| Hohenlinden - 3rd December 1800
This scenario has been developed by Bill
Haggart. Background There had been an armistice since July as a result of
Napoleon's victory at Marengo and Moreau's successful campaign on the Rhine. The
Austrians, with millions of British pounds as incentive, decided to continue the
war. A massive effort had been made to field a new army. The leadership
was given to eighteen year old Erzherhog Johann as his older brother Karl
pleaded illness rather than become involved in what he saw as a foolish gamble.
FZM Franz Lauer was chosen to be the young Johann's advisor. The Kaiser told
Johann that his responsibilities would be 'easy' because all military
considerations would be controlled by Lauer. As James Arnold notes, "By any
assessment, internal bickering had produced a ridiculous command structure and
caused Austria to fumble the opportunity to develop a coherent strategy during
the summer's truce." The armistice officially ended November 27, 1800. Both Moreau's Army of the Rhine and Johann's
forces advanced on the strategic crossroads city of Hohenlinden. The first
test of the Austrian army was an encounter battle at Ampfing with two French
divisions commanded by Ney. The fight was intense, with the French finally
forced to withdraw. The seeming victory encouraged the Erzherhog to surge
ahead, searching for a final victory over the apparently demoralized French by
seizing Hohenlinden. Moreau and his army were far from demoralized. They waited expectantly for the Austrians at Hohenlinden. Austrian Chief of Staff Weyrother devised a four column encirclement of the French. He would be the same man to devise the Allies' ill-fated plan at Austerlitz. Marching down poor roads in unpredictable weather, the Austrians columns had found it difficult to coordinate their columns converging on the French. Moreau had planed a turning movement on his right flank with 20,000 troops under Deaen and Richepance. They would find it equally difficult to maneuver on the morning of December 3rd. Orders of Battle French Army of the Rhine, General Moreau AC and CC
(41,990 infantry, 11,805 Cavalry, 99 guns) [20 infantry stands, 10 cavalry, 13 artillery(9 1sp), and 9 command stands]
1st Division, Gen. Legrand DC, Ex=9 (7,930 men, 12 guns)
2nd Division, Gen. Ney DC, Ex=12 (9,630 men, 14 guns)
3rd Division, Gen. Bastoul DC, Ex=8 (6,315 men, 16 guns)
Corps Moreau CC Corps Troops:
1st Division, Gen. Gouchy DC, Ex=10 (8,615 men, 12 guns)
2nd Division, Gen. Richepance DC, Ex=13 (10, 735 men, 14 guns)
3rd Division, Gen. Decaen DC, Ex=12 (10,161 men, 12 guns)
Cavalry Division, Gen. d'Hautpoul DC, Ex=3 (1,738 men, 6 guns)
French Army notes: The army OOBs are from James Arnold's book, Marengo and Hohenlinden.
Moreau's Army of the Rhine had been well supplied, with the best equipment and recruits. It had a winning reputation and fine leaders. This is represented by the 60% exhaustion levels, also includes artillery. It is indicative of the era that Ney brigaded his grenadiers while the Other DCs did not. It can be considered either a mass stand or linear, whichever the players want. We play it as a mass stand. The real problem was the artillery. It was divvied up among the divisions in batteries, most divisions having one Battery of foot and one of horse. As the artillery was very active during the battle, it was represented as batteries if it meant that horse and foot would be combined otherwise. Players are welcome to combine them if they don't want small little batteries all over the table. The cavalry brigades are mostly medium or light cavalry combined with small heavy cavalry regiments. It seemed reasonable to rate the brigades as medium with such a combination. The initial setup for 7 am is as shown on the map and may start stationary. Units are in scale. Bastoul's division can come on the first turn within 6" of the blue "B" and d'Hautpoul within 6" of the red "5". They may be in any formationThey may also be off map until the French player wants to bring them on. During the battle Bastoul moved up almost immediately between Ney and Legrand, while d"Hautpoul's division was held in reserve. There are two skirmish infantry units in Isen, one from the 53rd and 89th DB's in Bastoul's division. There are two cavalry skirmish units both from Bastoul's cavalry brigade, one behind Isen and one behind Burgrain as noted. They are all considered to be in command the first turn. Corps Troops:
Division Schwartz., FML Schwartzenberg DC, Ex= 12 Brigade GM Frenei
Brigade GM Candiani
Brigade GM Gavassini
Division Ferdinand, Erzherzog Ferdinand DC, Ex= 6
2nd Column, FZM Baillet CC, (8,346 infantry, 2,520 Cavalry, 56 guns) Corps Troops:
Division Homburg, FML Hessen-Homburg DC, Ex= 5
Brigade GM O'Donei
Division Hohenlohe, FML Hohenlohe DC, Ex=4
3rd Column, FML Kollowrat CC (and DC), (14,987 infantry, 5,109 Cavalry, 58 guns) Corps Troops:
Cavalry Division Liechtenstein, FML Liechtenstein DC, Ex=5 Brigade GM Wolfskehl
Brigade GM Grunne
Division Beyer, GM Beyer DC, Ex=5
4th Column, FZM Riesch CC, (10,186 infntry, 3,132 cavalry 72 guns) Corps Troops:
Division Merveldt, FML Mervelt DC, Ex=5 Brigade GM Klein
Brigade GMGorger
Division Gyulai, FML Gyulai DC, Ex= 4 Brigade GM Leuwen
Bavarian Column, FML Weibrucken DC, Ex=6 (7,017 infantry, 828 cavalry, 26 guns)
Austrian Army Notes: The Austrian army facing Moreau was a collection of previously defeated regiments and green recruits. Even so, the Hapsburg soldiers gave a credible performance in spite of the poor planning and leadership. The Grenadiers are not given shock because of their performance during the battle and the 'hogpog' nature of the army. The general morale level of the army is represented by the lower exhaustion level of most columns: 45%. Some are lower because of the commanders, while better divisional commanders like Schwartzenberg raised it to 50%. The Bavarians are given an even lower rating of 30%. They didn't want to be there. While they fought well enough, they didn't stay long. In the end, they were the only defense for the entire Austrian Army facing Richepance's flank attack. While Arnold does not state that the Austrians had battalion guns, he does mention "brigade guns" in addition to the column Reserve artillery he details. Giving each infantry regiment six guns (two per battalion) accounts exactly for the number of artillerymen reported with the Austrians. (@20 per gun, which is the same number of men per gun for the French) All rules for battalion guns apply. Kollowrat's column starts in road column strung out on the main road from the north board edge at "Kw" to the small "K" at the edge of the woods. The two units that constituted the advanced guard may set up within 3" of the small "k" in combat formation: The Benjowsky IR of Beyer's Division and the Ferdinand Hussars of Liechtenstein's Division. All command rules are in force. Any units that cannot be placed on the road will be brought on in road formation in later turns. This can be
Done in any order, unless players want to follow the historical order of march provided by Arnold on page 229. The Bavarian Division is considered part of the Kollowrat's column. Game Length: The game starts at 7am and ends at 4pm for a total of ten
turns. The Austrians move first. The difficult part of this scenario was the vast area the battle was fought over. The full area would require a 12 foot by 9.5 foot table. As others like our group fight with and
modified 2/3s scale, I have provided the full map in two parts, the 12 X 6.5 table and the other three feet of supplemental map to the north is provided separately for those who want it. (for 2/3 scale that we play, this is a 9 X 6 foot table.) The problem is that Richepance fought his battle off the north edge of the table north of "Kw." We cut off the main map before that point because we never found that we fought that far north, if only because of the more perfect knowledge that players have. A real simulation would require a lot of hidden movement because of the weather and dense forest. The maps are available for download in .bmp format. The files have been compressed using Winzip. Scenario Rules: Now comes the fun part. The weather was very unstable East of Hohenlinden on the day of the battle. Snow, sleet, icy fog, and then finally sunshine appeared repeatedly. The forest, mucky trails and weather all combined to slow and confuse both the Austrian columns and Decaen and Richepance. To simulate some of the choices both commanders had as well and the uncertain arrival times of reinforcements, we devised the following system. It requires at least 16 3X5 cards or at as many chips of 8 each of two colors in a cup. Half the cards have "Delayed" written on them, the other half is blank. Austrian Entry: 7 am: Keinmayer's Column comes on at "K" in road column French Entry: The French commander may decide where Decaen and Richepance's division come on the board. Each division may come on any of the trails marked #1 through #5. Because of both divisions' location the evening before, they will not reach each road at the same time. Here are the entry times for each trail if chosen for each entry point identified with a red number. Divisions enter in road column, one behind the other if both entering by the same road. These are based primarily on the march estimates Richepance gave Moreau the evening before the battle. If using the supplemental map, the French entries remain unchanged. However, the Austrian entries for Balliet and Reisch are changed. Both enter the north edge of the table at 7 am at the "B" and "R" trails indicated. One card or chip draw is added to Reisch. Each army receives one point for each exhausted division and two points for each division that collapses. In addition, because of the strategic significance of Hohenlinden and the fact it was an Austrian objective, the city and the major road provide the terrain victory points in the Scenario: Even outnumbering the French by 6,000 men and over 100 guns does not make it easy for the Austrian to win. Their best bet is to capture at least a part of Hohenlinden to win. In a stand-up fight the Austrian divisions will suffer exhaustion before the French. Politically and strategically, the capture of any important objective like Hohenlinden would dramatically improve the abysmal position of the Hapsburgs when they went to negotiate with Napoleon. That they didn't win provided peace and new territories for Napoleon, securing his position as First Counsel for life. |