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| Nightfall 13th March |
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| Nightfall 14th March |
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| Nightfall 15th March |
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| Nightfall 13th March |
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| Nightfall 14th March |
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| Nightfall 15th March |
In the north west, with the French halted awaiting reinforcements before pushing on, it allows the allies to build their forces with the important addition of the Prussian 1st Corps (green 5). Col Best on the coast (yellow 4) also halts to await orders. In the far north west the British Expeditionary Force continues to disembark and organise themselves.
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| Nightfall 13th March |
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| Nightfall 14th March |
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| Nightfall 15th March |
In the North East, the missed opportunity of destroying the Prussians in detail, having split their forces, weighs heavily on Napoleon. Blucher's confidence grows as he amasses a considerable force ready to expel Napoleon from Prussia. He is not aware however, of the approach of the French 3rd Corps (blue 9). For Napoleon it is critical that the 3rd Corps joins him otherwise the numerical difference may be just too much for his experienced army.
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| Nightfall 13th March |
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| Nightfall 14th March |
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| Nightfall 15th March |
In the South West Lobau pursues Morillo (grey 1) into Portugal. As Morillo's routing Spanish travel along the main road south towards Youngsport, they see troops lining the hills ahead. Morillo and his staff spur ahead and meet up with the newly arrived Duke of Wellington. He informs Morillo that he intends to hold the French here which will keep Youngsport open to reinforcements continuing to arrive from Britain. Wellington invites Morillo to join his defensive line and an opportunity to regain Spanish pride. Although he is happy to join Wellington he only reluctantly accepts that Wellington will be in overall command. The Spanish troops rally on the allied line and the scene is set for the showdown with Lobau.
NEXT: The first clash between the French and Anglo/Portuguese troops in the Battle of Youngsport.
Note: For those closely following this campaign, I will be away until 5th February when I intend to provide an AAR soon after.
The Allies would seem to have the advantage of numbers this time!
ReplyDeleteThey do Peter, but the French do have an advantage in overall quality. They will though be up against an elite British light brigade and the Portuguese in this campaign are reasonably well trained.
Deleteloving this series
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim.
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