Part L –Early January 1759 – Like a knife in hot butter !
I know some of you are waiting to know what happened, but first a short update on the situation. The winter is really hot in Saxony, so I won’t do a point about my new objectives – at this moment they are very, very short term, but here is a point about my forces :
This is going to change a lot, so I will not develop too much. A few points, though :
- The Northern army is getting thinner and thinner, as I needed its troops to field an army in Silesia. It is actually weak to the point that it cannot resist an attack by what Baris has up there
- On the other hand, the Eastern army (facing the Russians) is stronger than at the beginning of the year. I was fearing another massive attack, and decided to allocate some reinforcement there.
- Frederick’s army is powerful – but once the Austrians are defeated (hopefully) I will have to send half the army back to protect Hannover.
- Overall, the size of my army increased (+15%) in the period, due to the very small number of battles and the arrival of replacements essentially.
Now, back to action.
As the title implies, the plan worked. It even worked surprisingly well. The army I was planning to fight (Kheul’s) escaped at the last moment, but I intercepted Daun and Kollowrat on their dash to Dresden.
Due to the weather (rain & mud), the battle was relatively bloodless (given the size and the determination of the armies), but von Daun and Kollowrat are pushed back to where they come from : one more turn in winter, and 4 NM for Prussia.
At Torgau, I meet another small army of imperials, led by the Graf Hohenzollern :
With 2750 dead soldiers out of 7860, and 66 hits while the army retreats, I am pretty confident that’s an army I won’t face again. Only 477 dead men on my side – glorious. This gives me 3 well deserve NM.
I can now launch the second part of the plan – the march on Dresden :
Von Daun will be out of action this turn, so Nadasdy will be in command for defense (except if he has less seniority than Kheul, I actually don’t know). Nadasdy is an horrible defender (he is 5-4-1). Plus he has the “Reckless” characteristic, which makes him a bad retreater when the situation is not good, as he does not want to retreat.
With some luck, I will first meet Kheul and the destroyed Hohenzollern army, beat them, then face Nadasdy in Dresden. If this is what happens – well, I should inflict a decisive defeat to my opponent.
Von Daun and Kollowrat next moves are a mystery for me. There are three “solutions” for Baris :
- A dash through Chemnitz. Either the pass is not blocked and Von Daun is safe, or the pass is blocked by snow, and Von Daun will lose one more turn while being out of supply – and also will have his troops stationed in a mountain in winter.
- A dash for Dresden. In this case, he will meet Frederick and his troops, and most likely lose. But he might not think I would try something as aggressive as an attack on Dresden right now.
- An attack against Leipzig to winter there. Not really Baris’s style of play, but he can surprise me.
Difficult decision for Baris.
I hope Baris will choose the second solution, I cannot do anything against the first and I need to prepare against the third. That’s why I give a very special order to Bevern, currently in Leipzig :
Hide in the city !
This is a dangerous order to give in general – as an army in a city is trapped. But in this situation, Von Daun cannot siege an army of the size of Von Daun. The fact that Bevern will be inside the city will ruin his chance to succeed an assault or an instant surrender (instand surrenders only happens where the garrison is very small), and of course he cannot wait in winter and out of supply for Bevern to finish his supplies. So the best solution is to keep Bevern in the city. If Bevern was outside the city, he could be defeated and just retreat out of the province – not good.
In other news, the British prove useful, by sending me massive helps in subsidies :
And allowing me to recruit an handful of men :