Freiberg - 29th October 1762

This scenario was developed by Mike Kirby.

Background

Prince Henry, although commanding an army made up mostly of ‘second line’ troops and free- battalions, decided to take the offensive against the Reichsarmy commanded by Prince Stolberg who had the support of Hadik’s Austrian Corps. The Allies were dug in behind field works situated on top of high ground to the west of the town of Freiberg. This position blocked all approaches to Dresden. To the rear of the allied position was the River Mulde, which was crossed by several bridges to the east of the town. On 28 October Prince Henry and his staff performed a reconnaissance of the allied position. This was hampered by the Austrian light troops who occupied the woods in front of the high ground. Henry gathered enough information however, to form a good picture of the enemy’s dispositions.

It was clear to Henry that the main Austrian force, the Corps under Campitelli, was securely ensconced on the heights to the south-west of the town, whilst the Reichsarmy held the heights blocking the western access to Freiberg. Although the front of their position had been strengthened by the construction of several redoubts and abbatis, no force appeared to be protecting the right flank of the allied army leaving the Reichsarmy troops somewhat ‘out on a limb’. This was too tempting a target for the Prince, who planned to pin the Austrians to the south-west with a small detachment while his main army outflanked and defeated the lower quality Reichsarmy. Henry was gambling that the Austrian Corps under Meyer, comfortable behind their entrenchments, would not want to leave their lofty position.

At dawn on 29 October, Prince Henry formed his army on the ground to the west of Lang Hennersdorf, detailing Forcade with the reserve to the north, Kleist to the south to pin Meyer, with Seydlitz and Stutterheim to attack the heights held by the Reichsarmy. As they advanced, the leading elements of the Prussian army skirmished briefly with the Croats in the woods but these troops soon withdrew in the face of formed infantry. Young Stutterheim’s attack however, met stiff resistance from the corps of Campitelli and for a time the attack stalled. Several Prussian cavalry attacks also failed to shift the Austrians and a regiment had to be borrowed from the left wing in order to stabilise this front. While the main Prussian army attacked this position, Seydlitz, finding the ground difficult for his cavalry, took command of the infantry on his wing and attacked Campitelli’s flank. With the pressure mounting, Stolberg began to move his line to the south in order to bolster the defence of a hillock known as the Trois Croix. Henry also recognised the importance of this feature and rushed his grenadiers towards it. The Imperial cavalry charged the Prussians, and although driven off with loss, bought enough time for the Reichsarmy grenadiers to take possession of the hill.

Old Stutterheim, never one to stand idly by, noticed the shift of the Reichsarmy southwards and realised that the defenders to his front had become weakened by this move. He ordered his troops to attack without delay and the Austrian infantry began to crumble. The Prussian Belling Hussars and KR4 charged through the enemy infantry who broke and were cut down by the victorious Prussians. With his allies in retreat and his flanks wide open, Stolberg ordered a general retreat. The Reichsarmy withdrew from their positions followed by the remainder of Campitelli’s troops. As predicted, Mayer’s corps did not leave their positions to help the rest of their army, Meyer later protesting that he had stuck to his orders to hold his position to the last drop of blood. The Prussians lost 1400 men, the Allies lost 7000 men, 9 colours and 28 guns.

The Allies retreated all the way back to Pirna, the Prussians following up cautiously at first and then more boldly. Kleist was detached during the first week in November in order to raid the Austrian magazines in Saxony, which he did, completely destroying them. He then took his footsore soldiers into Franconia under orders from Henry to upset the Imperialists. Naumberg, Wurzberg and Ratisbon were taken and ‘contributions’ were extracted from the ruling Princes. Stolberg pleaded in vain with Hadik to be allowed to return and protect his homeland but unbeknown to him, Hadik had been in secret talks with King Frederick and they reached an agreement which lead to the disbandment of the Reichsarmy.


Freiberg 1762 – A Scenario for Volley & Bayonet.

This battle is fought at the 'Regiment' (1.500) scale. Each map square contains 9 grid squares and therefore represents 1000 x 1000 paces of ground.

The Prussians enter from the north-west and are the attackers.

The Reichsarmy deploy on the heights north of the Freiberg – Klein Schirma road. Campitelli’s troops deploy on the heights south of the Freiberg – Klein Schirma road. Mayer’s division deploys on the Erbisdorf heights. The Austrian advance guard deploy in and around the Spittalwalde. The Imperial cavalry are in reserve to the rear of the heights.

The first turn is at 7am and the last turn is at 7pm for a total of 12 turns. All woods are open. The abattis counts as dense woods for fire and movement only. All buildings are wooden except Freiberg, which is stone and is surrounded by a mediaeval wall. All infantry regiments have battalion guns but only the Austrian infantry has grenadiers. All redoubts are as shown on the map and count as ‘hasty works’ due to being uncompleted.

The eastern edge of the map is formed by the River Mulde, which possesses several bridges and is therefore crossable in the two grid-squares directly to the rear of Freiberg.

 

Victory Conditions

The Prussians must take and hold the two central heights until nightfall. The Allies win by exhausting three of the Prussian Divisions and holding their positions until nightfall.

 

Orders of Battle

The Prussians.

Army Commander, Prinz Henry of Prussia. (AC)

Advance Guard, MG v Kleist (DC), Exhaustion=5

  • FC12a Kleist Frei-Hussars.                   M4 Lt        [s]

  • FC12b Kleist Frei-Uhlans.                    M4 Lt        [s]

  • DR7 Plettenberg.                             M5 Med       [ ]

  • F12a Kleist Jager Btn.                       M5           [s]

  • F12b Kleist Jager Btn.                       M5           [s]

  • F17 Frei-Btn. Heer.                          M4 Sko       [ ]

  • F6 Frei-Btn. Luderitz.                       M4 Sko       [ ]

  • GR3 Billerbeck’s Grenadier Btns.             M6 Sh        [ ] [ ]

  • GR7 Woldeck’s Grenadier Btns.                M6 Sh        [ ] [ ]

Left Wing, MG v Stutterheim (DC), Ex.7

  • IR17 Manteuffel.                             M5           [ ] [ ]

  • IR7 Bevern.                                  M5           [ ] [ ]

  • GR4 Lossow’s Grenadier Btns.                 M6 Sh        [ ] [ ]

  • F1a Le Noble.                                M4           [s]

  • F1b Le Noble.                                M4           [s]

  • F16 Schack.                                  M4 Sko       [ ]

  • A7 Rohr’s Artillery Btn.                     M5 Hvy       [ ] [ ]

  • HR8a Belling.                                M5 Lt        [s]

  • HR8b Belling.                                M5 Lt        [s]

  • KR4 Schmettau.                               M5 Hvy       [ ]

Right Wing, LG v Seydlitz (CC), Ex.8 

  • GR12 Poseck’s Grenadier Btns.                M6 Sh        [ ] [ ]

  • IR26 Linden.                                 M5           [ ] [ ]

  • IR24 Goltz.                                  M5           [ ] [ ]

  • IR30 Alt Stutterheim.                        M5           [ ] [ ]

  • IR20 Jung Stutterheim.                       M5           [ ] [ ]

  • A8 Wentzel’s Artillery Btn.                  M5 Hvy       [ ] [ ]

  • KR1 Schlabrendorff.                          M5 Hvy       [ ]

  • KR5 Margraf Friedrich.                       M5 Hvy       [ ]

  • DR2 Krockow.                                 M5 Med       [ ]

  • DR11 Jung-Platen.                            M5 Med       [ ]


Reserve, LG v Forcade (DC), Ex.5

  • F15 Jeney.                                   M4 Sko      [ ]

  • F2 Collignon.                                M4 Sko      [ ]

  • Ga2 Alt Sydow / IR55 Roebel’s Saxon Btn.     M4          [ ] [ ] [ ]

  • IR44 Grant.                                  M5          [ ] [ ]

  • A11 Reitende Horse Artillery Bty.            M6 Lt       [ ]

  • DR6 Meier.                                   M5 Med      [ ]

  • FC12c Kleist  Frei-Dragoons.                 M5 Lt       [s]

 

The Reichsarmee.

Army Commander, Prinz Stolberg (AC)

Right Wing, LG v Rosenfeld (DC), Ex.6 

  • IR16 Hesse-Darmstadt.                        M5        [ ] [ ]

  • IR8 Varrell.                                 M3 PT     [ ] [ ] [ ]

  • IR1 Mainz.                                   M4 PT     [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

  • IR3 Trier.                                   M3 PT     [ ] [ ]

  • IR10 Salzburg.                               M3 PT     [ ] [ ]

  • A1 Kreis Artillery Btn.                      M4 Lt PT  [ ] [ ]

Left Wing, LG v Furstenberg (DC), Ex.7 

  • GR1 Grenadier Korps                          M5 PT    [ ] [ ]

  • GR2 Grenadier Korps                          M5 PT    [ ] [ ]

  • IR2 KurKoln.                                 M3 PT    [ ] [ ]

  • IR9 KurBayern.                               M4       [ ] [ ]

  • IR7 Ferentheil.                              M3 PT    [ ] [ ] [ ]

  • IR13 Baden-Durlach.                          M3 PT    [ ] [ ]

  • IR4 Pfalz-Essern.                            M5       [ ] [ ]

  • A2 Kreis Artillery Btn.                      M4 Lt PT [ ] [ ]

Imperial Cavalry, LG v Luszinsky (DC), Ex.3

  • DR1 Wurttemberg-Gotha.                      M4 Med PT [ ]

  • DR2 Ansbach.                                M4 Med PT [ ]

  • DR3 Pfalz Lieb.                             M4 Med    [ ]

  • KR1 Hohenzollern.                           M4 Med PT [ ]

  • KR2 Bayreuth.                               M4 Med PT [ ]                           

  • KR3 Pfalz-Zweibrucken.                      M5 Hvy    [ ]                            

  • KR8 Palffy.                                 M5 Hvy    [ ]

  • KR29 Brettlach.                             M5 Hvy    [ ]

Austrian Advance Guard, MG v Kleefeld (DC), Ex.5

  • 60a Liccaner Croats.                        M5 Sko    [ ]

  • 62a Oguliner Croats.                        M5 Sko    [ ]

  • 66 Broder Croats.                           M5 Sko    [ ]

  • 68 Peterwardiner Croats.                    M5 Sko    [ ]

  • 69 Banal Croats.                            M5 Sko    [ ]

  • HR30 Baranyay.                              M5 Lt     [ ]           

  • HR16 Hadik.                                 M5 Lt     [ ]

  • HRii Splenyi.                               M5 Lt     [ ]

  • HRiv Banal Grenz.                           M4 Lt Sko [ ]

Austrian Right Flank, MG Campitelli (DC), Ex.6

  • IR33 Esterhazy.                             M5        [ ] [ ]

  • IR51 Gyulai.                                M5        [ ] [ ]

  • IR28 Wied.                                  M5        [ ] [ ]

  • IR14 Salm-Salm.                             M5        [ ] [ ]

  • IR1 Rot-Wurzburg.                           M5        [ ] [ ]

  • A3 Bornkopp’s Field Bty.                    M6 Fld.   [ ] [ ]

Austrian Left Flank, MG v Mayer (DC), Ex.6 

  • IR43 Platz.                                 M5       [ ] [ ]

  • IR18 Marschall.                             M5       [ ] [ ]

  • IR46 Sincere.                               M5       [ ] [ ]

  • IR40 Jung Colleredo.                        M5       [ ] [ ]

  • IR2 Blau-Wurzburg.                          M5       [ ] [ ]

  • A2 Kinsky’s Field Bty.                      M6 Fld.  [ ] [ ]

 

The Map

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