Hastenbeck - 26th July 1757

This scenario was developed by: Frank Chadwick, John Morgan, Mark Sieber, Mark Welker, Bob Kalinowski & Giorgio Baratto. Despite French military inefficiency at the lower levels, the French minister of war Bellisle was a capable organizer and strategic thinker, and he managed to assemble a large army on the lower Rhine under General d'Estrées and get it moving eastward before the allies were ready. The various contingents of the allied army were still assembling in Hanover and the army's commander, the Duke of Cumberland, had just arrived from England as the French advanced guard troops were overrunning Westphalia. The key fortresses quickly fell, in part because Frederick of Prussia sensed weakness and indecision and withdrew the Prussian garrisons, rather than have them fall into French hands.

Duke of Cumberland

The French moved up the Lippe River, crossed into Hanover, and soon brought the Army of Observation (as the allied troops under Cumberland's command were called) to battle at Hastenbeck, close by the fortified town of Hameln.

The Battlefield

The Hastenbeck battlefield is represented by the six map tiles designated HB-1 through HB-6. When assembled, the contiguous outside edges of tile HB-1 and HB-2 form the northern edge of the battlefield.

The battlefield is bounded to the west by the Wesser River, crossable only at a few points. The Hamel flows into it from the east along the northern edge of the battlefield, and the Haste stream flows north from the area around the town of Hastenbeck into the Hamel. From Hastenbeck north it is extremely marshy, and is crossable by guns only at a single causeway.

There is a string of wooded hills which stretches south from the town of Afferde. The most prominent of these are immediately east of Hastenbeck and Voremberg, and it rises to a wooded peak known as the Obensberg. A prominent spur of high ground bulges out to the west between the towns of Hastenbeck and Voremberg, known as the Schniede Brink. A road runs east from Hastenbeck, crossing the hill, and it is cut into the contours of the hill, forming a sunken road.

The Historic Battle

D'Estrees approached Hastenbeck from the south, the bulk of his army having already crossed over to the east side of the Wesser River. Broglie's corps, however, was on the west bank, and crossed over to the east on the 25th, near the town of Tuendern.

Cumberland was heavily outnumbered, with only 35,000 men and 28 heavy guns versus D'Estrees' 60,000 men and 68 heavy guns. The considerable strength of the position, however, should have gone far to offset this.

Zastrow commanded the right, whose task it was to hold the banks of the Haste stream down to the causeway. Most of the cavalry was concentrated here, as the open ground around Afferde was nearly the only country suitable for its use.

Cumberland commanded the center, which stretched from the causeway to Hastenbeck, and then along the sunken road leading east from the town. The town itself was unoccupied, and was used as a sort of breakwater, with batteries covering the northern exits.

Hardenberg's grenadiers and a heavy battery of guns held the high ground just to the east of Hastenbeck, while Schulenberg's grenadiers and another battery held the Schmiede Brink. (Schulenberg's battery was formed, in part, by stripping the battalion guns from his grenadier battalions. Note that these are the only formed infantry in the game without battalion guns.)

Oberg's reserve was behind the center, with the commands of Briedenboch and Dackhausen east of the hills, covering the deep left flank. 

D'Estrees formed the bulk of the army up in two lines. The first line consisted of Broglie's corps on the left, near Tuendern, Contades in the center, and Armentiers on the right. There was a detached force of infantry on the far right under Chevert . The second line consisted of two divisions of cavalry and the army reserve infantry.

D'Estrees intended to take the Allied line in flank and roll it up. His attack was echeloned from his right, with the various corps going into action one after another, in a manner which would have satisfied

Frederick. Chevert would hit the Obensberg, Armentiers would then attack through Voremberg, Contades would take the Schmiede Brink, and Broglie would take Hastenbeck. Only a few light troops were detailed to screen the part of the Allied line along the Haste stream north of Hastenbeck.

Despite the disorder caused by the steep slopes and woods, Chevert's leading brigades scaled the Obensberg and, after a sharp fight, drove off the jaegers guarding the position. They managed to manhandle their battalion guns into position and began firing on the Allied grenadier of the left from behind. These grenadiers turned about and charged up the Obensberg, driving back the French, but this left the battery they were intended to support undefended, and Armentiers soon overran them. More infantry was fed into the fight around Voremberg, the Schmiede Brink, and the Oberg from the French reserves, and again the French pushed forward.

Cumberland at this point ordered his army to withdraw, having apparently lost the fight on his left. In fact, elements of the grenadiers and Oberg's reserve were again counterattacking and winning the fight on the Obensberg, but Broglie's grenadiers had by now taken Hastenbeck and were trying to push past it, and Cumberland continued the withdrawal. Losses had been light, due to the small number of units actually involved in combat. Cumberland lost about 1300 men from all causes, the French twice that.

Most of the allied army had not been committed, and none of the troops particularly felt beaten, or understood why they were withdrawing. But the truth is that to win a battle it isn't necessary to beat the opposing troops -- only the opposing commander, and that the French had done.

Gaming the Battle of Hastenbeck

The following notes should make it possible to recreate the battle on the gaming table.

Command: Ferdinand and Clermont are army commanders of their respective armies. All other commanders are corps or division commanders, as indicated by the level of unit they command.

Terrain: The battlefield terrain is treated as follows. 

The Wessel: The Wessel is uncrossable except at the two marked fords.

The Streams: All streams are marshy-banked. Buildings: All towns are stone. All village blocks are wood. Forest: All woods are forests.

Sunken Road: The sunken road extending east from Hastenbeck follows the normal rules for a sunken road.

Game Length: The game begins with the 0700 turn and ends with the conclusion of the 2000 PM turn (a total of 14 turns), or earlier by mutual agreement. The French move first.

Victory: To win, the French must capture the town of Afferde, thus cutting the Allied line of communication and forcing a withdrawal north toward Hanover. Failing this, the Allies win.

Deployment: The Army of Observation deploys first, anywhere in map tiles HB-2 and HB-3, and may also deploy in the easternmost 12 inches of map tiles HB-1 and HB-3. All artillery and formed infantry may set up stationary. The Army of Observation also receives three hasty works, each 1.5 inches wide, an places one with each artillery stand.

The French deploy second, anywhere in map tiles HB-5 and HB-6, and anywhere in the westernmost 18 inches of map tile HB-3.

Orders of Battle

•   Han. Heavy Cav Bde 1 [Alt-Dachenhausen] (M5, Hv Cav) [ ][ ][ ] Han DR 5, 6, 7; Han CR 1B, 2B, Grenadiers zu Pferd, Garde du Corps
• Hessian Heavy Cavalry Brigade [Ginsiebel] (M5, Heavy Cav) [ ][ ][ ] Hes CR 1, 2, 3, 4; Hes DR 1; Han CR 4A, 4B

Note on the French Order of Battle:

No detailed order of battle for the French was found by the author, and a number of sources claim that no such recorded OOB exists in the French archives. (I don't know that to be the case, but it certainly seems to be so, given the number of people who have tried to locate it and have failed,) Two main reconstructions of the French OOB have been attempted, to the best knowledge of the author: one by Ingo Beringer in the Seven Years War Association Journal and the other by Jeab-Louis Vial, editor of the on-line Seven Years War Magazine, Nec Pluribus Impar. Both were useful, although I have relied most heavily on that of M. Vial, for several reasons, principally because it is more complete with respect to cavalry, and it provides a closer fit to other information concerning the French grenadiers at the battle. However, M. Vial provides only a list of regiments present (based, I believe, upon recorded battle honors), not brigade groupings, and so these brigade and division groupings have been approximated, based largely on the groupings of these regiments into brigades in later battles.

Therefore, the French order of battle given above is an approximation. Most of the infantry brigades of the center and right are known, due to references to them in the battle description contained in the German General Staff history. That the bulk of the grenadiers were under Broglie on the left is also known, as they took Hastenbeck. Those brigades of the reserve actually committed to combat, are also known from the battle accounts, but these have been added to the front-line commands which they joined during or immediately before the battle. The assignment of cavalry brigades to the two divisions of cavalry is entirely speculative. 

Two French infantry brigades deserve special note: Brigade Imperiale and Brigade Orleans, both of which are mentioned in passing in one or more accounts of the battle.

There is no "Imperiale" regiment in the French army, and brigades are named for their senior regiments. There are several passing references to this brigade being Austrian in contemporary battle accounts, and Beringer identifies them as French IR 119 Vierzet and 120 Horion, which were both recruited from the Waloon population of the Austrian Netherlands near Liege in 1757, not many months before the battle took place. At the end of the war, Horion was disbanded but Vierzet was transferred to the Austrian service. This is a very plausible explanation, and may very well be correct.

However, Vial does not include either of those regiments as present at the battle, and I am inclined to think that the regiments of "Brigade Imperiale" are actual Austrian regular regiments, stationed in the Austrian Netherlands in peacetime and added to the French Army of the Lower Rhine when hostilities broke out. (The German General Staff history places two Austrian regiments with the French Army of the Lower Rhine during the campaign, but does not specifically place them at Hastenbeck.) There are only two Austrian infantry regiments with a peacetime station of the Netherlands and which were not part of any of the Austrian armies operating in Bohemia in 1756-57: IR 30 Sachsen-Gotha and 38 Ligne, and so I place these two regiments at the battle as Brigade Imperiale".

As to Brigade Orleans, there is indeed an Orleans infantry regiment in the French army, but Vial does not place it at the battle. Vial does place the Orleans Dragoon regiment there (along with four other regiments), and other sources mention four regiments of dismounted dragoons which fought as part of the center/right (which is where the German General Staff history places Brigade Orleans). My conclusion is that Brigade Orleans is actually part or all of the force of dismounted dragoons.

The Battlefield Map

The following map uses six terrain boards, each 3' x 3'. This gives a total table size of 6' x 9' with one inch = 100 yards.

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