Hohenlinden Video

In a new departure we are now able to bring moving pictures...lol

This video was taken by Colin Boulain as a flypast of the battlefield. I will put up a detailed account when the pics are available.

K

The Victory Despatch of Archduke John

My dear brother

Today the Army of Germany struck a blow against French tyranny.

Taking heart from our earlier victory at Ampfing, your army drove through the heavy Grosshagerwald and inflicted yet another defeat upon the French, crushing a third of their army and leaving the rest retreating in confusion.

Special mention must be made of FML Kienmayer, GM Esterhazy and your dear cousin the Archduke Ferdinand D’Este who, at the age of 19, shows much promise. While the bulk of our army pinned the French in place, our right smashed the French in the open and sent the surviving rabble fleeing for Paris. Guns and colours captured from the enemy are en-route to Vienna as soon as possible.

My dear brother, Germany is ours once again. The French are in retreat for the Rhine and the spirit of 1799 once again animates the army.

John

Hohenlinden Dispositionskarte

Armee Dispositionskarte

General Opinion

Events in Germany have reached a critical stage. After the victorious campaigns in Germany, Italy and the Low Countries in 1799 the Godless forces of the French Republic have struck back in Italy and in Germany undoing many of our gains. We have also been abandoned by our Russian ally, and the British have once again withdrawn to their island. Austria stands alone with the exception of our Bavarian allies.

Events of 1st and 2nd December

The Army of Germany has scored some notable successes over the past week. Having overwhelmed the French at Ampfing on the 1st of December, the French have been compelled to abandon the town of Haag which we occupied on the 2nd December. It is the considered view of the Archduke and his staff that the French are retreating in some disorder and are concentrated around the town of Hohenlinden.

Overall Army Plan

Oberst Weyrother's plan calls for a concentric attack aimed at striking into the plain of Hohenlinden by four columns. All four columns are to converge upon Hohenlinden, the approach of the left and centre columns hidden on their approach by the Grosshaagerwald. It is also anticipated that the poor weather will help mask the approach of our columns. The overall plan is to draw the French towards the centre and right columns and left flanking columns roll up the enemy flank.

FML Kienmayer

Orders for Kolonne of FML Kienmayer

FML Kienmayer's column is the only column to approach the French in the open. The objective of FML Kienmayer's troops is the storming and occupation of Forstern and denying it to the French. It is anticipated that a serious assault against this position will draw French forces from the centre and right of their position. Cavalry and artillery units of FML Latour's column are anticipated to emerge from the Burgrainer Holz in the vicinity of Wetting, and they are to place themselves under your command as soon as practicable.

Orders for Kolonne of FML Baillet de Latour

The Column of FML Baillet de Latour is to advance from its start lines and move via the hamlet of Wilher to the village of Mittach. Here they are to form a defensive line and occupy the town. Upon the arrival of the Bavarian Division to relieve them, the column shall then continue its advance,  the majority passing through the Mittacherwald towards the village of Kronacker From this position FML Latour must use his discretion and may either assault Hohenlinden proper in conjunction with the Bavarian Division or assist the column of FML Kienmayer.  The brigade of GM Esterhazy and the column artillery, however, will advance along the track through the Burgrainer Holz to emerge before Wetting where the greater open spaces will allow more effective use of the cavalry and guns. They are to be placed under the command of FML Kienmayer as soon as they gain contact with his force.

Orders for Division Zweibrucken

The Column of Glt Zweibrucken will leave its start lines ahead of the Division of FML Kollowrat.  The Division will move down the main highway through the Grosshaagerwald until reaching the crossroads. The Division will then take the left hand track which leads towards Mittach. Upon reaching Mittach the division is to relieve the column of FML Baillet de Latour. When FML Latour's forces have cleared the area the Division of Glt Zweibrucken is to advance directly through the Mittacherwald towards Hohenlinden and take up positions on the edge of the treeline. The force is to make contact on its right with the forces of FML Latour which should have occupied Kronacker and on the left with the Division of FML Kollowrat around the village of Birbach.

FML Kollowrat-Krakowsky

Orders for Division Kollowrat-Krakowsky

The Division of FML Kollorat-Krakowsky, accompanied by the Archduke and his staff, will follow the Bavarian Division along the main highway until it reaches the crossroads. Here the force will divide. The Brigade of GM Spannochi will continue along the main highway and continue along this axis to emerge from the Grosshaagerwald and attack in the direction of Krieth-Birbech. The remainder of the division will take the right-hand fork and proceed in the direction of Mittach, but taking the right-hand track halfway along that route which leads to Birbach. This force is to emerge from the treeline and immediately assault Birbach.

Orders for Kolonne of FML Reisch

The Kolonne of FML Reisch will advance through the Grosshagerwald to occupy the village of Schutzen. The force is then to take the track to its right towards Krieth. Here it will link up with the forces of FML Kollowrat-Krakowsky and under the direct command of the Commander in Chief. The forces around Krieth and Birbach will then fall upon the right flank of the enemy which will have been drawn towards the right and centre columns.

Oberst Franz von Weyrother

Next Game: Hohenlinden

General Moreau at Hohenlinden

The next game is to be the Battle of Hohenlinden on the 9th January 2010. This game was postponed from late December due to the bad weather, with many players coming from places like Salisbury and beyond, it was really the only option Trevor had.

The Historical Battle

The battle, on 3rd December 1800, took place against poor weather on a battlefield in southern Bavaria. It pitched one of the best French generals of his generation, Jean Moreau, against an Austrian command structure that was divided and contradictory. The French army also benefitted from excellent displays of initiative by divisional commanders, whilst their Austrian counterparts fumbled and groped around in the snow and fog.

The snowy forest

The Austrians had taken a real battering throughout 1800. This had caused some confusion as in 1799 they had been extremely successful and were at a loss to explain why 1800 had gone so badly. One historical explanation has been to point the finger at the desertion of the Russians, in a negative and a positive way. Negatively, it is argued that their deserting the second coalition reduced Austrian overall morale and robbed them of numbers of troops. Positively it is argued that the Russians were responsible for the Austrian victories and their absence was the cause of the defeats.

General Moreau

Both seem nonsensical. Most Austrian senior officers looked on their Russian counterparts with disdain, the Russians on the whole being far less professional and certainly did not behave like 'Gentlemen'. Also the burden they imposed logistically, as well as politically, indicates that this withdrawal's impact was relatively neutral operationally. In terms of them being responsible for victories (the positive argument), they were certainly fairly ineffectual in Germany, in Holland they were pretty similar (after drinking the oil from the streetlamps on the Isle of Wight) and everything seems to have been built around Suvurov. Problem here is that Kray defeated the main French Italian army at Magnano before Suvurov arrived and, sent into Switzerland on his own at the end of 1799 he lost his army in the Swiss valleys never to be seen again.

General Kray, good in Italy but a failure in Germany

Arguably the issue was senior leadership. The Austrians simply lacked Divisional and Army commanders that matched the French in ability and operational flexibility. In 1799 they hit on some combinations that clearly worked. In Italy Suvorov/Chasteler/Kray/Bagration were a formidable team that the French were not able to contain. In Germany Archduke Charles and his able Chief of Staff, Schmitt, were equally competent and had proved formidable in 1796 as well.

FzM Lauer

But by 1800 this had all changed. Suvurov and Bagration were out of the equation. Chasteler was recuperating from his wounds and would not be the same energetic figure again. Charles and Schmitt had withdrawn from service. Kray was initially sent to Germany, but proved unequal to the task, whilst Italy saw the Austrian cause go down at Marengo in June. An Armistice, from July to November saw Kray replaced, but the Austrian Chancellor Thugut struggled to find a replacement. He had gone the rounds of the Archdukes, asking Joseph and Charles (who he disliked) both of whom refused. In the end, in a decision that seems like desperation, the command was offered to the 18 year old Archduke John. But John was only to be a cypher. The real command was supposed to be in the hands of FzM Franz Lauer, a thoughtful and cautious staff officer of considerable experience. This might have worked (although a similar arrangement in 1805 with Ferdinand and Mack ended with catastrophe at Ulm) but the Chief of Staff of the Army was none other than Oberst Franz von Weyrother, he of Austerlitz fame. Aggressive, blustering and personally very brave, Weyrother and Lauer were never gong to see eye to eye and the command developed into a competition between these two very different officers for the endorsement of the 18 year old Archduke. Compared to the unified structure of the French, with a clear sighted and very competent General, it was asking for trouble.

Archduke John in later life

Initially Weyrother gained the upper hand with an aggressive plan that saw the Austrians marching off to cut the French lines of communication. After a couple of days it was clear that the Austrian army, plus the weather, made such an approach impossible and Lauer suggested a straightforward attack on Munich. This caught Moreau's forces scattered and unprepared, and the ensuing battle of Ampfing on the 1st December saw the Austrians victorious.

Weyrother then seems to have played on John's youthful aggression, arguing that the French were in retreat and that immediate pursuit would probably bundle them back over the Rhine. The two overrode Lauer, who did not fall for the 'French retreating in disarray' argument for a minute, and Weyrother prepared a plan straight from the late 18th Century rulebook.

The French were assumed (there were a lot of questions going begging with this plan) to be concentrated around Hohenlinden. They were separated from the Austrians by the large and sprawling Ebersberg Forest. The weather was poor, with snow and freezing fog. Not circumstances you would ideally attack in, especially with an army as fragile as the Austrian one of 1800, but Weyrother proposed exactly that.

Late 18th Century doctrine, as practiced by the Austrians, saw a defensive concept based on a cordon and a reserve to move to threatened points. This was not confined to the Austrians, it was a fairly widespread theory and fashionable at the time. The attacking side of the coin was equally fashionable. Gone was the idea of the army moving as a single unit, arranging itself in battle formation on contact and then an engagement. In was the notion of concentric columns advancing towards the enemy independently and coming together to offer battle, ideally with one or more columns outflanking the enemy. This notion was absorbed by late 18th century Austrian staff officers who saw it as the way forward. The problem was that the Austrian army, indeed late 18th century armies in general, were pretty much incapable of rising to the task. An obvious example is Fleurus in 1794, the plan being the brainchild of Mack, which saw a series of concentric columns engage the enemy. The problem became one of command and control. Once battle was joined the army commander, Coburg, was not able to effectively co-ordinate the battle and instead the battle was fought by the individual unit commanders. As the Austrian generals were not known for their initiative but rather tight central control, this was not an approach that played to their strengths.

Austrian Gunner 1800

Nevertheless, despite evidence to the contrary that had built up during the 1st Coalition, Weyrother drew up a plan based on these concepts. A series of columns would pass through the forest like rain through a grate, coming together on the other side to engage the (supposedly) demoralised and disorganised French. The result was catastrophic. The Austrian column commanders plunged into the gloomy, snow-encrusted woods and started to lose their nerve. Column commanders, confronting unexpected circumstances and French troops clearly prepared to fight, began to look to the Army command and each other for support. Not knowing where each other was increased the sense of isolation. Defeat under these circumstances was inevitable.

FML Kienmayer, scapegoated by John

And, naturally, so was the outpouring of recriminations on the Austrian side. The Bavarian General Zweibrucken blamed the Austrians. Archduke John blamed FML Kienmayer (whose column hard arguably performed the best) and Thugut and the Court blamed Lauer, who as Adlatus was in theory responsible for the defeat, despite having advised against the whole enterprise in the first place. Certainly John was beyond blame, being a member of the Imperial House, and Weyrother's teflon coating along with wounds inflicted during the battle effectively insulated him.

Another wintry view of the battle

In other words, those least responsible for the defeat got the blame. A not unusual situation within organisations! Indeed, this willingness to go along with plans that were unrealistic and had disaster written all over them would characterise Austrian planning in 1805 and again in 1809, when a personally reluctant Charles endorsed a campaign whose foundations were shaky from the start.

Sunday

On Sunday I will be playing the 3-headed Austrian command: originally John was to be played by one of the younger lads while I took the role of Lauer. Still, the plan is submitted and all that remains is to see how it plays out. Already there is some off-table action in the woods and the results of that will be revealed to us on the day. Moreau will be played by Chaim Ben-Zion, a rather more stolid character than Moreau was, it is his first time commanding an army from start to finish. The French start the game in the open and concentrated and able to plug up the mouseholes leading out of the forest. Could be interesting. Meanwhile none of the Austrian columns can communicate with each other, again, could be interesting...

K

Painting and Eye Candy

Les Blancs RdeLi 68e

Eye Candy



Of course it appears that I have not painted much, this is not true but rather it has taken me until now to get some photos done.









Return of the Tricorns

Camposanto rumbles slowly on and I have managed to complete the 2nd battalions of regiments Lombardia and Diesbach and the first battalion of regiment Schollemberg. I Have not sorted out the colour for the second Lombardia battalion as yet, but here are some pics of the full regiment of Diesbach.

Regiment Diesbach

Meanwhile at Camposanto only one battalion of Schollemberg was present, so I have done it as the first battalion with the appropriate King's Colour as opposed to the regimental one.

Regiment Schollemberg

1792

IR33

I could not resist doing some samples of the new Eureka miniatures 1790's range. Luckily they do not seem to be focussed on Italy in 1796, as my main interest is the Austrian Netherlands 1992-1794, a longer campaign with lots of big and small battles.

Les Blancs

So I painted the French samples asd Les Blancs regiments who were involved in the first catastrophic French invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, and some Hungarian infantry from IR33 that was present at the first battle of the French Revolution

O'Donel Freicorps

The trouble is that the Eureka stuff is very expensive, so I got some samples from Wargames Foundry to paint up as O'Donels Freicorps. Originally raised in 1790 to help carve up Poland this band of cut throats, freebooters and opportunists were in it for what they could get out of it...my sort of people.




K

Diary of General Ramble

General de Brigade Barbanegre

First of all I feel that I ought to apologise for not having posted much in 2010. Health-wise is has not been a brilliant year, it being hard to focus on my gaming or, indeed, finding joy in it. Depression takes you that way sometimes...

That said we did do some interesting games in 2010, such as Heilsberg, Auerstadt and Bussaco, although I was not personally enthralled with any of them.

Heilsberg, though I was keen on us fighting such an unknown battle, saw me doing very little of interest. I did have the chance to interact and mentor some of the younger players, which I enjoy as well as being very important in terms of growing a second generation. But the French did not attack and all my wing did was stand there.

Towarczy in line

Auerstadt was different in that I was in command and playing Brunswick. I had not been keen on playing this game at all as it seemed ludicrously one-sided historically and to make it even was to indulge in some sort of fantasy: if you want fantasy go buy some elves. In order to make it even the umps decided to include Bernadotte's corps and two Dragoon divisions, along with hemming the Prussians in with C2 rules. The result was that the Prussians lost all their advantages but had a whole host of disadvantages. I tried to make it interesting by retiring to a separate room and commanding by map and courier, only moving on to the table after lunch. This, at least, made it a good experiment.

Prussians in square at Auerstadt

Bussaco I was umpiring, again in a quiet sector of the line. The British commander seemed indifferent to the game and seemed more motivated trying to sell off some figures to the other players. The Brits only sprang to life when he left early and the driving seat was occupied by Chaim Ben-Zion (our very own Moshe Dyan), but it was too late to move troops about to stem the French breakthroughs.

Legere Officer

Games 2011

Legere in column

Hopefully 2011 will be better. The first game on the calendar is to be Hohenlinden. This was going to be in December 2010 but bad weather (very historical) saw it moved into January 2011. As it is an Austrian army I am down to command it. This battle seems based on a late 18th century military handbook with several concentric columns moving independently towards an objective. Unfortunately the columns are moving through a huge snow-encrusted wood with heavy freezing fog and snowstorms in the morning. This makes it almost impossible to co-ordinate the columns, and in game terms once the commanders are issued their orders they plunge into the woods and the army commander trusts it all to fate. It should certainly prove to be interesting.

Prussian Fusiliers, 2nd Westpreuss Regiment

Bautzen also appears on the dance card. Now why start with the second major 1813 battle as opposed to doing Lutzen is a question I have not yet asked, but I am keen not to over complicate matters. I have drawn the role of Blucher (the greatest living German TM) which is a personality so totally at odds with my own I have no idea what to do about it. Peter Burke, now there is a natural Blucher (the greatest living German TM), but not me. This game will also see, hopefully, a new departure. One club member has suggested using a game as a team-building exercise, ideally for a legal company. I suggested Bautzen given the need for the French to co-ordinate their operational moves to trap the allied army against the border of the then neutral Austrian Empire. The idea seems to be to allow the French to be commanded by this team along with a sprinkling of experienced players. The higher you get up the command tree arguably the less you need to know about the nuts and bolts of the rules and the more you use what really amounts to common sense. If it comes off it could be both a good income stream for the club and a source of additional players. What we must ensure is that they feel that they are getting good value for money and have fun.

O'Donel Freicorps

Also on the books are Novi, Fuentes de Onoro and Albuera. I will umpire at the last two as I always umpire in Peninsular games. Novi (I know there are four battles of Novi in 1799, I am assuming this is the one where Suvurov fell asleep) offers me the option of playing one of my Austrian heroes, Paul Kray. Kray had already beaten the French army in Italy at Magnano in 1799 before the overblown Russian general had even arrived. He then went on, alongside Chasteler, to be one of the most successful Austrian figures of the allied war effort in Italy. He was then, of course, a victim of over promotion, being sent to Germany in 1800 to succeed Charles (who had also had a good year) and was defeated by Moreau.  So I will be pitching to play him at Novi.

Painting in 2011

1st Silesian Hussar Regiment

There is a painting plan for 2011. Actually it holds up to better scrutiny as a lot is focussed around Bautzen. I am always far better if I am painting to a fixed event, so bringing forward Bautzen meant bringing forward the Prussians. My intention was that, for 1813, I would provide 2nd Prussian Corps and was looking at 2012 as the year I would do this. Bringing forward Bautzen meant completing the regular elements of the Prussians before March-April. That amounted to 12 battalions of infantry and one regiment each of Dragoons, Hussars and Uhlans. So I have already started and some of the results are below. I still lack standards for these, but I will be poking Graeme Black at GMB for these and more.

2nd Silesian Landwehr Cavalry

But it cannot all be Prussians. I would go mad;  I always try to mix at least two projects at the same time or it can be a bit monotonous. So I have started seriously on my Wurttembergers. I had thought long and hard about which Confederation country to tackle. Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden and Frankfurt all looked too small, unless I combined all three. But there was the issue of well-designed accurate figures for all of them, and they did not seem to exist. North of the Main that left Saxony and Westphalia, but for a start I did not want to do white again and the quality of the infantry put me off. Bavaria? Well, good figures were available from Front Rank, but everyone does Bavarians as in that cornflower blue uniform and raupenhelm they look natty.

Wurttemberg Colonel Prinz Paul Regiment

So I landed on Wurttemberg. Eight decent infantry regiments, not large and with a raupenhelm and nice facings, form the bulk of the army. There are also four good light infantry battalions, two of which are jager, which seem to have done very well in 1809. Four regiments of light cavalry are also nice to have. There are also two horse and up to two 12lb foot batteries, all with Austrian-style guns. That is the stuff that went on campaign. To add to this are the four guard cavalry squadrons, two guard infantry battalions and the Dragoon regiment.

As you can see I have started with the line infantry, as Pete Morbey at Elite has begun designing the range. Pete tells me that he will be adding to the range in 2011 so by the time I have finished the infantry he may have come up with other stuff I can make a start on. Here, again, GMB will be coming up with the flags.

Lets see how long this plan stands up when it gets to contact with the enemy.

K

Aspern-Essling: the battle

The First Day

After an initial briefing of the Austrian team we transferred to the main hall and were able to see for the first time what the French had over the river. I was immediately relieved: the French did not have all three Cuirassier divisions over the river, indeed they looked to have only one and some bits and pieces of light cavalry. Instead they had thrown the main weight of their forces onto their left to garrison Aspern and its environs. 

            The Austrian plan then unfolded. Hiller and Bellegarde began to ponderously roll onto the table and take up positions before Aspern. The assault on day one began with some hard fighting on Hiller's part as he attempted to approach the walled churchyard and the rougher ground to the south. He had a tough job here as the French defence was heavy and the fighting was intense. Bellegarde, meanwhile, was to attack Aspern's western elevation between the churchyard and the bund. It took him some time to wheel his Korps into position and prepare a division-level attack. 

            Then Hohenzollern's Kolonne came on to the table and began to cautiously maneouvre into position parallel to the bund whilst using his cavalry as a linking arm between his formation and Bellegarde. As he was undertaking this move the French launched their Cuirassier over the bund against him and, in almost a direct mirror of history, his infantry closed up their files and the cuirassier proved unable to penetrate his masses. As the cuirassier faded back over the bund, Liechtenstein was deploying his cavalry on Hohenzollern's left. A cavalry battle then began to develop as Liechtenstein's reserve covered the left of Hohenzollern's Kolonne and the right wing of IV Kolonne as it advanced against Essling.

            What was now clear was that the French had robbed Peter to pay Paul: Essling was lightly defended. The unknown figure of Brett Smith was quite clear that this gift was to be exploited and began a determined and ultimately successful, assault on Essling.

'Who are that lot?'

This was music to my ears as Rosenberg arrived with V Kolonne. Napoleon was clearly not expecting this formation and it was clear that the arrival of Rosenberg had thrown a real spanner into the works of the French plan. It was by now very clear that they had opted for plan C (see my previous post) and V Kolonne was in the way. As Rosenberg's infantry assaulted the walled garden east of Essling his cavalry faced off a growing force of French horse between Essling and the river. IV Kolonne happily transferred all its cavalry to V Kolonne's area too giving Rosenberg four big regiments to slow up the French.

            But by this time the day's assault against Aspern had not gone the way of the Austrians: Hiller was stalled and Bellegarde's assault had been repulsed.   

But the effect had been to tie down the French and stop them shuffling troops over to Essling. Hohenzollern had seen off the French cuirassier and had started rolling towards the bund. Essling, though, had seen a significant Austrian breakthrough. Brett Smith had gained control of most of the village using a combination of artillery to blast breaches and big Austrian battalions to assault. V Kolonne had not taken the walled garden, but had bounced the French out, so both sides peered at each other over the no-man's land of the place itself.

            And what had I done? Very little is the answer. The local column commanders had proved perfectly capable of running their own battles and I pretty much left them to it. Despite the odd hiccup the overall plan was working well. I had every cause to be satisfied with the day's results: Essling had effectively fallen, V Kolonne had stymied the French line of advance and the assault against Hohenzollern had failed. Even though we had not succeeded in taking Aspern, the assaults had tied down the French nicely. The only really significant thing I did was to bring up the Grenadiers behind Hohenzollern towards the end of the day. Overnight I stitched together an ad-hoc division of survivors from Hiller's and Bellegarde's lead assaulting divisions to act as a reserve to the right wing. Otherwise the line was tidied and redied for morning.

Day 2

It became obvious on the morning of day two that the French had decided to try and break through on their right as originally planned. There was really no choice now, as Hohenzollern and Liechtenstein nicely filled the gap between Essling and Aspern and looked like a formidable challenge for any French units electing to struggle over the bund. They had also erected a battery on Lobau to fire on Rosenberg's flank: Guard 12lb were going to be very uncomfortable for him. It was at this point that gamesmanship intervened...

Fate Cards and Supersulk

Now I am not a particularly impatient man, but I do get very irritated indeed by unfairness. When the game started the two commanders were given fate cards at the initial briefings. We were told by the umpire that attended our briefing that they had to be distributed by the CinC to all players before the game started: the CinC could not hold any back. So this is what I did. For day two we got another set of cards to be distributed in the same way. So far so good. But, early on day 2, an umpire spotted that the French CinC was distributing cards at need during the battle: in other words cheating. 

            The response to this was that the umpire whose idea this was decided to remove the cards from both sides. I was incandescent with anger at this. We, my entire team, were being penalised because the other side had been cheating. I was angry, more angry than I had been in years: only a game I know, but this was more about fairness and justice than actual quibbling over an angle or a dice throw. So, for the next few hours I opted out. When I am angry this is by far the best approach: I took out my little computer notebook and did some work for 3 hours until I calmed down. Liechtenstein ran the battle. 

Endgame

Eventually I calmed down and returned to the table. what I saw was hardly displeasing. On the right the French had set fire to Aspern and abandoned it, the flames rather than the French were the obstacle. In the centre Hohenzollern and the remains of the reserve cavalry had closed up to the bund. Essling was now totally in Austrian hands. Rosenberg with V Kolonne had been bent back ninety degrees but was still anchored on Essling to his right. Behind him now was one of the two Grenadier reserve divisions, and he had effectively contained the French assault without collapsing. 

            Of the French, meanwhile, there was now a stream of infantry heading for the bridge over the Danube. The centre was screened by French cavalry ready to pounce on any Austrian unit trying to cross the bund with the consequent disorder. 'You could win big here, John' one of the umpires said to me, but I am too much of a Habsburg general to want to risk the army in questionable maneouvres, and crossing the bund in the face of cavalry was one of them. In fact I had achieved my own objectives as set out in the Dispositionskarte: a limited but clear victory over the French.

Conclusion

As Richard Shilvock commented after the battle 'It was a good, clear plan and all we had to do was follow it'. This was in response to me thanking the Austrian team for their time and skill. the key command appointments seem to have all worked well: no-one was out of their depth. Tom Burke as Rosenberg had the most difficult job, but my faith in him was well rewarded when his line bent in the face of the main French attack, but did not break. The plan, in that sense, worked pretty much as written. We had not taken Aspern, but would have occupied the smouldering ruins at a later stage. 

            Meanwhile, freed from having to command troops as at Eylau and Sacile, I was able to concentrate on actually commanding the battle. This was a big relief, especially as the commanders proved more than capable of doing their bit effectively without my intervention. The fact that I could be absent from the field for 3 hours just underlined this. A good game, but with a big speed bump in the middle.

K