Part LXXXIV – Early September 1760 – France defeated, Russia victorious !
By the beginning of september, France is defeated on all fronts. I mean, really ALL fronts :
It is rarely known that French Quebec fought well after the defeat of the Plains of Abrahams, with no reinforcement, no hope, only to force as much English force as possible to be committed in America. A gigantic Alamo, if you want.
The role and heroism of
the Chevalier de Levis is now unfortunately completely forgotten. [The Vaudreuil the game mentions fought to the end as well, but was also responsible for earlier defeats, so…]
In any case, in game terms, the impact is huge : 5 NM for me, -10 NM for Austria, and the arrival of a very, very significiant “Glorious Reinforcement” :
That’s 10 000 men, including 5500 cavalrymen (!) of reinforcements. I did not even need them to win, but they are quite handy.
I also received the troops I asked for in Bremen :
4000 more men... handy.
Finally, I defeated an Imperial force while moving to Hannover :
While Zweibrucken saved most of his army (less than 10% of losses), this battle costs me… 17 men. The French-Austrian national morale is I believe at an historical low.
Here is the situation in the West :
As you can see, Keith’s army is now in Hannover, from which he will first go to Braunschweig, and then to Magdeburg.
Also note that the Austrians are still concentrating (I suppose) in Magdeburg, preparing for the battle to come.
Finally, Münster is breached ! Once Münster will have fallen, I will take Minden with Frederick’s forces helped by the Glorious Reinforcements, which will force the French to retreat back the France. Ah !
Now, let’s talk about, well, Russia.
The Russians attacked :
6 NM … GREAT. And they attacked again :
Ah ! 4 more NM. And they attacked again :
Ah ! Stalemate… Good ! So that’s the overall result… The Russian offensive brought me about 45 NM, so increased the gap of 90 NM. Outstanding !
And then I noticed this :
I had left the walls itself without defenders except the Bateaux (I always keep at least a militia). The “stalemate” battle was actually a defeat for the Prussian, which was considered a “stalemate” because the retreat was in good order and because the Russians had quite a lots of losses. But I am actually defeated, and Heinrich is retreating. The city has been taken by the Russians, and immediately garrisoned !
For Baris, this battle is like the
Battle of The Saintes during the American Revolutionnary War. It is a victory, but it comes much, much too late to have an impact.
Oh, by the way :
Austrian’s NM is 35 ! 35 ! if they lose 35 more points, it is instant victory for me.