Aspern-Essling: An overview

Introduction

The next big game was going to be Aspern-Essling, a very different kettle of fish from Sacile for a whole host of reasons. It was due to be a two-day event, our first in the group. The upshot of this in my case was I volunteered to sleep in the hall at Liphook to keep an eye in the figures rather than splash out on a vast amount of insurance. With my inflatable mattress and plenty of bedding I was perfectly happy to do this. Besides, as some of the figures were going to be mine it was as much a matter of self-interest than anything.

Pre-game issues

There were, broadly, two of these. The first was the rules for Mass. The French at Sacile had been unhappy about the rules for Mass (column to solid square within a quarter move) but the use of rapidly forming solid squares was going to be critical to Aspern-Essling in my view: ask any French cuirassier...This involved a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with David Shepherd regarding how these rules were going to work. I dug my heels in on this point as I had been using Austrians for over 20 years and felt that I was right, borne out by the evidence.
The second one was with Trevor Maroney over the map. Initially Trevor had the ditch and bund curling around the outer edges of both Aspern and Essling creating a moat around both villages. Not only was this inaccurate according to all of the half dozen maps I had, it was also going to make attacking the villages almost impossible. This involved a flurry of emails including scanned maps plus evidence of my own eyes (I had walked the battlefield myself in 1994) and Trevor finally changed it.

As an aside, during the 1994 visit I had gone to the excellent museum at Deutsch-Wagram but also the Granary at Essling. In here was a large, inaccurate and confusing diorama of the battle under a perspex cover. It was staffed by an Austrian civil servant in his official long green coat. He was, however, not allowed to have the lights on except when people visited the place. Otherwise he was condemned to live a troglodyte existence in the sepulchural gloom of the Granary. Must be one of the worst jobs in the world...

The Austrian Team

I also was quite careful about the Austrian commanders. Approaching the French positions with independent columns meant that more initiative than usual was going to be required from many of the column commanders, whilst as Charles I could not spend my time running around like a wet hen if I actually wanted to control the battle. That meant a careful choice of commanders had to be made.
One of the most critical was the role of Hiller. As his column was going to be first on the scene and be on the extreme right it needed an experienced player, also it would reflect Hiller's garnered experience. This role was admirably filled by Colin Boulain. Colin is a very experienced player (he had been Eugene at Sacile and Napoleon at Friedland for example) and a safe pair of hands. I could trust him not to do anything rash, and have him act as advisor to Bellegarde: their joint task being to reduce and take Aspern. Bellegarde himself was played by Charles Morris, a young player but one who had been gaming since Austerlitz in 2005. I had no qualms about giving him a big corps, particularly as his overall task was quite clear and Colin was on hand to advise.

Reducing Essling fell to IV and V Kolonne. The overall commander of both was Rosenberg-Orsini, in effect the general commanding the left. Rosenberg historically, and in the game, spent his time exclusively with V Kolonne. I desperately wanted this command to go to Tom Burke, son of another club member (Peter Burke who was umpiring) and I had made him promise last time I saw him to take part in the Austrian team. He forgot. So I spent a little while rescuing him from the clutches of the French, eventually getting his dad to intervene and remind him of his undertakings! In the end he had a great game, was tested and came through very well. V Kolonne, meanwhile, went to a player I had not met before; Brett Smith. I would have preferred Bill Scott to fill this role; he had played Frimont at Sacile and was both a known and talented quantity. But he was playing Lannes, which had me concerned that his tactical skill combined with David Ronaldson's attacking energy would be a difficult combination to contain, never mind overcome. In the end I need not have worried, indeed Brett turned out to be a skilful and determined player whose performance was outstanding.

That left the centre, and the third key appointment: the role of Liechtenstein. Not only was he commander of the Reserve, he was also Charles' deputy and one of the few Austrian generals who historically matched Charles for aggression and energy. In the game as it unfolded the role became more critical than it would normally have been. This role was filled by another relatively new player; Richard Shilvock. I had, though, played with Richard before and was comfortable with him as 2IC. Sandwiched inbetween Richard and Charles was III Kolonne under Hohenzollern-Hechiggen. This went to Alex Shepherd. Alex as a player is also young, but because his dad, David, is also a club member (and was also umpiring) he has participated in a lot of games. He had been in charge of a division at Sacile and I wanted him to have a significant command and role at Aspern-Essling. That said I was still unsure that Alex could handle a totally independent command, so III Kolonne would be ideal, as I would also be able to readily intervene.

There were other, more junior, commands played by other players under these column commanders. But I have never been keen on using the long screwdriver, so I left the issuing of orders to junior commands to the column commanders themselves.


Thoughts and planning

Aspern-Essling is a battle 'of a type', and is remarkably similar to Dresden in initial setup: one army is emplaced with its back to a river, the other is approaching it in a series of concentric columns. There is little need for reconnaissance as the attacking army knows exactly where the enemy is. There is little room for manoeuvre either as the structure of the battlefield precludes this.
With these and other thoughts in mind I began to think about planning. One criticism often thrust at Charles is that he was drawn to the villages like magnets, whilst what he should have done was mask the villages and throw a wedge inbetween. I looked at this option and discarded it as being too risky. I did not know what the French were going to be allowed to have over the Danube on the start of the game, but I could not discount the possible presence of three cuirassier divisions under an aggressive commander (Ronaldson) carving up disordered Austrian infantry as they struggled over the bund. Another factor was that shuffling II Kolonne over to the left would take a very long time, more than enough time to allow the French to realise what the intention was and counter it with plenty of artillery and heavy cavalry.

So, it was back to the original plan of attacking the villages. But this had to be married to preventing the French from crossing the bund. That meant that the attacks on the villages had to either carry them, or be threatening enough to draw the French away from the centre. So the following nebulous plan formed: Hiller and Bellegarde would reduce Aspern. Rosenberg would reduce Essling: the assault itself being the job of IV Kolonne whilst V Kolonne worked it's way behind Essling and take the walled garden. The Granary was to be avoided. In the centre the Reserve cavalry would repel French cavalry attacks over the bund, these were anticipated and would be launched to disrupt the movement of III Kolonne. This last formation was to advance steadily to the edge of the bund and bottle the French up behind it. The Grenadiers would stay in reserve around Brietenlee to be called forward as needed.

The overall aim was to imprison the French behind the bund and wrest control of the villages from them. This would trap them in a very constrained area where they could be pummelled by artillery.

Counter-Intuition

I had also tried to consider the options open to the French. Looking at things from their perspective there were only really 3 options. The first was to create a 'fortress' from the villages, along the bund and using the walled garden behind Essling as the perimeter. The problem with this was the Austrians could simply roll up the guns wheel to wheel and pound away. Besides, any army with Ronaldson and Scott in it was not going to settle for such a supine option.

The second option was the historical French one, to break out of the constraints of the position by advancing over the bund with cavalry and then as many battalions as they could lay their hands on. In other words an attack in the centre and then pivoting on Aspern whilst the cavalry covered the right.

The third option was a right hook behind Essling towards Gross Enzerdorf and then veering left to roll up Rosenberg whilst lightly holding the centre and retaining the villages.
 

I was not worried about option one, in fact it would have been as if I had written the French plan myself. Option two would have seen the French in a head on collision with III Kolonne and the reserve cavalry in the open. A potentially risky situation and would throw my plan out of gear, but would offer the option of destroying the French in the open. The winner of such a brawl would be the luckiest general. Option three would allow my plan in the centre to proceed relatively unmolested. But it would give Rosenberg something to think about. It would also be far more awkward to reinforce Rosenberg than it would be any developing situation in the centre.

Such were my thought processes as I prepared to fight the battle. I drew up yet another Dispositionskarte, issued it to my senior staff, and waited for the game weekend.

Aspern-Essling: Dispositionskarte

Realising, reading back, that I have not included anything about Aspern-Essling I feel that I should as there are lots of pics and material. But, as at Sacile, I tried to issue the usual 'Army Disposition' before the game. This was the alternative to clear orders!

General Opinion

The Imperial Hauptarmee will assemble on the Marchfeld in preparation to repulse any attempt by the French army to cross the Danube. After repulsing the French on the Schwarze Lackenau their crossing points have narrowed. It is the opinion of the Hauptarmee headquarters, given observations from staff officers on the Bisamberg, that the French will next attempt to cross from Lobau island in the vicinity of the villages of Aspern-Essling. It is the intention of the Generalissimus, Erzherzog Karl von Habsburg, to take advantage of the strategic vulnerability of the French army and administer a sharp check to the Corsican ogre as he attempts to cross the Danube. Two Korps of the army will not be present. The V Korps under FZM Furst von Reuss-Plauen will cover the river upstream in the eventuality that the crossing in the Aspern-Essling area is a feint. The III Korps under FZM Kollowrat-Krakowsky is to strike out of Bohemia in the direction of Linz threatening the enemy's lines of communication.

The events of the evening of 20^th April

On the evening of 20^th April our advance guard forces under FML Graf Klenau encountered a French reconaissance in force north of the village of Essling. The French were repulsed with losses and we are confident that they have little idea of the proximity or scale of our army arrayed so closely to them.

The morning of the 21^st April

The french forces have begun crossing the Danube in force. Observations from the Bisamberg highlight two key points. Firstly, the French bridges are not formal pontoons, but instead appear to be somewhat rickety structures that are already showing signs of stress under the pressure of the river which is swollen by snowmelt. Secondly, the French seem to have concentrated on the deployment of a great deal of cavalry to the detriment of infantry. This implies further their ignorance of the proximity of our army. This is to be divided into five attacking columns plus the Reserve Korps.

Army Orders Dawn, 21^st April

The I Kolonne of FML Hiller

I Kolonne is tasked with assaulting and taking the village of Aspern from the south and west including the Churchyard. The Kolonne is also tasked with outflanking the village to the south and take the Gemeinde Au with its light forces, interdicting French attempts to reinforce Aspern.

You are to co-ordinate your attacks with II Kolonne.

The II Kolonne of General der Kavallrie Graf Bellegarde

II Kolonne is tasked to assault and take the village of Aspern from the north and west. The Churchyard is to act as the dilineating line between I and II Kolonne, and it is to be the responsibility of I Kolonne.

II Kolonne is also to act as the hinge for the wheeling advance of III Kolonne.

The III Kolonne of Feldmarschalleutnant Graf Hohenzollern-Hechiggen

III Kolonne is tasked with a wheeling assault, hinging its right flank on II Kolonne and its left on the Reserve Cavalry. The Kolonne is to advance deliberately to position itself parallel to the ditch inbetween Aspern and Essling.

Once in position III Kolonne is to conduct a solid and predictable advance against French forces arrayed along the ditch. The Kolonne is to carry the ditch in conjunction with II Kolonne assaults on Aspern.

French cavalry attacks will probably attempt to break up this movement. Caution and care is advisable while conducting this maneouvre.

The following two Kolonne form the Left Wing under the overall command of




Feldmarschalleutnant Furst Rosenberg-Orsini

The IV and V Kolonne are tasked with taking the village of Essling. These Kolonne are to be co-ordinated and under the overall command of FML Rosenberg-Orsini.

The IV Kolonne of Feldmarschalleutnant Dedovich

See above, orders to be issued by FML Rosenberg-Orsini

The V Kolonne of Feldmarschalleutnant Furst Hohenlohe

See above, orders to be issued by FML Rosenberg-Orsini

The Army Reserve of General der Kavallrie Furst Johann Liechtenstein

The Army Reserve is to deploy its reserve cavalry to cover the gap between the left flank of III Kolonne and the right flank of IV Kolonne. The first task of the reserve cavalry is to fend off any French cavalry attacks attempting to disrupt the deployments of III and IV Kolonne. In this task you are to co-ordinate with the commanders of III and IV Kolonne.

Once this deployment is achieved you are to act as a screen between III and IV Kolonne, taking advantage of any targets of opportunity that may present themselves.

The Grenadier division is to form an Army Reserve south of the village of Breitenlee.

Army Headquarters

This will commence the battle accompanying III Kolonne headquarters.

Generalmajor Graf Wimpffen

Generalstabschef

Hauptarmee

Befehl ist Befehl!

The Prussians are coming

Having not posted for a while I have sort of lost track of what pics I have posted and done since early 2010. In wargaming terms, having stumbled to victory at Sacile, I smoothly achieved victory at Aspern Essling which must count as the only game where I have been in the big chair where everything went according to plan.

That was followed by command at Auerstadt where defeat was pretty much guaranteed when the French were not only allowed to deploy Bernadotte’s Corps but also two Dragoon divisions: depriving the Prussians of the cavalry superiority, infantry superiority that, added to the C2 limits I imposed on myself it was an inevitable and comprehensive defeat.

But that meant I had to paint up more 1806 Prussians. In effect I doubled my infantry strength and there were also lots of cavalry units. Below are the Wangenhein Kurassier and the Prittwitz Husaren, both part of Lestocq’s corps that was hanging around in Poland. This force had a terrific amount of cavalry but a very limited number of infantry units. So my Prussian force from 1806 now comprises two infantry brigades with four musketeer and one grenadier battalion each, three battalions of fusiliers plus some jager. The cavalry force is now 11 battalions strong.

For 1813 I want to try for Kleist’s corps and would like to use Calpe miniatures to flesh it out as much as possible. Not having used Calpe before I ordered some samples; Jager and Landwehr cavalry. I have managed to get the Jager finished, the cavalry are just on the stocks right now (along with some Austrian Cuirassier and Jager) and pics will follow.

M

V Kolonne Line Regiments

Infantry Regiments of V Kolonne

There were four infantry regiments within V Kolonne making a total of 12 battalions. But although the six Hungarian battalions were very strong, the six Polish battalions were considerably weaker. The painting of these units was very enjoyable; after the sea of white in IV Kolonne having six big Hungarian battalions to do was real fun. I also bought IR44 in shako rather than helmet with an eye to Wagram and then any 1813 games as well.

The Hungarians: IR2 ‘Hiller’ and IR33 ‘Colloredo’


Both IR2 and IR33 were solid Hungarian regiments originally raised in 1741 among the vast expansion of Hungarian troops offered by the Hungarian Diet to the beleaguered Maria Theresa in the War of Austrian Succession. All Hungarian troops were volunteers throughout the wars. Hungary was very similar in its political structure to England. Although there were some large families of magnates like the Esterhazys, Gyulais and so on the true political power lay with the gentry who dominated the Diet and saw themselves as the guardians of Hungary’s political rights. It was this group that blocked any attempt to extend the Landwehr to Hungary, relying on the neo-medieval insurrection as well as preventing any effort to impose any form of conscription in the Hungarian Crown lands.

Of course, the Hungarians were volunteers in the same way as English troops were volunteers: bribing local girls, providing free beer at markets, detachments of smart troops and a band at local fairs, anything to draw in local peasantry and get them to sign up.

IR2 had the somewhat dubious honour of having FML Hiller as their Inhaber. Hiller was unpopular amongst his peers, being considered something of a politician and rather sly. That said Hiller was very popular among the troops under his command. How Hiller, a German commoner, related to and had any influence over his Hungarian regiment is open to question. Inhaber were sources of pensions as well as being able to make promotions and appointments of subalterns.


IR33 was in a more interesting position. Anton Szataray had been colonel of IR33 and his performance in the Balkans in front of the Kaiser gained him an appointment to Generalmajor in 1788. Although defeated at Renchen, he was a key performer at Wurzburg in 1796 and defeated the French at Weisloch in 1799. He was Inhaber of the regiment until 1804, and died 4 years later. His successor, Heironymous Graf von Colloredo-Mansfeld, was a very different kettle of fish. Coming from a large military family, he was the nephew of two Austrian generals and had numerous contacts, his father had been Vice Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. In general both the appointments of Colloredo and Hiller marks a move away from appointing Hungarian magnates as Inhabers of Hungarian regiments and appointing whoever to whatever regiment, integrating the Hungarians into the overall structure.

The Poles: IR44 ‘Bellegarde’ and IR46 ‘Chasteler’

Both these regiments, like IR9 and IR55 in IV Kolonne were originally raised in lands that had been lost to the Empire by 1809 and had been transferred to Galicia to recruit among the Poles.

IR44 had originally been Italian, one of only three Italian regiments from the Theresian period, one of which was abolished in 1751, and IR48 became Hungarian in 1798. IR44 soldiered on as Italian until the loss of all Italian territories in 1805. Then, like the Walloons, it was drawing on Polish recruits. It did not do too badly in this regard and maintained its strength in 1809 and 1813, but not at the levels of regiments recruiting in Bohemia or Moravia for example.

IR46 had an equally unusual history. Originally it began as the regiment of the Tyrol, by drawing together all the local militia battalions and regularising them. Although the independent-minded Tyroleans were happy to serve as skirmishers, they were far less keen to serve in the ranks and the regiment recruited heavily in south Germany. Like the Hungarians and Italians the Tyroleans were exempt from conscription. But the loss of the Tyrol to Bavaria meant that the regiment was, again, transferred to Galica. Unlike some regiments, and like IR55, it struggled to get recruits. Again it was abolished after 1809 as part of the requirements of the peace treaty with France.

Enjoy the eye candy

K

Some Austrian Units

Before I start describing the run-up to Aspern-Essling I want to put out a bit of eye-candy. I realise that I did pictures of all the units of IV Kolonne previously as they were completed, but that leaves the boys of V Kolonne to do. So first off I decided to do the two cavalry regiments I have not covered previously.

HusR3 ‘Erzherzog Ferdinand Carl d’Este’

Like HusR10 ‘Stipiscz’ in IV Kolonne, HusR3 was a pretty standard regiment of Hussars and is a typical product of the Habsburg army. Although the material was excellent, and the horseflesh itself did not suffer as much over time as that of the heavies, the Austrian cavalry suffered from two principal defects: poor leadership and issues of co-ordination. The senior ranks of cavalry regiments were often filled by socially senior people but these were not usually the most adept or capable. Like other Habsburg regiments, if you want experienced officers you need to look to the Majors, rather than Lt Colonels, Rittmeister or Colonels. Hussar regiments were, and still are, fashionable, and offered considerable scope for small acts of bravery in the ‘Kleiner Krieg’ that was their forte, and in this respect their activities as scouts, conducting ambushes and undertaking raids was always a key element in the Hussar’s makeup.



The Inhaber, Erzherzog Ferdinand D’Este, was not considered a particularly nice person. Quarrie describes him as a ‘brutal and vulgar bully’, and his military talents seem rather minimal. Still, it is quite unfair to be that judgemental due to his performance in 1805, where he was pretty much a figurehead commander and his breakout from Ulm seems to have stemmed from exasperation with Mack’s apparent listlessness. His activity on 1809 is hardly open to too great a critique either. His invasion of Poland with VII Korps went ok, and he did pretty much what was expected of him, defeating the Poles at Raszyn. Again, the peripheral attacks of the Austrians went right, but the main theatre went wrong, and that was where the war was due to be won. D’Este himself was, of course, landless. The D’Este family had been denuded of all their Italian possessions (in his case Modena) so he was kicking his heels in Vienna like lots of his cousins and looking for a role. He does not seem to have held an active command in 1813-14, that war being the preserve of professional generals, not scions of the Imperial house.

ChlR6 ‘Rosenberg-Orsini’

The 6^th Chevaulegers were originally a Dragoon regiment, then became a Light Dragoon Regiment and, finally, Chevauleger. The whole Chevauleger concept grew out of trying to create a ‘German’ light cavalry arm. Something a little more disciplined than the Hussars was certainly a good idea in the mid-18^th Century and the arm became the favoured branch of Joseph II, who is often pictured wearing the green coat of the Chevauleger. Oddly many of the units grew gradually from Cuirassier regiments, who during the late 18^th century often had a ‘Division’ of Chevauleger as part of the regiment. Others were converted towards the end of the SYW or later from Dragoons: DR1, DR7, DR13, DR19 and DR31 were all converted in this way. The only regiment started as chevauleger was ChlR18, which in itself grew out of DR31 before it, too, was converted to chevauleger.

Carneville Freicorps

Although I had done a previous post on Carneville’s Freicorps when I had painted up the infantry, here is a pic that includes a couple of Hussars and the man himself; Simon Graf Carneville. I had puzzled over what on earth this unit could be used for at 1:50 other than looking pretty. Tom Burke, playing Rosenberg, puzzled over this too. In the end I settled on the notion of ‘supports’. The charm for this unit about ‘Art of Command’ rules is that any unit of any size can be counted as a support. What is unarguable is that they turned out well and look pretty...

K

The Victory Despatch of Archduke John

My dear brother

Today the Army of Inner Austria struck the first blow against French tyranny. In battle against the Italian and French forces under the Viceroy of Italy our brave regiments proved that the French can be beaten decisively and convincingly on ground of their own choosing.

The troops of His Excellency, our dear brother and Kaiser, threw French troops out of a series of defensive positions and contained their aggressive but ultimately futile attacks. I particularly draw attention to the role played by FML Frimont de Palota, whose bravery and tactical skill destroyed one French division and drove off another. Your Excellency's own regiment, IR3, covered itself with glory in a determined assault against the French.

French arrogance has today been humbled by the calm determination of our troops. Our enterprise can only go from strength to strength in light of this terrific victory.

John

The Battle of Sacile: A Gamer's Perspective

The Table


I have decided to write two battle summaries, one by myself as a gamer, the other the victory despatch of Archduke John. My POV as a gamer will of course be coloured and biased, I was the Austrian CinC after all...Also, importantly, the Umpires had introduced the concept of victory conditions based on occupation of villages.

Initial moves.

Austrian infantry advance over a bridge

For me things began to go wrong before the game started. The right-hook I had planned was clearly going to be in trouble as the French had advanced the division of Grenier far beyond their original positions. The result was that any Austrian right hook was going to be constrained by lack of space: although we would ordinarily place extra tables to extend the space if fighting was going to take place, the wall of the hall was not going to allow this. So far ahead were the French that the Grenier player also complained that he had been placed too far ahead.

Another little niggle was that the umpires had got confused between Ignaz and Albrecht Guylai when it came to assigning players. The upshot was that the player commanding the Corps, Ignaz, was an inexperienced lad who I had wanted to play Albrecht. This would not have been a problem had he not been asked to make a series of decisions about the approach of IX Korps which saw him fatally split the formation over a linear obstacle. I swapped the players over, but the damage had been done. Here too, my own opaque orders in the Armeedispositionskarte played a role.

On the Left.

Austrians advance on Pieve


I had intended to hold on the left, but Frimont decided that there were opportunities to be exploited. Starting with his own division he gradually drew on the division of Albrecht Gyulai starting with the brigade of Colloredo-Mansfeld. Heavy fighting took place around the village of Talponedo with the Austrian troops gradually breaking and routing Severoli's Italians and pushing back Seras' infantry, continuing their advance on Pieve. VIII Korps had succeeded in wresting a key objective from the French and was pushing forward, but the terrain was difficult and the advance was slow.

The Centre.

The Austrian centre

In the centre Albrecht Guylai was first of all to take the village of Ronche, on the road from Rovereto to Fontanfredda. This was rapidly accomplished by the infantry of GM Berelat, who quickly advanced down the road and settled in, much to the discomfiture of the French around Fontanfredda who saw Ronche as a key objective they needed to gain. The place became even more important once the French lost Talponedo. Berelat's infantry drew up before Fontanfredda on the left of Ronche, whilst on the right FML Reisner's Grand Battery deployed with a view, in my mind, to pummelling Fontanfredda. This never happened. It became clear that even large batteries, some 12lb, were not going to scratch the place, a factor which led to some hasty rules re-writing at the next rules session. French efforts to eject Berelat's men continued through much of the day, and at one stage the Austrians were thrown out of Ronche, only to re-occupy it within a few moves from the disordered French. These attacks on Ronche weakened the French defenders of Fontanfredda which made the place look vulnerable to assault.

The Right.

The Austrian Reserve


The left wing was where the French redeemed themselves. With Besanez' infantry and the corps artillery on one side of a stream and Reichenberg's forces on the other things did not look great, especially as the Austrian deployment was so badly constrained by space. On the immediate right the Austrians began lining the stream with guns and infantry from Marziani's brigade as Grenier and all the French cavalry devastated Reichenberg. Archduke John led an attack by IR3 against Fontanfredda, which should have succeeded, but an umpire decision which totally contradicted the rules allowed the French defenders to instantaneously form from skirmish order to line behind a stone wall and repel them. If they had stayed in skirmish order (as the rules say) they would have been ejected. But you do not argue with umpires, their decisions overrule the book...

Meanwhile Reichenberg and Volkmann were effectively destroyed. Lack of space was the main reason as units pushed back disordered others in a hideous traffic jam. I was a little peeved at this, but short of demolishing a wall to make room for more tables the battle had to be fought on the table as designed.

Conclusion.

Gajoli begins moving to the left

It was at this stage I made a critical error. I was now faced with a situation where my expected attack by IX Korps had stalled but VIII Korps was doing well, so I switched the emphasis to Frimont's attack. In so doing I robbed Albrecht Gyulai of his only uncommitted brigade, that of Gajoli, and sent it to get in Frimont's way instead. The result was the centre was now held by a thin and debilitated cordon of troops under Berelat. The French pushed a hussar unit down the road past Ronche and split the army in half. This, I reflected, would teach me about keeping reserves in the right place. That said it was not disastrous. Although Grenier was still pushing on his moves were taking him away from the villages that were victory points. The French in and around Fontanfredda were equally exhausted and Ronche was once again in Austrian hands. Also, looking at it, Gajoli was just a few moves from the centre, as was the Grenadier brigade of Altensteig. Any French moves along the Ronche-Rovereto road would have been caught in a pincer of two uncommitted and Fresh brigades. Meanwhile, Frimont with the troops he had would have gradually ground down Seras' French and reached the bridge leading to Sacile with all arms, rather that a tiresome but not really threatening French hussar regiment.

Victory.

Severoli routing

Victory was awarded to the Austrians. Although the attack by Grenier had wrecked IX Korps light forces the drive had taken large numbers of French troops away from the VP rich area. Meanwhile the Austrians had taken Ronche and Talponeda putting them ahead in the VP stakes. I also learned some valuable lessons here: more clarity in my initial orders alongside a greater awareness of reserves and not being stampeded into using them too soon and for the wrong reasons.