Prussian Briefing

The Battle of Großbeeren 23rd August, 1813

“Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.”

- Napoléon Bonaparte

Intelligence BriefingHistorical Background:

Following the Battle of Bautzen, in May 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, both sides agreed to a seven week truce to plan and better prepare. When the campaign resumed, in August, Napoleon ordered an offensive drive to take the Prussian capital of Berlin. With its capture, he hoped to knock the Prussians out of the war. Meanwhile he kept the bulk of his army on the strategic defensive, to deal with any potential moves by the large Austrian army, which had now gathered in southeastern Germany.

For this task, he chose one of his bravest and best commanders, Marshal Nicolas Oudinot, to lead the offensive. Oudinot tried to turn down this honor due to his poor health. He had been wounded on several occasions during the previous year's disastrous campaign in Russia, and had not yet fully recovered. But the emperor insisted, so Oudinot with three corps of about 60,000 men advanced on Berlin.

Unknown to both Napoleon and Oudinot at the time, this strategy played right into the Coalition's hands. In accordance with their Trachenberg Plan (formulated during the truce) they would avoid any large, main engagement with Napoleon himself until after they had gathered overwhelming strength and weakened the emperor by defeating his marshals in separate, smaller battles.

Intelligence BriefingOudinot’s Advance on Berlin:

From its start the offensive was plagued by misfortune. On the same day as the advance began, 19th August, heavy rain storms broke out turning the roads into muddy quagmires and making it nearly impossible to move the artillery. Further hindering the advance, the area south of Berlin was crisscrossed with small lakes and swamps. In the best of weather there were only a couple of roads by which to approach the city from the south and rain turned many of the Prussian defensive positions into fortified islands.

As a result Oudinot was forced to advance his Army along three separate roads, with little communication between them. The 13,000 men of General Bertrand's 4th Corps to the right, General Guilleminot's 12th Corps 20,000 inexperienced recent recruits on the left and in the center was the 27,000 strong main column of General Reynier's 7th Corps largely made-up of French allied Saxon troops. On the 23rd August Oudinot did not expect any serious opposition but a lack of cavalry kept him unaware of the position of the enemy.

The road to Berlin itself was defended by the Army of the North, commanded by Crown Prince Charles John of Sweden, formerly French Marshal Bernadotte. This force consisted of 110,000 Prussians, Russians and Swedes.

Order of BattleCommander-in-Chief: Charles XIV John of Sweden - formerly Marechal Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (absent from the main area of battle).

Order of BattleIII Corps: General Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow

Combined Grenadier Battalions

3rd Brigade: GM Hesse-Homburg

3rd East Prussian Infantry, 4th Reserve Infantry, & 3rd East Prussian Landwehr Regt’s

4th Brigade: GM Thümen

4th East Prussian Infantry, Elbe Infantry, & 5th Reserve Infantry Regt’s

5th Brigade: GM Borstell

1st Pommeranian Infantry, 22nd Reserve Infantry & 2nd Kurmärk Landwehr Regt's

6th Brigade: GM Krafft

Colberg Infantry, 9th Reserve Infantry & 1st Neumärk Landwehr Regt’s

Reserve Cavalry: GM Oppen

1st Leib, 2nd Silesian, & Pommeranian Hussars;West Prussian Uhlans; Königin, Brandenburg & West Prussian Dragoons

Order of BattleIV Corps: GL Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg

1st Brigade: GM Dobschütz

3rd Reserve Infantry & 2nd Kurmärk Landwehr Regt’s

2nd Brigade: Oberst Graf Lindenau

1st Silesian Landwehr, 2nd Neumärk Landwehr & 5th Kurmärk Landwehr Regt’s

Cavalry:

3rd East Prussian, 1st & 7th Kurmärk & 3rd Pommeranian Landwehr Cavalry Regt’s

Scenario NotesScenario Map (8ft x 5ft):

Großbeeren, Didersdorf, Blankenfeld & Juhnsdorf are small towns (each is 2 x 1BW in size and can be garrisoned).

Neu Beeren & Klein Beeren are villages (each is 1BW in size and can be garrisoned).

The Nuthegraben stream river cannot be crossed South of the Großbeeren - Didersdorf road. North of this it can be crossed by Infantry & Cavalry only (difficult movement).

Prussian Dispositions:

No. 1: IV Corps - Tauentzien

Setup as indicated on the map anywhere within 3BW of Blankenfeld.

No. 2: 3rd & 4th Brigades with von Bülow attached (III Corps)

These arrive as reinforcements at 12:40 (Turn 12).

No. 3: 5th & 6th Brigades & Reserve Cavalry (III Corps)

These arrive as indicated as reinforcements at 14:00 (Turn 16).

Other: The III Corps artillery and Grenadiers can arrive with either part of III Corps, or be split.

Scenario NotesPrussian Special Rules:

No. 1. Units cannot be activated by command as the C-in-C is absent from the battle.

No. 2: Sub-commanders can only attach to units of their respective Corps.

No. 3: All Prussian units can use the “rally” rule (pg. 87)

Victory Conditions:

Prussian: The Prussians win by taking Großbeeren and the Windmill Heights - Map Red 1 - (being the last to occupy them with an infantry brigade) by dusk or by breaking the French morale before the end of the game.

French: The French win by occupying both Gross Beeren and the Windmill Heights - Map Red 1 - with an infantry brigade on the last turn or by breaking the Prussian morale before the end of the game.

Other Info:

Weather: At 15:00 (Turn 19) the weather conditions deteriorate and heavy rain begins to fall across the battlefield. To replicate the effect on the infantry all firing is treated as skirmish fire for the remainder of the game. Melee attacks and artillery are unaffected.

Momentum : 2 dice per side.

Game turns : The game lasts 31 turns. The game starts at 09:00 (turn 1) and ends at 19:00 (turn 31). One turn is about 20mins.