hamlet of Elsasshausen, also a focal point in the battle seemed hardly to have changed and I was surprised to see what a strongpoint it must have been. I hadn't appreciated how sharply the ground fell away from it and how difficult it must have been to attack. Walking the ground really gives you a feel for the nuances of the terrain that maps cannot hope to match.

We stayed in the small village of Morsbronn on the southern edge of the battlefield. Although only lightly held by French outposts, which quickly withdrew in the face of overwhelming numbers of Prussians, it was the scene of one of the most dramatic and tragic episodes of the day. As the French right wing was forced back, a brigade of French Cuirassiers was sent in to buy time. Charging over completely unsuitable agricultual ground, they were met by a murderous fire and swerved away, many of them riding into the streets of Morsbronn itself. Once there they found the road blocked by barricades and many of the riders were shot down by Prussian infantry in the houses and gardens. Our room overlooked the main street and may well have featured in these events as the house was in existence at the time. It was strange to think that Prussian infantry may have fired down into the struggling mass of French cavalry from that very window!

Our hotel:

Anyway, a bit of a change from the usual wargaming fare and I hope you found it of interest.

Another Partizan Show - Will I Never Learn

 

Three years ago, as I documented on my 12 June 2023 post, I went to Partizan and spent quite a while watching and drooling over David Imrie and Dave Andrews' lovely ACW demo game. So impressed was I that I started, or rather re-started a collection for myself. In the intervening time I have built up a reasonable force of around a dozen regiments a side plus supports and done a quick play home brew set of rules as well. Since then it has become a firm favourite with the Monday Night Gamers and we have had quite a few really enjoyable encounters. Whilst the collection was by no means finished, other projects had taken the spotlight and I hadn't done much with it recently. Until Partizan.

This year David, Dave and the other Bodkins put on another beautiful looking game based on the early clashes on the first day of Gettysburg. Buford's cavalry, supported by a couple of infantry brigades were trying to hold back a growing tide of  advancing Confederate infantry and a great scrap it was. The game and the supporting information, which was also very nicely done, looked great. The very friendly Bodkins were only too happy to stop and chat not only about the game but how they had done the figures, terrain and so on. A great advert for the hobby.

The unintended consequence unfortunately was that I had another rush of blood to the head; a rush that seemed to bypass my brain, and I ended up somehow with an armful of Perry plastics boxes and dismounted Union cavalry and horseholders to add to the alpine pile of shame in my wargames room. Will I never learn! 

Never mind. Below is the evidence I offer in mitigation for my actions m'lud. 

 

Case dismissed on the grounds of intolerable provocation! 

Back to WWII next after this little diversion. See you next time.