Part 7 and Finale of a Socially Distant Wargame
The Battle of Distanza, 15 June 1746
Final Phase, 1.55pm
As Big Lee and Ray send their orders and commit to a big
push for victory, neither are aware that this will turn out to be the last and
deciding phase of the Battle of Distanza.
Both armies are approaching points of exhaustion. Some of the brigades and certain of the
regiments have been heavily engaged since the first shots were fired. Who will come out on top?
At the end of the last instalment the situation was as
follows at about 1.55pm:
IR1 Kaiser commences by unleashing a hail of musketry which causes
a tremor in the Artois regiment who just about hold firm.
Artois and Languedoc regiments respond but their aim is
erratic due to the fog of black powder smoke that drifts across the valley.
Around Sociale in the west, the French 3rd
Brigade entertains with a military dance, starting with Aunic regiment dashing
out of danger. Meanwhile the, by now
thoroughly exhausted, grenadiers are once again sent to attack the Central Heights. For the Austrians, the dragoons have not been
able to respond with sufficient urgency.
Delays in the execution of orders seems to be infectious as
the Champagne regiment obey orders to counter the threat of the dragoons by
making an about turn away from the approaching IR10 Jung-Wolfenbuttel.
… who rather inevitably charge the very inviting rear (no
Carry On Film jokes please!).
Whilst back by Sociale the Royal regiment sensibly decide to
form square to deter the Austrian dragoons.
Unfortunately, the Champagne regiment have now paid the gruesome
price for their tardy adherence to orders.
Between the Central and Eastern Heights IR1 Kaiser,
emboldened by IR10’s success and its own musketry, launches itself at both
Artois and Languedoc regiments.
Despite a determined resistance from the very battle weary
Artois and Languedoc infantrymen, they both break. Luckily towards their Commander in chief…
will he be able to rally them?
The situation at 2.10pm.
It is clear that coordinated operations are going to be increasingly
difficult now the brigades and lines have fractured.
In the east it has been relatively quiet from the heavy
cavalry of both sides. For now, the
pursuit by the French of the sole Austrian cuirassier unit is on. Little do the French know that Austrian
orders are to entice the French after them and away from having any part in the
continuing struggle.
Back in the west, accurate artillery bombardment from Ray’s 3rd
brigade shakes the confidence of the Austrian 6th dragoon who races back over
the river to lick its wounds.
Unfortunately, the Royal regiment in square are unable to
emulate their fellow gunners, and the grenadiers continue to stumble menacingly
forward.
At the Eastern Heights, Clare regiment in the farm and IR1 Kaiser
exchange fire, but all rather ineffectually.
I suspect musket barrels are beginning to foul with repeated use.
Whilst on the Central Heights the Austrian 1st
Brigade manoeuvres to neutralise the emerging threat from the French grenadier
unit.
The situation at 2.25pm.
It is at this point that both armies are obliged to take
army morale checks. The Austrian morale
holds. However, French army morale
collapses. Having been asked, the
Austrian commander, Lee, in accordance with the principles of wars in the Age
of Reason agrees to allow Ray to retire in good order and with full honours of
battle flying.
Analysis:
This has been an extremely hard fought battle. For me there is nothing like chewing over the
statistics.
With 8 out of 14 French regiments either destroyed or
reduced to half strength or less, it is no surprise that morale crumbled.
The Austrian, in comparison, have 3 out of 12 regiments
destroyed or reduced to half strength or less.
There have been 13 melees during the battle. The French won 6 of them, the Austrians won
7. Four of the melees were originally
drawn, with 3 won by the Austrians and 1 by the French.
Army list and losses are as follows:
The losses go some way to show the hard fought nature of the
battle, especially for the French who found themselves having to attack an
opponent who had managed to early on capture the tactically important heights.
The main clash throughout the conflict was in the centre
across the Central and Eastern Heights.
In this the Austrians were able to reach and deploy first. The holding of these positions seemed to be
central to Lee’s battle plan from the first and he did not deviate from it
throughout.
By and large the Austrians had a plan of forestalling any
French cavalry attempt to turn his eastern flank, whilst at the same time
diverting the attention of the French 3rd Brigade in the west with
his own dragoons.
In both these Lee seemed to gain some measure of
success. Whilst Ray had numerical
superiority in infantry (in both number of units and overall men), having to
divert a unit into Sociale and one onto the western farm for most of the battle
stretched his line and his command radius.
More importantly, French concentration of power was
problematic. It made it more difficult
for Ray to coordinate and sustain an assault on the Central Heights once his
grenadiers were thrown back, even though Lee’s Austrian 1st Brigade
was reeling under the pressure.
Potentially supporting units from Ray’s 3rd Brigade were
either in Sociale or the wrong side of the river.
However, when Ray and the French were able to coordinate and
support an attack it worked. As seen on
his capture of the Eastern Heights.
Unfortunately, as the lines fragmented command and control, and
therefore coordination, became increasingly difficult for the French. Lee also suffered but holding a central and
defensive position made it relatively easier to patch the gaps.
Both generals played a superb game. They had to take decisions and produce orders
with the fog of war denying them a knowledge of the exact number of losses to
units (friend and foe), the state of morale of the units nor the usual physical
cues given by an opponent facing you on the other side of a table.
Each phase was a series of game turns. Completely different to the act and react of
a normal tabletop encounter. In these
senses it placed Lee and Ray far more in the position of real generals who have
to rely on the equivalent of couriers and adjutants relaying information after
periods of time and events. Hats off to
them.
As the umpire and mover of metal men, I had a great wargame
without the stress of having to make decisions or worry about making stupid
blunders – for which the Rejects are known to mercilessly mock very loudly!
Those are my thoughts.
I’m sure Lee and Ray probably have their own opinions and versions of
the how the battle went.
Thank you Ray for allowing me to guest blog. All this is too time consuming for me to ever
consider doing my own blog. Now I will
get back to some painting!
Adieu
Richard
" A big thanks you has got to go to Richard for running this great campaign, its been a titanic tussle all the way through, I'm sure Lee enjoyed the game even more so, being that he won!
thanks Rich"
Ray
" A big thanks you has got to go to Richard for running this great campaign, its been a titanic tussle all the way through, I'm sure Lee enjoyed the game even more so, being that he won!
thanks Rich"
Ray
Looks good fun chaps !
ReplyDeleteCheers Steve! It was a really great game to play in.
DeleteWell done Lee and his Austrians.
ReplyDeleteBooooooo!
DeleteThis multi-part series has been a fascinating chronicle of this battle. I especially enjoyed your post-game analysis. Table looked great and your game annotations made following the action day. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the battle Jonathan, it was excellent to take part and gave all 3 of us the wargame fix we needed.
DeleteVery enjoyable lads.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carlo.
DeleteSounds like it was a fun, but tense, game!
ReplyDeleteSure was FMB, It went down to the wire till the very end.
Delete