Part 3 of a Socially Distant Wargame
The Battle of Distanza, 15 June 1746
Phase 2, 11:30am
Before I give the next update of this battle, may I first
express thanks to Ray for letting me do this.
Secondly, to show my admiration to bloggers because doing this is really
quite time consuming… so thanks for your dedication in sharing our hobby.
Right. It is 11.30am
and the commanders’ orders are in. All
the brigadier generals seem to be complying except for the French 1st
where some head scratching is taking place.
It’s all still very much about shuffling into position and
from the cavalry movement on the eastern flank about starting to turn each
other’s armies. The Austrians have quickly
acquired control of Distanza.
On the eastern flank, French and Austrian heavy cavalry
swiftly engage.
To the right the Royal
Roussillon/Orleans chevauleger regiment faces the Austrian No 3 Palffy
cuirassier regiment.
To their left, can
be seen the stamping hooves of the Austrian No 4 Stampbach cuirassiers and the
angrily huffing La Reine/Conde regiment.
At the sound of the trumpets, with morale soaring, they leap their
mounts into the charge.
Meanwhile, to the west, the French 3rd Brigade quickly
obtain the farm and Sociale but make hard work of crossing the river as the
Austrian cavalry moves into view from the north.
In the centre, Marshal Ray urges his central brigades to
deploy with haste.
While opposite on the eastern hill General Lee oversees his
infantry's deployment.
To the south east dust rises as the cavalries’ clash. After a protracted and close fought slog
Roussillon/Orleans regiment is driven back towards their line of supply. While by the hill, La Reine/Conde, in an
equally bitter melee beat back the No4 Palffy regiment. Neither side sustaining large casualties…
yet!?
Both victorious regiments choose not to pursue but manoeuvre
to face each other and charge with confident vigour.
While their flank remains in doubt, and as their lines begin
to form, first fire comes from the French 2nd brigade with a ranging
shot that finds its mark at long range.
At which the Austrians reply at the earliest opportunity
with equal accuracy.
Back on the eastern flank La Reine/Conde and No3 Stampbach
regiment fight a furious and close melee with the Austrians finally gaining the
advantage by pushing the French back and killing their brigade general.
However, pursuit was impossible without the leadership
of their own brigade general, who also fell in the combat.
Rather careless for both sides to lose
generals!
With both brigade generals killed and no-one yet reassigned,
Marshal Ray and General Lee gallop to lead their now hesitant troopers.
Across the field both sides struggle to deploy their troops.
In the west the French artillery gains security in the farm
and harasses Austrian cavalry as they approach the river.
However, they only manage to do damage to
some trout and carp.
However, the
Austrian cavalry soon moves to place distance between them and the farm.
The French 3rd brigade finally occupies Sociale.
Try and find the building on its side.
But they control Sociale just in good time to see the
Austrian 1st Brigade push through Distanza and start deploying on the central
heights.
The view down the lines from above Sociale
The view from behind Distanza
So the situation is as follows at 12:15pm after some heavy
cavalry engagement and their hesitant recovery in the east and opening artillery
ranging shots at long range.
I’ll let you decide who is gaining an upper hand – if
anyone.
Until next time. Keep
safe.
