Battle of Dettingen, June 1743

Background

The Battle of Dettingen (German: Schlacht bei Dettingen) took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession, at Dettingen, now Karlstein am Main in Bavaria. It was fought between a Pragmatic Army, composed of British, Hanoverian and Austrian troops, and a French army commanded by the duc de Noailles.

While the Earl of Stair exercised operational control, the Allied army was nominally commanded by George II, accompanied by his son the Duke of Cumberland. As a result, it is now best remembered as the last time a reigning British monarch led troops in combat.

Around 1:00 am on 27 June, the Allies left Aschaffenburg in three columns and marched along the north bank of the Main, heading for their supply depots at Hanau. The road ran through Dettingen, which was occupied by de Gramont’s infantry, who held a line running from the village to the Spessart Heights, with the cavalry on level ground to their left. Noailles instructed his artillery commander de Vallière to place his guns on the south bank of the Main, allowing them to fire on the Pragmatic army’s left flank. Another 12,000 French troops were sent across the Main at Aschaffenburg, behind the Allies; Noailles had high hopes of destroying their entire army.

The River Main, at Dettingen, now Karlstein am Main (right); the French withdrew to the left bank, using three pontoon bridges

The French presence in Dettingen took the Allies by surprise and the danger of their situation quickly became apparent when they saw the detachment moving into their rear. General Ilton ordered the British and Hanoverian Foot Guards back to Aschaffenburg, while the remainder spent the next six hours forming up in four lines to attack the French position. As they did so, they were fired on by the French artillery, although this caused relatively few casualties.

Around midday, despite being ordered by Noailles three times to hold their positions, the elite Maison du Roi cavalry attacked the Allied lines. Who initiated the attack is disputed, de Gramont being the most common choice. French commentators suggest the Maison de Roi had not seen action since Malplaquet in 1709 and were frustrated at their lack of opportunities. Their charge was followed by the Gardes Françaises infantry, in a disjointed and piecemeal attack.

Led by the duc d’Harcourt, they broke through the first three lines, capturing a number of standards and throwing the inexperienced British cavalry into confusion. De Vallière’s artillery had to cease fire for fear of hitting their own troops and the British infantry of the fourth line held their ground. A Hanoverian artillery battery began firing at close range into the French infantry, while an Austrian brigade took them in the flank. After three hours of fighting, the French were forced back across the river, most of their casualties occurring when one of the bridges collapsed.

Once across the river on the left bank of the Main, the French allowed the Allies to continue their march towards Hanau; it has been suggested they could have exploited their victory but in reality they were in no shape to attempt an river crossing. As agreed prior to the battle, their wounded were left behind for the French to look after. Noailles followed close behind and the Allied army took up winter quarters in Hanover at the end of October.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dettingen

The Game

We set up the battle using the George Nafziger order of battle and the map on the British Battles website, along with information from Charles S Grant’s war game volume on Dettington. We also opted only to field the French forces that crossed the Main and attacked the Pragmatic Army. We left off the rear guard and forces across the Main, except for the supporting French Artillery firing across the river. This set up the game as more of a smash mouth scenario. We figured this would work, considering the number of new players and the fact that I had just done a rather big update on my rules (Kaiserin Kreig) and I did not want to overwhelm anyone. The forces were deployed as best as we could determine from the sources. The French were given the option of adjusting their forces, but they opted to stay with the initial set up. All the French started on attack and the Pragmatic Army started on Defend with cavalry in support.

The French plan was to attack with the guard on the left flank and then follow up with all the army’s cavalry to try to break the flank and roll up the Pragmatic forces. The Frnech center and right flank would advance to threaten, but would only pin the forces to their front, while using their artillery across the river the weaken the fores to their front. The Pragmatic plan was to await to see how the French attack formed and react with their supporting lines.

The French started executing their plan on turn one with success. Their artillery managed to cause unexpected but noticeable casualties. The attack by the guard swept the forward units of Pragmatic cavalry back. The grinding attacks continued to move forward slowly and push back the Pragmatic forces right flank. It looked like the battle was coming to a quick end…

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However, out of no where, King George was no see easily deterred. Seeing the French plan unfold with the majority of their army on the right, there was an opportunity, he ordered the Pragmatic line forward into the attack. By some miracle of the divine right of kings, a majority of the army received the call and began their advance immediately. At the same time, the few regiments of fresh cavalry on the Pragmatic Army’s left flank charged and managed to through the French attack into temporary confusion. This gave the main army the time it needed to strike hard against the French right and center. The speed of this assault was too much, as the French right collapsed, followed by the center.. With their escape route about to be cut, the French decided to quite the field, allowing the Pragmatic Army to escape!

• Manteuffel