Battle of Problus, July 1866

Background

The Battle of Königgrätz was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. Taking place near Königgrätz (Czech: Hradec Králové) and Sadowa (Sadová) in Bohemia on 3 July 1866, it was an example of battlefield concentration, a convergence of multiple units at the same location to trap and/or destroy an enemy force between them.

At the outset of the war in June, the Prussian armies were gathered along the Prussian border: the Army of the Elbe under Karl Herwarth von Bittenfeld at Torgau, the First Army under Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia between Senftenberg and Görlitz, and the Second Army under Crown Prince Frederick in Silesia west of Neiße (Nysa). The Austrian army under Ludwig von Benedek was concentrated at Olmütz (Olomouc). The campaign began with Herwath von Bittenfeld’s advance to Dresden in the Kingdom of Saxony, where he easily defeated the Saxon army of 23,000 and joined with the First Army.

Dismayed by his losses, Benedek had ordered a withdrawal and urgently requested that Emperor Franz Josef make peace as the only way to save the army from a “catastrophe”. When this was refused, and an ambiguous last sentence of the imperial telegram was interpreted as ordering a final stand, Benedek drew his Austrians up against the Elbe between Sadowa and Königgrätz.

The Prussians finally sighted the Austrians on the eve of 2 July near Sadowa, and Frederick Karl planned to attack the next morning. Moltke ordered the Crown Prince Frederick to join forces with the other two armies at the point where the Austrians were assembled, but the telegraph lines to the Second Army’s positions were out, necessitating the dispatch of two mounted officers at midnight to ride the twenty miles’ distance in time. They arrived at 4 a.m. The Crown Prince’s Chief of Staff, Leonhard von Blumenthal, an able logistician, immediately reorganised Second Army’s route plan.

Königgrätz was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War. Following the battle the Prussians continued to pursue the defeated Austrian Nord-Armee and fought a series of minor clashes with the last skirmish being fought at Blumenau on July 22 just as the Armistice to put a halt to the fighting was being signed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_K%C3%B6niggr%C3%A4tz

The Game

While flipping through the various scenarios posted on the Big Bloody Battles Yahoo Group, we came across a play test scenario for the Battle of Problus. While we are planning to run the full battle or Koenigsgratz at the brigade level in the future, we thought this scenario would be nice to try of to get our feet wet. The scenario represents the Austrian left flank during the battle of Koenigsgratz. The position was held by the Saxon army and elements of the Austrian army. Historically, the Saxons put up a stiff fight, as such, this is an excellent fight to show that the Prussians are not an auto win army in this period.

As mentioned, we basically took the scenario that was posted on the BBB Yahoo Group and played it straight up. We matched up the terrain as best as we could from our collection (so there may be a bend here or there that is not exact). We had all the troops, so no problems organizing the forces. The GM printed out labels for each unit in the OB (and even town names!), so we could remove bases as called for in the rules, instead of placing casualty caps, like in our previous games.

We set up the Austrians and Prussians as designated in the scenario (a couple of placements were not clear, so we just used our judgement). With the troops down, we were ready to play!

Pre-Game: The Prussian plan was to force their attack through Jelitz, clear the Poportiz forest and then break the Saxons holding Niederprim and Problutz. The Austrian plan was to do whatever it took to slow down the Prussian advance. It was clear that the turn limit was tight and any distractions would cost the Prussians time, so sacrifices would have to be made!

Early Game: The Prussian attacked along their front and engaged the forward deployed Saxons units, attempting to bring their superior firepower to bear and drive the Saxons out. With the Saxons holding positions on the flanks, the Prussians decided to screen off their left and remove all opposition to their front. As the rest of the army arrived, it was quickly put into action against the Saxons or used to guard the left flank. the Austro Saxons plan was to delay. So, the Saxon cavalry was sacrificed early to slow down the Prussian juggernaut. Further, units were redeployed to form a main line of defense along the stream to block the Prussians from moving into the objective towns behind. In addition, the Austrian cavalry was set to the far right flank to threaten the Prussians and hopefully cause the Prussians to divert forces from their main attack. This strategy did mean that the Poporitz forest would be wide open. The Austro Saxon movements proved to be successful and with the gallant defense of Jelitz, the Prussian early moves were stymied.

Late Game: The Prussian forces had finally all arrived, which allowed them to push forward more aggressively. They cleared the forward Austrian blocking positions and occupied the Poporitz forest (one objective down). They then committed overwhelming force and finally pushed the Saxons out of Jehlitz, clearing the advance forward. With the center clear, the Prussians decided to bring forward their artillery to short range and start to try to blow the Austo-Saxons out of their positions. However, while this was going on, the Austo Saxons launched a spoiling attack against the Prussian left flank. The Prussians were able to beat it back, but only by committing all their cavalry and a much needed division of infantry. With the main artillery deploying, the Prussians quickly realized that they had come a little too close with their artillery. The Austro Saxon’s were able to use their deployed artillery and supporting long range rifle fire with skirmishers to silence, damage or even destroy most of the Prussian guns. The Austrians did not come off scott free, as their artillery also took on heavy fire. However, they were able to cycle their guns sufficiently, to stall the Prussian forces. While the Prussian infantry was able to get into a flanking position, it was too late, the Austro Saxons were able to counter and delay the Prussian attacks. This day would belong to the glory of the Austro Saxon forces!

• Manteuffel