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Saxon and Bavarians of 1866 The following has been compiled by Martin Soilleux-Cardwell. The Saxon Army 1866: All infantry were organised in single battalions (not regiments) of between 900-980 actual field strength. There were 16 line battalions (numbered 1st through 16th) and 4 Schutzen or Rifle battalions (1st through 4th). The 13th through 16th line battalions were designated the Leib Brigade. All four cavalry regiments were Reiter and should be classed as lights (they all performed extensive patrolling and scouting during the retreat), with 4 field sqns per Regt of 160 per sq. In peacetime one sqn (not necessarily numbered the 5th) acted as a depot upon mobilisation and handed it's horses over to the other four, so is not shown in the orbats. The Reiter Regts were designated 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Garde. The artillery had nine batteries with 6 guns and one with 4, eight of them foot, two horse. Four foot batteries and the two horse batteries were equipped with 12pdr smoothbore shell guns, the other four foot batteries with 6pdr Krupp rifles. Thus all Saxon artillery is heavy (ouch!). I have ignored the 2 gun deficit in one of the batteries so that the Saxons get 5 2SP battalion equivalents of artillery. The cavalry division had a single 6 gun horse battery attached, the other horse battery being with the army reserve. This is fine when gaming a smallish battle like Gitschin but at Koniggratz I would suggest giving the cavalry a 2-5 horse battalion and scrapping the 1SP battery stands. On 20th May (the day of mobilisation) the strength of the army was about 23,940 men. On 15th June (when Prussia declared war) the strength was 26,265. The army structure went through three different organisations but the third one given here was the one used at Gitschin and Solferino. 1. Peacetime and the Plan to Join Bavaria (at Dresden, 13th to 29th May): Immediately prior to hostilities Saxony's intention was to retreat to join the Bavarian corps. For the withdrawal the army was organised into an Avante Garde, a Main Body and a Reserve. As the army would be moving backwards, the Reserve would lead the retreat with the Avante Garde maintaining contact with the advancing Prussians: 1 Army Commander (Kronprinz Albert of Saxony) Avante Garde, Generaleutnant Freiherr v.Fritsch, Commander of the Cavalry Division, DC, Ex=8
Main Body, Generaleutnant v.Stieglitz, Commander of the 2nd Infantry, Division, DC, Ex=11
Reserve, Generaleutnant v.Schimpff, Commander of the 1st Infantry Division, DC, Ex=8
2. The Withdrawal to Join the North Army (Dresden to Lobositz 30th to 25th June): Before war was declared it became known that Bavaria could not promise troops to meet up with the retreating Saxons, nor secure their open right flank as they marched west, so this plan was abandoned and it was decided to march south to join Clam-Gallas' I Korps of the Austrian Nordarmee at Lobositz. As soon as the move got underway all the cavalry was transferred to the Avante-Garde except a single sqn each that remained with the Main Body and Reserve for close in patrol work. In V&B terms I have ignored these 2 sqns and put all the cavalry with the Avante-garde. A whole bunch of ambulances, ammunition columns, parks, pontoons, etc were to move with the Reserve which utilised a good deal of steamer transport up the Elbe. The changed organisation now looked like this: Army Commander (Kronprinz Albert of Saxony) Avante Garde, Generaleutnant Freiherr v.Fritsch, Commander of the Cavalry Division, DC, Ex=10
Main Body, Generaleutnant v.Stieglitz, Commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, DC, Ex=11
Reserve, Generaleutnant v.Schimpff, Commander of the 1st Infantry Division, DC, Ex=7
3. The Final Organisation (25th June onwards): Upon meeting Clam-Gallas I Korps, the retreat continued although in a gradually increasing state of disorder, mainly due (according the the Staff History) to poor Austrian organisation, particularly the railway transport and supply arrangements. Although the following organisation was authorised at Lobositz on 21st June, it proved impossible to implement it until 25th June. At Lobositz the army was split up into several smaller elements for a long (110 mile) withdrawal, partly by train, partly by marches. On 25th June it once again assembled as a whole on the Iser river near Gitschin. It rested then manouvered a little before fighting with this organisation at Gitschin on the 29th: Army Commander (Kronprinz Albert of Saxony) 1st Infantry Division, Generaleutnant v.Schimpff, DC, Ex=13
2nd Infantry Division, Generaleutnant v.Stieglitz, DC, Ex=13
Cavalry Division, Generaleutnant Freiherr v.Fritsch, DC, Ex=2
Corps Troops:
Notes:
(Source: "The Contribution of the Royal Saxon Army Corps to the Campaign of 1866 in Austria", Stuart Sutherland, Iser Publications, 1999)
The Bavarian Army 1866: I've now had chance to look in detail at Stuart Sutherland's "The Contribution of the Royal Bavarian Army to the War of 1866" (Iser Publications 1998). Like his work on the Saxons this is also a translation of the Staff History. The orbat below differs from that I have seen previously and is especially enlightening on the subject of artillery. On the outbreak of war the army comprised sixteen infantry regiments each of three battalions of 875 men; the Leib Regt (2 btns) and 1st through 15th. There were eight Jager battalions of 646 men. The cavalry comprised six Chevauleger, three uhlan and three kurassiere regts, all with identical organisation of four sqns of 102 men (total 415 combatants per regt). There were nineteen artillery batteries; fifteen foot of eight guns each and four horse with six guns each. The horse batteries and eight of the foot batteries used a 12pdr smooth bore shell-firing gun, the remaining seven foot batteries were equipped with Krupp steel breach-loading 6pdr guns. The total paper army strength was therefore 40,250 infantry, 5,168 jagers, 4,980 cavalry and 144 guns. His Royal Highness Feldmarshal Prinz Carl of Bavaria Infantry Corps, Generaleutnant Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann Corps Troops - Artillery Reserve
1st Infantry Division Generalmajor Stefan
2nd Infantry Division Generaleutnant von Feder
3rd Infantry Division Generaleutnant Freiherr von Zoller (after Kissingen His Royal Highness Prinz Luitpold)
4th Infantry Division Generaleutnant Ritter von Hartmann
Reserve Infantry Brigade Colonel Bijot (formed on 18th July)
Cavalry Corps, Prinz von Thurn und Taxis - (later His Royal Highness Generaleutnant Prinz Ludwig in Bavaria)
In VB&G terms the army looks like this: HRH FM Prinz Carl of Bavaria AC Infantry Corps, GL Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann CC Corps Troops:
1st Infantry Division GM Stefan DC, Ex=10
2nd Infantry Division GL von Feder DC, Ex=9 (later 10)
3rd Infantry Division GL Freiherr von Zoller DC, Ex=10 (v.Zoller KIA at Kissingen, afterwards HRH Prinz Luitpold)
4th Infantry Division GL Ritter von Hartmann DC, Ex=10
Reserve Infantry Brigade, No DC, Ex=6
Cavalry Corps, Prinz von Thurn und Taxis CC, Ex=3 (later HRH GM Prinz Ludwig in Bavaria)
This gives 39,500 infantry, 4,000 jagers, 5,000 cavalry and 144 guns. Due to the usual strategic consumption, I'm happy with the lower than paper strength figures, if anything the above orbat is on the strong side. The infantry were all armed with the Podewils rifle-musket (0"/4"). Morale: The problem with this army is that it was indifferently led and due to muddled political aims and consequently a confused military objective it's motivation suffered. It also was at the mercy of inflexible military laws which governed recruiting and length of service issues. There were just too many new recruits in the army and not enough experienced officers. The M4 rating for the infantry reflects this. This otherwise splendid little army was marched and countermarched around the south west corner of Germany and didn't achieve anything. If you want to be historically tough on the Bavarians, and wish to weight them as a mediocre opponent in campaign terms, use the M4 rating. But in the hands of clear thinking politicians and skilled generals it was probably nearly as good a fighting force as any other of the medium sized German states, in which case feel free to up the morale to 5. |