Battle of Auerstadt, October 1806

Background

The battles of Auerstädt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today’s Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia. The decisive defeat suffered by the Prussian Army subjugated the Kingdom of Prussia to the French Empire until the Sixth Coalition was formed in 1812.

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General Étienne Gudin’s Division were on the move from Naumburg before 6:30 a.m. By 7 a.m. the 1st Chasseurs were stopped cold in their tracks outside of Poppel by Prussian cavalry and artillery. There was a heavy fog, which had lifted just as they approached the village. Once Davout became aware of the Prussian force, he ordered Gudin to deploy his force at Hassenhausen.

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The Prussian commander on the field was Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau. His division was actually under orders to proceed down the very road that Davout was on, to block his advance in the Kösen Pass. While Schmettau’s troops were deploying to attack Hassenhausen, Blücher arrived with his cavalry and deployed on his left. Together, they attacked Gudin’s troops and pushed them back to the village.

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Wartensleben arrived at 8:30 a.m. with the Duke of Brunswick, who ordered his infantry to the left flank and his cavalry to the right. The rest of the French cavalry arrived at 9 a.m. and was placed on Gudin’s left. General Louis Friant’s Division and the 12-pound artillery arrived at 9:30 a.m. and moved in squares on Gudin’s right. The advance of the French squares forced Blücher’s cavalry back. Seeing no other option available he ordered his cavalry to attack. At that very moment, two of Wartensleben’s regiments attacked Hassenhausen.

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Everything failed: three Prussian cavalry regiments were routed and the infantry fell back. At this critical point, the Duke needed to take drastic action. Shortly before 10 a.m., he ordered a full assault on Hassenhausen. By 10 a.m., the Duke of Brunswick was carried from the field mortally wounded along with Schmettau who was also badly wounded. With the loss of both commanders, the Prussian command broke down. The Prussian army was in danger of collapse.

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Oswald’s infantry and the Prince of Orange, the later William I of the Netherlands, arrived about 10:30 a.m., and the King made his only decision of the day: to split Orange’s command in two, half to each flank. On the French side, Morand’s Division arrived and was sent to secure Gudin’s left. Davout could now see that the Prussians were wavering and so at 11 a.m. he ordered his infantry to counter-attack. By noon Schmettau’s center was broken and forced back over the Lissbach Stream, Blücher’s cavalry was blown, and Wartensleben was trying to reposition his troops. The Prussians realized all was now lost and the King ordered a withdrawal.

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Davout’s corps had lost 7,052 officers and men killed or wounded, while Prussian casualties were 13,000.

Napoleon initially did not believe that Davout’s single Corps had defeated the Prussian main body unaided and responded to the first report by saying “Your Marshal must be seeing double!”, a reference to Davout’s poor eyesight. As matters became clearer, however, the Emperor was unstinting in his praise. Bernadotte was severely censured and was nearly dismissed despite being within earshot of Auerstedt and within marching distance of Jena, having received contradictory orders in the night and failing to take the initiative; he did not participate in either battle. Davout was made Duke of Auerstedt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jena%E2%80%93Auerstedt

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The Game

Another Napoleonic game and some more BBB action! This time we thought we would see how another early Napoleonic battle would fair with the rules. This time, it would be the battle of Auerstadt.

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The battlefield and orders of battle were set up per the historical battle. The Prussians were deployed in depth, with reserves entering in through turn ten (the game was 15 turns). The Prussians were mostly rated as regular and had no special attributes (The light brigade did have skirmishers). The French were all rated as Veteran and we given a healthy rating of skirmishers (between 2 and 4) to represent their tactics. All the Prussians were Passive to slow them down and reflect their historic lethargy. The game began in the fog, which slowed down movement and command.

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The French went on the offensive early to try to take ground and capture an additional objective. The Prussians slowly moved up to blunt the attack. Seeing that Prussian strength was going to be a problem, the French opted to fall back to the ridge line and await their reserves. The Prussians continued to arrive slowly and attempted to extend the French lines, by threatening both flanks with their cavalry and march column. However, the passive units moved slowly and the Prussian attacks lumbered on. The French with their superior firepower, thanks to their skirmish advantage, thwarted most Prussian attacks easily.

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As the Prussians slowly ground forward, their numbers started to allow them to turn the French flanks. While the Prussian flank moves sent forward, the Prussian center started to buckle under French firepower. With the arrival of the last French division, things were starting to swing in the French’s favor. However, the French’s successes caused them to become too aggressive and gave the Prussians an opportunity to get to the French rear area. The fighting was fierce as the Prussian continued to lose most engagements, while winning the position battle. The French tried to turn the battle back to their favor, by launching desperate attacks to clear their rear. However, these turned out to be unsuccessful, allowing the bloody and bruised Prussian army to hold on with a draw. Another nail biter decided on the last turn!

• Manteuffel