Napoleonic Campaign Early Map Moves

As a reminder, this is the situation at the start of the campaign with a date of 1st March 1808. 

Napoleon starts to move his forces towards the French borders. He has split his army into 3 commands:

Army of the East (or the Grande Armee):

CinC Napoleon - Old and Middle Guards, Heavy Cav of Guard, Guard Arty, 2nd Corps minus 7th Div and 3rd Cav Corps.

Army of the West:

CinC Marshall Grouchy - 1st Corps, 4th Cav Corps, 7th Div, Young Guard, Guard Light Cav.

Army of the South:

CinC Marshall Soult - 6th Corps, 3rd Cav Div, 5th Cav Div

It is Napoleon's intention to strike hard on all three fronts before the allied nations are able to combine or mobilise other formations. Army of the East will strike Prussia and Nassau. Army of the West will advance along the east coast striking initially Hanover and then Holland/Belgium. The intention is to capture ports as quickly as possible before Britain is able to land any troops, or at least enough to make a difference. The Army of the South will strike Spain and then Portugal. If successful then this force will become a Reserve to the other commands.

Napoleon had already given instructions to mobilise the 3rd and 4th Corps, and the 2nd Cav Corps along with several other units. This is already at an advanced stage with the 3rd Corps ready in a few days. He is acutely aware of the dominance of the Royal Navy and has sent a naval force to destroy the small Portuguese navy and disrupt any attempts by the British to land forces to support Portugal.

I should mention at this stage that the naval forces involved in the campaign are relatively small as this is primarily a land campaign. I also made a serious omission with Spain when creating the map in that I denied them any serious ports and therefore no navy as such. My apologies to any Spanish friends reading this but I am sure the Spanish Army will rectify this when they capture a French port or 2!

As the French forces assemble near their borders there is still a muted response from the allied nations other than to re-position various units as a precaution. Portugal has taken a more active approach and immediately requested assistance from it's closest ally, Britain. British intelligence confirmed that it would be unlikely that the Spanish and Portuguese armies could resist any attack for long given what was ranged against them, compounded by the fact that local rivalry prevented them from working together closely. Senior Generals in the British army impressed on the Government the importance of supporting these two countries in order to maintain pressure on France's southern border should the worst were to happen and Napoleon was simply not posturing. Similarly it was agreed that, although no help had been formerly requested, preparations should be made to embark a force to Holland should it be needed.

Britain therefore prepared two expeditionary forces, the Portuguese under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and the Dutch under the command of General Hill. Neither commander was much impressed by the size of the forces they were given. A great deal of the relatively small British Army was being held back to defend the country despite protestations that they had a Navy to do that! 

At dawn on 5th March 1808, Grouchy's forces crossed into Hanover signalling the start of the war. 

A British fleet was already at sea loaded with the first elements of the Portuguese Expeditionary Force. It was heavily defended due to the presence of a French port on the east coast containing warships. French naval units were at sea and about to enter Spanish territorial waters. The Prussians were continuing to move units towards their border but precious little had been done by the other nations.

A closeup of the main thrust by the French Army of the West. The large town in 14B13 (north of the Hanoverian force '2') is the Hanoverian capital 'Sharpsborg'. The French forces '11' and '12' made contact with the defending Hanoverians at 1100 hrs. The flanking coastal force '13' made contact at 1300 hrs. The first battle was therefore The Battle of Sharpsborg.

This was a direct drive to capture the Hanoverian capital by the main French force under the command of Grouchy. The Hanoverians were not only outnumbered but almost two thirds of their force are Conscripts. They are however enthusiastic and determined to protect their capital. Messengers have been sent out to the Dutch/Belgians requesting immediate assistance.

The next posting will be an AAR of the Battle of Sharpsborg which will include orbats and details of casualties. All battles are fought at a ratio of 1:20.

A brief note about place names. All the names I have used are contained within the Warplan 5/5 book. Many are Anglo Saxon style names and others are anybody's guess!