OOC : Being separated from Hungary is like a blessing for them...they never liked the Magyars.
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If the Slovak's want to stay with Hungary they can or they can form a union on which both sides have equal power even if extreme form their own nation and maintain good ties with each other.
OOC:Can we usurp titles?
OOC:Can we usurp titles?
There is no need for a union. They are now, because of the establishment of the title of King of Slovakia, equal to not only the Hungarians but all other parts of the Empire as well. I am still offering amnesty to you and the rest of those that have rebelled. Blood need not be shed.
Francis I, Emperor of Austria
OOC: I do seem to recall myself saying that plebiscites and referendums would result in a coup...
OOC:Can I delete the post then?
Edit OOC:Never mind already deleted it but realistically the Slovaks would of sided with Hungary at this time since Pan-Slavic movements were starting to emerge and Hungary would of supported that at the time.
Edit OOC:Never mind already deleted it but realistically the Slovaks would of sided with Hungary at this time since Pan-Slavic movements were starting to emerge and Hungary would of supported that at the time.
OOC : Deleting IC posts? Is that even allowed? Because you know, since you already said something IC...it already happened.
OOC:Guess I have to cancel that referendum.
Edit IC:The referendum shall be cancelled due to the fact is their not willing to cede from the Austrian's.
Edit IC:The referendum shall be cancelled due to the fact is their not willing to cede from the Austrian's.
I still need orders from the following:
Ottoman Empire - Hyo
Kingdom of Saxony - shock3r
Loyalist Spain - Hygge
Ottoman Empire - Hyo
Kingdom of Saxony - shock3r
Loyalist Spain - Hygge
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Apologies to those concerned, but I've had to alter a couple stats. I actually forgot Japan's and China's trade balance changed, and also did Naples' income wrong. This has now been fixed. Sorry guys.
War of the Third Coalition - German Campaign 1807
With Austria defeated in the previous year and Napoleon's forces as of yet unbeaten in the field, the situation for the coalition was certainly looking worse than it had in the early days of the war. The French, although they had taken losses, could now afford to bring several hundred thousand more men to bare against the Prussians, and although blows had been struck at Munich and Hanover, neither of them was particularly devastating for the French. Because of this, the Coalition settled on a defensive strategy, with their forces ordered to fall back to Prussia and Hanover, and there attempt to hold off French attacks. The French meanwhile decided on an aggressive strategy, with Napoleon, supported by Massena attempting to chase down the Russian forces in Munich, whilst Bessieres, having received reinforcements, would push into Hanover and retake the area.
The Russian force under Kutusov was the first to move, beginning their preparations as soon as the weather allowed. Breaking camp, they set about razing Munich to the ground, in order to both deny the city to Napoleon and his allies, and to spread fear amongst his German allies. With no protection other than that of its citizens, Munich suffered terribly at the Russian hands. Soldiers marauded throughout the streets, looting shops of their goods before setting them aflame and raping whatever women they could find. Even the churches and cathedrals of Munich were not spared, their riches plundered by a Battalion of Russian grenadiers who raped the nuns and butchered the priests on the steps, before setting the whole building alight. The people of Munich did not all cower in fear however, and in some parts of the city, militia formations gathered to resist. Armed with whatever they could find, they put up a desperate fight against the Russian troops, but had no hope of holding against them. Soon, the fires lit by the Russians began to spread fuelled by high winds, and by nightfall nearly the entire city was ablaze, her people either fleeing with whatever belongings they could carry or lying dead in her streets.
1. Members of the Freikorps rest under some trees.
The fires did not extinguish themselves totally for several days, and by the time the ruins had cooled enough for people to return, the city was no more than a ruin. Isolated buildings around the outskirts had survived, but in many places, the fires had been so hot that they had jumped long distances between buildings. The event became popularly known as The Rape of Munich, and did much damage to the Bavarian King's image and popularity, as he had not even been in the city when it was sacked, instead having taken the army to fight with the French. However, the main focus of the people's rage was on the Russians, and soon this anger spread outside Bavaria to other German states. As the stories of the Russian atrocities spread across Germany, thousands of leftist Germans flocked to Bavaria, intent on joining the King and protecting Germany and the ideas of Liberalism against the horror from the steppes. Due to their motley assortment of clothing, they decided to dye their uniforms black, as this was the only colour which would cover all others. [-4 Stability from Bavaria, +50,000 Conscripts to Bavaria, +300 Gold to Russia, -400 Gold from Bavaria]
Angered as they were, the local populace were certainly not going to give the Russians an easy retreat from their territory, and the Russian baggage train was under constant harassment from both militia and regular Bavarian troops. After drawing away troops using diversionary tactics, the Bavarians would then make their real attack, driving off the few defenders left behind and then either smashing the wagon's wheels, tipping them off the road or setting them alight with whatever was at hand. The attacks considerably slowed the Russian retreat, causing Kutusov some considerable alarm as to the possibility of French forces catching his rear. His fears were unfounded however, and his force managed to reach Prussian territory without being engaged. [-500 Conscripts from Bavaria, -500 Regulars from Russia]
Meanwhile, the Russian force under Bagration had also been retreating North, towards Posen. Unimpeded in their movement, they reached Prussian territory by early March and prepared to combat any rising by the Poles. By mid March, Napoleon had finished resupplying near the shattered ruins of Munich, and with the arrival of Massena's force in early April was ready to move against the Prussians. Bessieres had also been preparing, having mustered a force of 120,000 French and 40,000 Batavian troops to engage the Prussian army, now reinforced with 90,000 British, Danish and Swedish troops, but having been stripped of all but 90,000 Prussians, which was laying siege to Hanover.
2. Positions at the beginning of the Battle of Lauenau.
Both French forces moved on April 15th, with Bessieres being the first to engage the enemy when he met Blucher's force outside Hanover. Having left 5,000 men to man his siege lines against the now severely depleted French garrison, he took the rest of his men and engaged Bessieres around the village of Lauenau, which sat on the main line of the French advance to Hanover. Blucher had the edge in numbers, his force outnumbering Bessieres' by 15,000, but his multinational army, suffered from communications difficulties, and differing practices between the troops made combined manoeuvres hard to accomplish.
3. Positions at 9:00
Ever the aggressive leader, Blucher began the battle at 8:45 with an attack all along the line. Leaving a 50,000 strong force in reserve under the Swedish Prince Vasa, he rode forward to personally lead the attack. First to make contact with the enemy were the 60,000 Prussians at the North of Blucher's line. Resplendent in their uniforms, they marched in tight ranks towards the French, executing their movements as if the battlefield was a parade ground. Nearing the French line, they were soon rudely awakened as first the French artillery, then shots from skirmishers deployed in front of the French lines began to disorder their ranks. The Prussians would not be stopped however, and where a man fell, those behind him took his place in the immaculate ranks. Soon the French left was under pressure, de Moncey's Corps being outnumbered nearly 2 to 1 by the Prussian attackers, who pressed home their attack with great zeal.
Elsewhere to the South, the combined force of 70,000 British, Danish and Swedish troops impacted upon the roughly equal sized Franco-Batavian force. Progress varied between the various coalition forces, with the British at the extreme left of the line making the best progress against the Batavian forces. Led by the 95th Rifles, who picked off Batavian officers and skirmishers with great precision, the British advanced cautiously, causing serious problems for the Batavian troops, many of whom were not yet awake. The Swedes also made good progress against their foes, but further up the line, the small Danish force struggled against their French opponents. Advancing over the open fields towards the enemy, they came up against several Battalions of Voltiguers who expertly eliminated a large number of Danish officers, reducing the attacks cohesion and causing panic among the men. Stalled in front the French line, the Danish were then subjected to a counterattack as French Dragoons charged full pelt into their centre. With their officers dead, the Danish had trouble forming infantry squares, and many men simply ran rather than face the charging Frenchmen, who shattered the Danish centre and then turned, driving the Danes southward.
4. Positions at 11:30.
The time was now 11:00 and a gap had begun to open in the coalition's lines, and Bessieres moved to exploit this by ordering forward Kellerman's Corps. Advancing swiftly, they joined up with Augereau's men and punched through the gap, turning to flank the Prussian attack. Heavily engaged as they were, the Prussians had little ability to counter this new threat, and their left flank swiftly began to buckle as the French troops to their front, badly bloodied, took heart and began to push forwards. Blucher, himself in the thick of the action, ordered a runner to find Prince of Vasa and tell him to bring the reserves to plug the gap and continue the attack. The situation was dire, the Prussian forces were already beginning to give ground in front of the French attack, although they still held a good deal of cohesion. The killer blow for the Prussian attack came at 12:00, when Kellerman himself led a charge of the French Cuirassiers into the Prussian forces. Swooping round their flank, he brought his men down along the Prussian line, back towards his own troops, slamming into them and carrying on through several formations. The Prussians on the left now began to flee in disorder, forcing those on the right, which Blucher had personal command of, to do the same or be trapped against the thick woods to their North.
His horse shot out from under him, Blucher ranted furiously about Prince of Vasa, questioning why he had not yet brought the reserves to shore up the line. The truth, was that the courier sent by Blucher had reached the Prince by 11:30, but the message had been taken by a member of the Prince's staff, who only passed it to him an hour after it had arrived. Enraged at this waste of time, the Prince, young and keen for glory, ordered forward the reserve immediately, but by now it was too late to stop the failure of the line. Split in 2, the coalition forces had lost all momentum and were now on the defensive.
In the North, Blucher, bleeding from several wounds and on his 17th horse of the day, gathered the remaining Prussian attackers and joined them to his reserve, forming a makeshift line at the village of Lauenau alongside the 20,000 Swedish troops of the Prince of Vasa. In the South the coalition met with renewed resistance, the Batavian forces stiffening against the enemy advance and in some places even counterattacking. Wellesley, assessing that the battle was now to save as many men as possible, rode personally to meet the Swedish commander, von Essen, to whom he suggested a withdrawal to the South. Von Essen initially seemed unsure if such an action was wise, afraid of being named a coward, but when a French cannonball smashed through the barn he was using as a HQ and took the legs off a young bugler he agreed to Wellesley's proposal.
5. Positions at 16:00.
Seeing the Southern half of the enemy force retreat, Bessieres dispatched his Batavian forces to pursue them whilst committing his personal reserves to break the hastily assembled Prussian line. Blucher, as he had been throughout the battle, was on the frontline of the action. Fighting was thick, and charge after charge crashed against the Prussian lines. With many Prussian troops tired and running low on ammo, having been engaged nearly all day, they struggled to hold back the French, most of whom had hardly been engaged. At 16:00, the village of Lauenau, centre of Blucher's line and pivot between the Prussian and Swedish forces, fell, French grenadiers forcing out the Prussian defenders with their bayonets. The French were quick to push fresh reserves in to exploit this, and Blucher had very few men left to stop this new attack. By 17:00, the French had completely shattered the coalition line, and had thrown them back in disarray. Blucher now made the same choice as Wellesley, ordering his men to disengage and retreat, saving as many as possible. Tired, outnumbered and lacking cohesion, the soldiers retreated in a shambles, many being cut down by the French as they ran.
The battle had been an inglorious defeat for the coalition, and although Wellesley and Blucher had saved a large part of the army, they had taken heavy losses. Blucher, having gathered the 5,000 men who had been sieging Hanover, retreated North East towards Swedish Pommerania, hoping to regroup there. Hanover was retaken by Bessieres the next day, although its garrison was nearly non existant, only 500 of the original 10,000 men having survived the long siege. To the South, Wellesley broke his retreat to turn and engage the Batavian forces, smashing them decisively near Hildesheim and then moving North, hoping to reach the sea or Denmark in order to save his depleted and fatigued force. Although many men fell along the wayside, the force finally made it to Denmark, where they were greeted by the local populace, who gave them bread and beer. [-17,500 Regulars from Prussia, -5,000 Regulars from Denmark, -7,500 Regulars from Sweden, -6,000 Regulars from the United Kingdom, -7,000 Regulars from France, -7,500 Conscripts from France]
Meanwhile to the South, Napoleon, now in command of a combined Franco-German-Italian force numbering 341,500 men was marching North to engage the 252,000 strong coalition force guarding Berlin. The coalition commander, the Prince of Hohenlohe, was sure in his ability to beat the French. Although severely outnumbered, he was confident that Prussian troops could easily beat the French, they had done so in the times of Frederick the Great and would do so again. Napoleon was also confident, not only did he hold a large advantage in numbers over the coalition, but nearly all of his troops were of a higher quality than theirs.
Advancing North, Napoleon met the Coalition forces near the town of Jena, where they blocked his advance towards Berlin. The clash would be known as the battle of Jena-Hermsdorf, due to the fact that while still part of the same battle, there were 2 distinct clashes that took place during the day. The main battle, which took place around Hermsdorf, involved the majority of the forces, and was fought across the main French line of advance to Berlin. The battle of Jena was fought in an area over 10km to the West of Hermsdorf, and was the seen of an attempted flanking attack by Napoleon which met considerable resistance from Russian forces.
6. Positions at the start of the Battle of Jena-Hermsdorf.
The coalition adopted a defensive stance, with Hohenlohe ordering 4 corps forward to form a line of battle in front of the village of Hermsdorf, with Kamensky leading a corps to secure the western approach to the town. Meanwhile, the corps of Bennigsen was ordered to move along a path through the forest and take up positions in front of the town of Jena, to prevent any attempted flanking attack by the French forces. Napoleon deployed his force in 2 parts. The main body of his force, led by himself, deployed on the Eastern side of the battlefield, facing Hermsdorf and the bulk of the coalition forces. Meanwhile, Massena was to lead a flanking attack, consisting of his own Corps of Frenchmen, as well as the 20,000 strong Italian Corps and the 50,000 force made up of troops from the Freikorps and his other German allies in an effort to outflank the main coalition battleline.
7. Positions at 9:30.
The battle began at 9:00, with Napoleon ordering forward 5 corps of French troops to attack the coalition line. The assault was balanced towards the East, and therefore concentrated against the Prussian part of the coalition line. The attack made good progress, the outnumbered coalition forces being pushed hard by the bold French attacks. On the right of the line, the Russian corps under Tolstoy came under particularly heavy attack, with the other under Grand Duke Constantine being lightly engaged at most. Tolstoy's gunners fired frantically into the advancing mass of French troops, but were subjected to deadly counter battery fire by the French gunners. French losses were high in this part of the battlefield, but the Russians could not stop their advance, and Tolstoy was forced to order the retreat. Over on the coalition left, the Prussians were faring considerably worse, outnumbered by their opponents, they found themselves being totally outmanoeuvred by the French foe, who steadily pushed them west, back towards the village. Meanwhile, on the western half of the battlefield, Massena was also advancing. Having sent his Italian troops towards Jena, in order to skirmish with and distract the Russian troops there, he ordered forward his German forces to engage Kamensky's troops and to drive him North, thereby clearing the way for a flanking attack on the main coalition line. The Italians engaged Bennigsen at 10:00, and quickly began to exchange artillery fire with his troops. Italian skirmishers ran forward in the fields and through the trees, taking shots at Russian officers and artillery crews. Pino, leading the Italian troops, declined to engage the Russians fully however, his task merely being to distract them for as long as possible to allow for the destruction of the other coalition forces. The German troops also made good progress, although lacking in training and equipment, they made up for this with numbers and spirit. Losses were extremely high, but they pushed back Kamensky with the ferocity of their assault.
8. Positions at 11:30.
By 11:30, the coalition line was beginning to collapse. Supported by Massena, the German troops had pushed up and were now pressuring the Western approach to Hermsdorf. Meanwhile, the Prussian and Russian troops in front of the village had been further driven back, and were now under attack from 3 sides. Napoleon had ordered Davout forward to take Mortier's force along with his own and block any retreat or relief for the forces now defending Hermsdorf. Desperate, Hohenlohe ordered an immediate counterattack by his entire reserve. On the right of this push, the Russian troops under Kutusov's personal command smashed into the Freikorps troops, their initial impetus carrying them far into the enemy formation. The Freikorps rallied however, and soon began to fight back, bogging down the Russian attack and bringing it to a stalemate, albeit at a great cost. Meanwhile, Hohenlohe's personal effort had also been checked, this time by Davout's Corps and a portion of Mortier's Corps, the bulk of which had moved to try and close the pocket around Hermsdorf. The Prussians fared worse than their Russian comrades, their initial attack making far less of an impact on Davout's crack troops. Seeing that a breakthrough was not to be found, Hohenlohe ordered forward the Lifeguard Horse to try and punch a hole, a move that Davout countered with his own Cuirassiers. Thundering across the open fields, the 2 finest bodies of heavy cavalry in the world met head to head, in a fearsome spectacle. Both sides fought fiercely, but it was clear that the French were beginning to get the better of the Prussians, supported as they were by the rest of their forces who were pushing the Prussian counterattack back across its full frontage.
9. Positions at the end of the battle.
It was now 12:30, and the coalition troops in the Hermsdorf salient were engaged in a panicked retreat Northwards, attempting to squeeze out of the trap before Mortier's forces could close the pocket. Officers tried to retain as much order as possible, but in many cases this led to units failing to escape, their officers insisting that they retreat in proper fashion. With the coalition troops streaming out of the pocket under heavy fire from Mortier's guns, Hohelohe decided that it was time to call it a draw and retreat to defend Berlin. Runners were sent to Kutusov, von Bennigsen and Kamensky to order them to retreat North and regroup outside Berlin. Breaking off their attack, the coalition forces turned and retreated as rapidly as they could, fighting desperate rearguard actions against the French, who came on and on with renewed vigour. Meanwhile at Jena, von Bennigsen also tried to retreat, but found his path back to the main force blocked by Massena's troops who were advancing in the wake of Kamensky's withdrawal, seeing this, Bennigsen decided to take a Northern route from the battlefield, in order to meet up with the main body later, he was pursued by the Italian troops, as well as a detachment of Massena's men, who made it difficult for him to return to the main body. Because of this, he retreated North, meeting up with Blucher's army in Swedish Pommerania. Although several thousand troops had made it out of the salient, many more were still inside when the French finally closed the pocket, and through the course of the afternoon they were slowly and carefully ground down, until, at 8:00, Grand Duke Constantine decided that to fight on was pointless, and that surrender was now necessary.
With the battle over, Hohenlohe and Napoleon both took stock of the situation. Coalition losses were high, with some 80,000 men being forced to surrender and a further 20,000 casualties, most of them Prussian. Along with this, many men qho escaped the pocket had left their equipment behind, many artillery pieces and ammunition wagons falling into the hands of the French, who used the equipment to bolster the Freikorps troops. The French had also taken losses, the Freikorps suffering the heaviest, although still proving their worth. The coalition had been dealt yet another crushing blow, their poor quality forces, particularly in the case of the Prussians having been shown. Faith in their own dominance had certainly been shaken for the Prussians, although many simply passed the defeat off as the outcome of such disadvantageous circumstances. [-12,500 Conscripts from Bavaria, -5,000 Regulars from France, -12,000 Conscripts from France, -1,000 Regulars from Italy, -60,000 Regulars from Prussia, -40,000 Regulars from Russia, -1 Stability from Prussia, -5% Equipment from Prussia]
10. Napoleon's troops enter Berlin, victorious over what was once the greatest Army in Europe.
The campaign was far from over however, and Napoleon followed up his victory with an advance on Berlin, intent on destroying the remaining coalition troops. In a series of battles, he crushed the remaining coalition forces and drove them back behind the Oder, taking Berlin. Furthermore, French Hussars captured the Prussian Queen after ambushing her bodyguard. Meanwhile, Bessieres had managed to pin a large coalition force in Swedish Pommerania, and had also placed a force covering any possible advance by Wellesley's dishevelled host that was currently in Denmark. Further bad news came when Saxony attack Prussia without even so much as a declaration of war. The Saxon attack was unsuccessful, and cost them dearly, as was as destabilising their monarchs rule due to the ungentlemanly and uncivilised conduct of the attack. This series of major setbacks rocked the coalition, and particularly Prussia, where many opposers of reform suddenly found their case to be somewhat more shaky than it had been before. [-5,000 Regulars from France, -9,000 Conscripts from France, -500 Regulars from Italy, -2,500 Conscripts from Bavaria, -18,000 Regulars from Prussia, -16,000 Regulars from Russia, -10,000 Regulars from Saxony, -2 Stability from Saxony, -4 Stability from Prussia, -100 Base Income from Prussia, Berlin fallen, West bank of the Oder in French hands, Queen Louise captured by the French]
With Austria defeated in the previous year and Napoleon's forces as of yet unbeaten in the field, the situation for the coalition was certainly looking worse than it had in the early days of the war. The French, although they had taken losses, could now afford to bring several hundred thousand more men to bare against the Prussians, and although blows had been struck at Munich and Hanover, neither of them was particularly devastating for the French. Because of this, the Coalition settled on a defensive strategy, with their forces ordered to fall back to Prussia and Hanover, and there attempt to hold off French attacks. The French meanwhile decided on an aggressive strategy, with Napoleon, supported by Massena attempting to chase down the Russian forces in Munich, whilst Bessieres, having received reinforcements, would push into Hanover and retake the area.
The Russian force under Kutusov was the first to move, beginning their preparations as soon as the weather allowed. Breaking camp, they set about razing Munich to the ground, in order to both deny the city to Napoleon and his allies, and to spread fear amongst his German allies. With no protection other than that of its citizens, Munich suffered terribly at the Russian hands. Soldiers marauded throughout the streets, looting shops of their goods before setting them aflame and raping whatever women they could find. Even the churches and cathedrals of Munich were not spared, their riches plundered by a Battalion of Russian grenadiers who raped the nuns and butchered the priests on the steps, before setting the whole building alight. The people of Munich did not all cower in fear however, and in some parts of the city, militia formations gathered to resist. Armed with whatever they could find, they put up a desperate fight against the Russian troops, but had no hope of holding against them. Soon, the fires lit by the Russians began to spread fuelled by high winds, and by nightfall nearly the entire city was ablaze, her people either fleeing with whatever belongings they could carry or lying dead in her streets.
1. Members of the Freikorps rest under some trees.
The fires did not extinguish themselves totally for several days, and by the time the ruins had cooled enough for people to return, the city was no more than a ruin. Isolated buildings around the outskirts had survived, but in many places, the fires had been so hot that they had jumped long distances between buildings. The event became popularly known as The Rape of Munich, and did much damage to the Bavarian King's image and popularity, as he had not even been in the city when it was sacked, instead having taken the army to fight with the French. However, the main focus of the people's rage was on the Russians, and soon this anger spread outside Bavaria to other German states. As the stories of the Russian atrocities spread across Germany, thousands of leftist Germans flocked to Bavaria, intent on joining the King and protecting Germany and the ideas of Liberalism against the horror from the steppes. Due to their motley assortment of clothing, they decided to dye their uniforms black, as this was the only colour which would cover all others. [-4 Stability from Bavaria, +50,000 Conscripts to Bavaria, +300 Gold to Russia, -400 Gold from Bavaria]
Angered as they were, the local populace were certainly not going to give the Russians an easy retreat from their territory, and the Russian baggage train was under constant harassment from both militia and regular Bavarian troops. After drawing away troops using diversionary tactics, the Bavarians would then make their real attack, driving off the few defenders left behind and then either smashing the wagon's wheels, tipping them off the road or setting them alight with whatever was at hand. The attacks considerably slowed the Russian retreat, causing Kutusov some considerable alarm as to the possibility of French forces catching his rear. His fears were unfounded however, and his force managed to reach Prussian territory without being engaged. [-500 Conscripts from Bavaria, -500 Regulars from Russia]
Meanwhile, the Russian force under Bagration had also been retreating North, towards Posen. Unimpeded in their movement, they reached Prussian territory by early March and prepared to combat any rising by the Poles. By mid March, Napoleon had finished resupplying near the shattered ruins of Munich, and with the arrival of Massena's force in early April was ready to move against the Prussians. Bessieres had also been preparing, having mustered a force of 120,000 French and 40,000 Batavian troops to engage the Prussian army, now reinforced with 90,000 British, Danish and Swedish troops, but having been stripped of all but 90,000 Prussians, which was laying siege to Hanover.
2. Positions at the beginning of the Battle of Lauenau.
Both French forces moved on April 15th, with Bessieres being the first to engage the enemy when he met Blucher's force outside Hanover. Having left 5,000 men to man his siege lines against the now severely depleted French garrison, he took the rest of his men and engaged Bessieres around the village of Lauenau, which sat on the main line of the French advance to Hanover. Blucher had the edge in numbers, his force outnumbering Bessieres' by 15,000, but his multinational army, suffered from communications difficulties, and differing practices between the troops made combined manoeuvres hard to accomplish.
3. Positions at 9:00
Ever the aggressive leader, Blucher began the battle at 8:45 with an attack all along the line. Leaving a 50,000 strong force in reserve under the Swedish Prince Vasa, he rode forward to personally lead the attack. First to make contact with the enemy were the 60,000 Prussians at the North of Blucher's line. Resplendent in their uniforms, they marched in tight ranks towards the French, executing their movements as if the battlefield was a parade ground. Nearing the French line, they were soon rudely awakened as first the French artillery, then shots from skirmishers deployed in front of the French lines began to disorder their ranks. The Prussians would not be stopped however, and where a man fell, those behind him took his place in the immaculate ranks. Soon the French left was under pressure, de Moncey's Corps being outnumbered nearly 2 to 1 by the Prussian attackers, who pressed home their attack with great zeal.
Elsewhere to the South, the combined force of 70,000 British, Danish and Swedish troops impacted upon the roughly equal sized Franco-Batavian force. Progress varied between the various coalition forces, with the British at the extreme left of the line making the best progress against the Batavian forces. Led by the 95th Rifles, who picked off Batavian officers and skirmishers with great precision, the British advanced cautiously, causing serious problems for the Batavian troops, many of whom were not yet awake. The Swedes also made good progress against their foes, but further up the line, the small Danish force struggled against their French opponents. Advancing over the open fields towards the enemy, they came up against several Battalions of Voltiguers who expertly eliminated a large number of Danish officers, reducing the attacks cohesion and causing panic among the men. Stalled in front the French line, the Danish were then subjected to a counterattack as French Dragoons charged full pelt into their centre. With their officers dead, the Danish had trouble forming infantry squares, and many men simply ran rather than face the charging Frenchmen, who shattered the Danish centre and then turned, driving the Danes southward.
4. Positions at 11:30.
The time was now 11:00 and a gap had begun to open in the coalition's lines, and Bessieres moved to exploit this by ordering forward Kellerman's Corps. Advancing swiftly, they joined up with Augereau's men and punched through the gap, turning to flank the Prussian attack. Heavily engaged as they were, the Prussians had little ability to counter this new threat, and their left flank swiftly began to buckle as the French troops to their front, badly bloodied, took heart and began to push forwards. Blucher, himself in the thick of the action, ordered a runner to find Prince of Vasa and tell him to bring the reserves to plug the gap and continue the attack. The situation was dire, the Prussian forces were already beginning to give ground in front of the French attack, although they still held a good deal of cohesion. The killer blow for the Prussian attack came at 12:00, when Kellerman himself led a charge of the French Cuirassiers into the Prussian forces. Swooping round their flank, he brought his men down along the Prussian line, back towards his own troops, slamming into them and carrying on through several formations. The Prussians on the left now began to flee in disorder, forcing those on the right, which Blucher had personal command of, to do the same or be trapped against the thick woods to their North.
His horse shot out from under him, Blucher ranted furiously about Prince of Vasa, questioning why he had not yet brought the reserves to shore up the line. The truth, was that the courier sent by Blucher had reached the Prince by 11:30, but the message had been taken by a member of the Prince's staff, who only passed it to him an hour after it had arrived. Enraged at this waste of time, the Prince, young and keen for glory, ordered forward the reserve immediately, but by now it was too late to stop the failure of the line. Split in 2, the coalition forces had lost all momentum and were now on the defensive.
In the North, Blucher, bleeding from several wounds and on his 17th horse of the day, gathered the remaining Prussian attackers and joined them to his reserve, forming a makeshift line at the village of Lauenau alongside the 20,000 Swedish troops of the Prince of Vasa. In the South the coalition met with renewed resistance, the Batavian forces stiffening against the enemy advance and in some places even counterattacking. Wellesley, assessing that the battle was now to save as many men as possible, rode personally to meet the Swedish commander, von Essen, to whom he suggested a withdrawal to the South. Von Essen initially seemed unsure if such an action was wise, afraid of being named a coward, but when a French cannonball smashed through the barn he was using as a HQ and took the legs off a young bugler he agreed to Wellesley's proposal.
5. Positions at 16:00.
Seeing the Southern half of the enemy force retreat, Bessieres dispatched his Batavian forces to pursue them whilst committing his personal reserves to break the hastily assembled Prussian line. Blucher, as he had been throughout the battle, was on the frontline of the action. Fighting was thick, and charge after charge crashed against the Prussian lines. With many Prussian troops tired and running low on ammo, having been engaged nearly all day, they struggled to hold back the French, most of whom had hardly been engaged. At 16:00, the village of Lauenau, centre of Blucher's line and pivot between the Prussian and Swedish forces, fell, French grenadiers forcing out the Prussian defenders with their bayonets. The French were quick to push fresh reserves in to exploit this, and Blucher had very few men left to stop this new attack. By 17:00, the French had completely shattered the coalition line, and had thrown them back in disarray. Blucher now made the same choice as Wellesley, ordering his men to disengage and retreat, saving as many as possible. Tired, outnumbered and lacking cohesion, the soldiers retreated in a shambles, many being cut down by the French as they ran.
The battle had been an inglorious defeat for the coalition, and although Wellesley and Blucher had saved a large part of the army, they had taken heavy losses. Blucher, having gathered the 5,000 men who had been sieging Hanover, retreated North East towards Swedish Pommerania, hoping to regroup there. Hanover was retaken by Bessieres the next day, although its garrison was nearly non existant, only 500 of the original 10,000 men having survived the long siege. To the South, Wellesley broke his retreat to turn and engage the Batavian forces, smashing them decisively near Hildesheim and then moving North, hoping to reach the sea or Denmark in order to save his depleted and fatigued force. Although many men fell along the wayside, the force finally made it to Denmark, where they were greeted by the local populace, who gave them bread and beer. [-17,500 Regulars from Prussia, -5,000 Regulars from Denmark, -7,500 Regulars from Sweden, -6,000 Regulars from the United Kingdom, -7,000 Regulars from France, -7,500 Conscripts from France]
Meanwhile to the South, Napoleon, now in command of a combined Franco-German-Italian force numbering 341,500 men was marching North to engage the 252,000 strong coalition force guarding Berlin. The coalition commander, the Prince of Hohenlohe, was sure in his ability to beat the French. Although severely outnumbered, he was confident that Prussian troops could easily beat the French, they had done so in the times of Frederick the Great and would do so again. Napoleon was also confident, not only did he hold a large advantage in numbers over the coalition, but nearly all of his troops were of a higher quality than theirs.
Advancing North, Napoleon met the Coalition forces near the town of Jena, where they blocked his advance towards Berlin. The clash would be known as the battle of Jena-Hermsdorf, due to the fact that while still part of the same battle, there were 2 distinct clashes that took place during the day. The main battle, which took place around Hermsdorf, involved the majority of the forces, and was fought across the main French line of advance to Berlin. The battle of Jena was fought in an area over 10km to the West of Hermsdorf, and was the seen of an attempted flanking attack by Napoleon which met considerable resistance from Russian forces.
6. Positions at the start of the Battle of Jena-Hermsdorf.
The coalition adopted a defensive stance, with Hohenlohe ordering 4 corps forward to form a line of battle in front of the village of Hermsdorf, with Kamensky leading a corps to secure the western approach to the town. Meanwhile, the corps of Bennigsen was ordered to move along a path through the forest and take up positions in front of the town of Jena, to prevent any attempted flanking attack by the French forces. Napoleon deployed his force in 2 parts. The main body of his force, led by himself, deployed on the Eastern side of the battlefield, facing Hermsdorf and the bulk of the coalition forces. Meanwhile, Massena was to lead a flanking attack, consisting of his own Corps of Frenchmen, as well as the 20,000 strong Italian Corps and the 50,000 force made up of troops from the Freikorps and his other German allies in an effort to outflank the main coalition battleline.
7. Positions at 9:30.
The battle began at 9:00, with Napoleon ordering forward 5 corps of French troops to attack the coalition line. The assault was balanced towards the East, and therefore concentrated against the Prussian part of the coalition line. The attack made good progress, the outnumbered coalition forces being pushed hard by the bold French attacks. On the right of the line, the Russian corps under Tolstoy came under particularly heavy attack, with the other under Grand Duke Constantine being lightly engaged at most. Tolstoy's gunners fired frantically into the advancing mass of French troops, but were subjected to deadly counter battery fire by the French gunners. French losses were high in this part of the battlefield, but the Russians could not stop their advance, and Tolstoy was forced to order the retreat. Over on the coalition left, the Prussians were faring considerably worse, outnumbered by their opponents, they found themselves being totally outmanoeuvred by the French foe, who steadily pushed them west, back towards the village. Meanwhile, on the western half of the battlefield, Massena was also advancing. Having sent his Italian troops towards Jena, in order to skirmish with and distract the Russian troops there, he ordered forward his German forces to engage Kamensky's troops and to drive him North, thereby clearing the way for a flanking attack on the main coalition line. The Italians engaged Bennigsen at 10:00, and quickly began to exchange artillery fire with his troops. Italian skirmishers ran forward in the fields and through the trees, taking shots at Russian officers and artillery crews. Pino, leading the Italian troops, declined to engage the Russians fully however, his task merely being to distract them for as long as possible to allow for the destruction of the other coalition forces. The German troops also made good progress, although lacking in training and equipment, they made up for this with numbers and spirit. Losses were extremely high, but they pushed back Kamensky with the ferocity of their assault.
8. Positions at 11:30.
By 11:30, the coalition line was beginning to collapse. Supported by Massena, the German troops had pushed up and were now pressuring the Western approach to Hermsdorf. Meanwhile, the Prussian and Russian troops in front of the village had been further driven back, and were now under attack from 3 sides. Napoleon had ordered Davout forward to take Mortier's force along with his own and block any retreat or relief for the forces now defending Hermsdorf. Desperate, Hohenlohe ordered an immediate counterattack by his entire reserve. On the right of this push, the Russian troops under Kutusov's personal command smashed into the Freikorps troops, their initial impetus carrying them far into the enemy formation. The Freikorps rallied however, and soon began to fight back, bogging down the Russian attack and bringing it to a stalemate, albeit at a great cost. Meanwhile, Hohenlohe's personal effort had also been checked, this time by Davout's Corps and a portion of Mortier's Corps, the bulk of which had moved to try and close the pocket around Hermsdorf. The Prussians fared worse than their Russian comrades, their initial attack making far less of an impact on Davout's crack troops. Seeing that a breakthrough was not to be found, Hohenlohe ordered forward the Lifeguard Horse to try and punch a hole, a move that Davout countered with his own Cuirassiers. Thundering across the open fields, the 2 finest bodies of heavy cavalry in the world met head to head, in a fearsome spectacle. Both sides fought fiercely, but it was clear that the French were beginning to get the better of the Prussians, supported as they were by the rest of their forces who were pushing the Prussian counterattack back across its full frontage.
9. Positions at the end of the battle.
It was now 12:30, and the coalition troops in the Hermsdorf salient were engaged in a panicked retreat Northwards, attempting to squeeze out of the trap before Mortier's forces could close the pocket. Officers tried to retain as much order as possible, but in many cases this led to units failing to escape, their officers insisting that they retreat in proper fashion. With the coalition troops streaming out of the pocket under heavy fire from Mortier's guns, Hohelohe decided that it was time to call it a draw and retreat to defend Berlin. Runners were sent to Kutusov, von Bennigsen and Kamensky to order them to retreat North and regroup outside Berlin. Breaking off their attack, the coalition forces turned and retreated as rapidly as they could, fighting desperate rearguard actions against the French, who came on and on with renewed vigour. Meanwhile at Jena, von Bennigsen also tried to retreat, but found his path back to the main force blocked by Massena's troops who were advancing in the wake of Kamensky's withdrawal, seeing this, Bennigsen decided to take a Northern route from the battlefield, in order to meet up with the main body later, he was pursued by the Italian troops, as well as a detachment of Massena's men, who made it difficult for him to return to the main body. Because of this, he retreated North, meeting up with Blucher's army in Swedish Pommerania. Although several thousand troops had made it out of the salient, many more were still inside when the French finally closed the pocket, and through the course of the afternoon they were slowly and carefully ground down, until, at 8:00, Grand Duke Constantine decided that to fight on was pointless, and that surrender was now necessary.
With the battle over, Hohenlohe and Napoleon both took stock of the situation. Coalition losses were high, with some 80,000 men being forced to surrender and a further 20,000 casualties, most of them Prussian. Along with this, many men qho escaped the pocket had left their equipment behind, many artillery pieces and ammunition wagons falling into the hands of the French, who used the equipment to bolster the Freikorps troops. The French had also taken losses, the Freikorps suffering the heaviest, although still proving their worth. The coalition had been dealt yet another crushing blow, their poor quality forces, particularly in the case of the Prussians having been shown. Faith in their own dominance had certainly been shaken for the Prussians, although many simply passed the defeat off as the outcome of such disadvantageous circumstances. [-12,500 Conscripts from Bavaria, -5,000 Regulars from France, -12,000 Conscripts from France, -1,000 Regulars from Italy, -60,000 Regulars from Prussia, -40,000 Regulars from Russia, -1 Stability from Prussia, -5% Equipment from Prussia]
10. Napoleon's troops enter Berlin, victorious over what was once the greatest Army in Europe.
The campaign was far from over however, and Napoleon followed up his victory with an advance on Berlin, intent on destroying the remaining coalition troops. In a series of battles, he crushed the remaining coalition forces and drove them back behind the Oder, taking Berlin. Furthermore, French Hussars captured the Prussian Queen after ambushing her bodyguard. Meanwhile, Bessieres had managed to pin a large coalition force in Swedish Pommerania, and had also placed a force covering any possible advance by Wellesley's dishevelled host that was currently in Denmark. Further bad news came when Saxony attack Prussia without even so much as a declaration of war. The Saxon attack was unsuccessful, and cost them dearly, as was as destabilising their monarchs rule due to the ungentlemanly and uncivilised conduct of the attack. This series of major setbacks rocked the coalition, and particularly Prussia, where many opposers of reform suddenly found their case to be somewhat more shaky than it had been before. [-5,000 Regulars from France, -9,000 Conscripts from France, -500 Regulars from Italy, -2,500 Conscripts from Bavaria, -18,000 Regulars from Prussia, -16,000 Regulars from Russia, -10,000 Regulars from Saxony, -2 Stability from Saxony, -4 Stability from Prussia, -100 Base Income from Prussia, Berlin fallen, West bank of the Oder in French hands, Queen Louise captured by the French]
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OOC : ...And that is how the pro-coalition government of Naples suddently becomes pro-french.
