Lutzen - 2nd May 1813

This scenario and OOB was developed by Jim Nevling.

The French Army Order of Battle

French Army Napoleon I, Emperor of the French (AC, Monarch)

Imperial Guard Infantry, Marechal Mortier (CC)

Artillery, General de Brigade Dulaloy (DC)

Old Guard Division, General de Division Roguet (DC), Exhaustion 3

Young Guard Division General de Division Dumoustier (DC) Exhaustion 11

Guard Cavalry, General de Division Walther (DC), Exhaustion 5

III Corps, Marechal Ney (CC)

Corps Troops:

III Corps Reserve Artillery

Corps Cavalry, No Divisional commander, Exhaustion 3

8th Division, General de Division Souham (DC), Exhaustion 11

9th Division, General de Division Brenier (DC), Exhaustion 9

10th Division, General de Division Girard (DC), Exhaustion 7

11th Division, General de Division Ricard (DC), Exhaustion 8

39th (Baden/Hessian) Division, General Marchand (DC), Exhaustion 6

IV Corps, General de Division Bertrand (CC)

Corps Troops:

12th Division, General de Division Morand (DC), Exhaustion 10

15th Division (Italian), General de Division Peyri (DC), Exhaustion 7

38th Division (Wurttemburg), General Franquemont (DC), Exhaustion 4

VIth Corps, Marechal Marmont (CC)

Corps Troops:

20th Division, General de Division Compans (DC), Exhaustion 9

21st Division, General de Division Bonnet (DC), Exhaustion 8

22nd Division, General de Division Friederichs (DC), Exhaustion 7

XI Corps, Marechal MacDonald (CC)

Corps Troops:

31st Division, General de Division Fressinet (DC), Exhaustion 3

35th Division, General de Division Gerard (DC), Exhaustion 8

36th Division, General de Division Charpentier (DC), Exhaustion 6

I Cavalry Corps, General de Division Latour-Maubourg (CC), Exhaustion 4

French Notes:

1. Artillery has generally been rated morale 5 for divisional battalions, morale 6 for corps reserve. This is to reflect that many men and horses and much equipment was lost in Russia. Many of these units are therefore former garrison and reserve units.

2. High Number line regiments (136 and up) are former National Guard regiments.

3. Marine Artillery regiments are made up of naval veterans. While they apparently fought well, everyone acknowledges that they definitely did not know how to maneuver. I do not know if they had effective elite companies, and have given them the benefit of the doubt.

4. One wing of the Young Guard is the Fusilier Chasseurs and Grenadiers. These units are substantially superior to the rest of the recently raised Young Guard regiments, thus getting the shock designation.

5. Provisional Line Brigades are about as bad as possible - recent draftees, few NCOs and officers, no elite companies, battalions of separate regiments lumped together.

6. Italian regiments are long service troops with no combat experience. In addition, these units had problems with desertion. This seemed indicative of low morale.

7. I have used 50% exhaustion with few exceptions, since even the new recruits fought hard if unskillfully.

8. XI Corps Provisional Brigades get credit for grenadiers, since these units have been in existence a month or two longer than the other provisional brigades.

9. Bessieres, the commander of the Guard Cavalry, was killed the day prior to the battle while leading the advanced guard. I would allow Mortier to command all of the guard, or at least the artillery as well. Depends how flexible you think the French were (most folks seem to think they were pretty good!)

10. There are two options for representing the Young Guard, either as listed in the OOB or using three 6 SP brigades (an option to have mercy on the painting fingers of the French). If this second option is used then the entire first brigade would be rated as shock. If you go with 6 small brigades only one of them (there are really only 2 big battalions of the Fusilier Chasseurs and Grenadiers), should be rated shock.

French Deployment Notes:

French Reinforcements:

  1. Marechal Ney, 1:00 on the road from Lutzen
  2. Napoleon with the Guard Cavalry, 2:00 on the road from Lutzen
  3. IV Corps, 3:00 at Pobles, deployed on a one division front west of the stream.
  4. Guard Infantry and Artillery, 4:00 on the road from Lutzen
  5. XI Corps, 4:00 at Meyhen, deployed on a divisional frontage.
  6. I Cavalry Corps, 5:00 at Meyhen

 

The Allied Army Order of Battle

Allied Army General of Cavalry Wittgenstein (AC)

Advanced Guard, Generalmajor Karpov (DC), Exhaustion 2

1st Line, General of Cavalry Blucher (CC)

Upper Silesian Brigade, Generalmajor Ziethen (DC), Exhaustion 6

Lower Silesian Brigade, Oberst von Klux (DC), Exhaustion 6

Brandenburg Brigade, Generalmajor von Roder (DC), Exhaustion 8

2nd Line, Generallieutenant von Yorck (CC)

Right Wing, Generalmajor Berg (DC), Exhaustion 5

Left Wing, Generalmajor von Hunerbein (DC), Exhaustion 8

Reserve of the Right Wing, Generalmajor Kasatschkosky (DC), Exhaustion 4

Reserve of the Left Wing, Oberstleutnent von Steinmetz (DC), Exhaustion 3

Reserve Corps, Generallieutenant Baron von Winzingerode (CC)

Prussian Reserve Cavalry, Oberst von Dolffs (DC), Exhaustion 4

Russian Cavalry Reserve, Generalmajor Count Trubetski (DC), Exhaustion 3

2nd Corps, Generallieutenant Prinz Eugene von Wurttemburg (CC)

Corps Troops:

3rd Division, Generalmajor Schachafski (DC), Exhaustion 3

4th Division, Generalmajor St Priest (DC), Exhaustion 3

Reserve Army General of Cavalry Tormassov (AC)

First Line, Generallieutenant Konovnizin (CC)

Guard Light Cavalry, Generalmajor Schaevitch (DC), Exhaustion 2

1st Grenadier, Generalmajor Sulima (DC), Exhaustion 2

2nd Grenadier, Generalmajor Zwieleneff (DC), Exhaustion 4

Artillery Reserve, Generalmajor Euler (DC)

2nd Line, Generallieutenant Gallizin V (CC)

1st Guards, Generalmajor Baron Rosen (DC), Exhaustion 3

2nd Guards, Generalmajor Udom II (DC), Exhaustion 3

1st Cuirassier, Generalmajor Depreradovich (DC), Exhaustion 3

2nd Cuirassier, Generalmajor Duca (DC), Exhaustion 2

Allied Deployment Notes:

At commencement of hostilities (~11 AM)

Note that the Allies are seriously stacked up initially. They are deployed, however, not entering in march column. They had spent most of the morning arranging the attack carefully. The French remained blissfully ignorant of their presence until artillery fire made that presence obvious. So the Allied player should arrange his units in the formation in which they will enter the table. It is allowable for some units to enter in march column if their commander so desires. Units can begin stationary, artillery limbered or deployed as desired.

Allied Notes:

  1. All 1SP cossacks are based as skirmish only stands.

Scenario Times

Victory Conditions

Both sides are endeavoring to inflict losses on the other. Secondarily, a victory by either side will have significant propaganda value, so possession of the battlefield is also important.

As a first shot at victory conditions, try this:

The side which will, in the referee's opinion, clearly hold the field wins. If there is no clear winner, tally the losses of the two sides:

If the FRENCH are ahead they win. If the ALLIES have a 3:2 advantage or greater they win. (The French have uncommitted reserves in the theatre, the Allies do not). Any other result is a draw.

Map

From the West edge of the map to the East edge is just a touch over 10 feet. From the north edge (no line drawn but pretty obvious) to the south edge (the heavy line through Werben and the Monarchenhugel) is 6 feet. Town blocks and villages are shown pretty to close to scale.

The Flossgraben runs down the centre of the map, it is a stream and can be forded anywhere. On the left is the Rippach stream which is also fordable except in the extreme south which is marshy banked. Woods are considered to be "dense".

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