Nap Campaign: Battle of Grissburg Conclusion

Napoleon makes a decision to consolidate what has been captured rather than launch a pursuit. His forces are in need of a rest and some units may need to be reorganised after significant losses.

Blucher, reeling from the loss of his capital and his humiliating escape now has to ponder what he intends to do with what is left of his army. He lost almost half is force, either killed or captured, in the defence of Grissburg. The 5th and 14th Brigades have virtually ceased to exist. He also lost one of his best Brigade Generals and 7 regimental commanders. More units from the 2nd Corps will be mobilised the next day and Ziethen is en-route with the 1st Corps. His first task will be to regroup his dispersed forces and reorganise his battered Brigades.

Although a great victory, it was not entirely the knock-out blow the French had hoped for. The performance of the 3rd Corps was lamentable! The Prussian artillery deployed in the redoubts made it difficult for them but nevertheless they should have dealt with the inexperienced Prussians relatively easily. The 8th and 10th Divisions attacking the northern perimeter between the 2 redoubts broke through several times only to be summarily repulsed through determined Prussian counter-attacks.

Continued -

All was not lost though as they still sealed the northern access road. All the 11th Division had to do was break through the eastern perimeter and the Prussians would have been trapped. Their assault initially looked very promising with most battalions charging home. Several Prussian battalions were thrown back from the perimeter earthworks. The 11th Division's advance promptly stalled at that point as the Prussians repeated their defence of the northern perimeter but in more spectacular fashion utterly destroying the French in a couple of moves. 

Of all the French forces involved, only the Old Guard performed as expected. They steamrollered their way through the south eastern perimeter and by the end of the battle had captured most of Grissburg. The Middle Guard, despite having the same 'guard' rating in the rules, struggled to make headway. Indeed, had it not been for the Old Guard it is quite possible the French could have been defeated.

The French also struggled to drive the Prussians out of the Industrial suburbs and it was only the arrival of substantial numbers of cavalry that ensured victory.

For the Prussians though, despite the heavy losses and the loss of their capital, this was the first battle in which the French looked vulnerable. Many Prussian units exceeded expectations. Of particular mention goes to Brandenstein and his two battalions of Pomerania Landwehr. They began the day as part of the routing 14th Brigade having been defeated at Erfurt. Once rallied Brandenstein lead his Landwehr into the centre of Grissburg and fought the Middle Guard tenaciously. Unlike many other units they were never driven out and eventually made a last stand occupying the town hall and the square. They were the last Prussians in action. Alas, they all, including Brandenstein, were captured by the French so would play no further part in the campaign (unless liberated!).

I will finish by adding the updated Orders of Battle showing the losses for each unit. As this was a victory for the French they would get +1 on the dice roll when testing for returning casualties, and as a decisive defeat for the Prussians they would receive -2. The higher quality the troops the more likely some will return. For the Imperial Guard this was flattered by successive high dice rolls!

All those units on the Prussian list in red are those captured by the French. The figures in bold are the new strengths for each unit.

A final comment about the rules. I used the Command and Control system contained within GdB for the first time in many years. I made a few mistakes but on the whole they worked ok. I shall stick with them for now and probably add one or two of my own tweaks. 

I began the battle using skirmishers as per the rules. I am not entirely happy with them for this scale and it became rather fiddly. Compounded no doubt by the size of the battle. I shall continue with them for now but using my own changes to make it simpler (loosely based on the SK system in the Grande Armee rules). 

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