Battle of Auerstedt - ENDEX

Looking W from behind French lines

Well, that was over quicker than I expected! At the end of Turn 21 (1pm) it still looked like the French had  a big ask and they were running behind the historical timetable. But clearing the Prussians left of Poppel meant that another Prussian brigade was below 50% and so had to withdraw. That meant that the Prussians had lost 3 of their 8 brigades, so one more would put them at 50% and it was game over!

It was to the French centre and right that the glory fell, as left flank was now faced by the Prince of Orange's two fresh brigades.

DeBilly's 1e Bde of Morand's Division tried again to take on Wedel's Bde but was repulsed. But 3/21e Ligne of Petit's Bde had just made a nice move against a very weakened IR5 of Reynouard's Bde and sent it packing. It had to halt but on Turn 22, still formed it swung round to its right and piled into the side of Hanschstein's Grenadier Bn. The Grenadiers just about held, but 1/85e Ligne of Gauthier's bde moved up to join the fray and it was all over - Wedel was now below 50%, and his withdrawal put the whole force at 50% - Game Over!

The Final Conflict

The Prussians only had two serviceable brigades left - Orange's reinforcements, and fragments of Kloch and Greiffenberg. The French had two totally fresh brigade's from Morand's division which were only just reaching the front line, and another 2-3 brigades in pretty good shape - so its reasonable that the Prussians withdraw, and be hotly pursued by Davout - pretty much mirroring the final historical result.

One oddity concerned light cavalry. According to the orbats the Prussians had tons of it, most of which I put on the table (less Oswald at Suiza). Battle reports talk about Bunting, Quintzow, Irwin and Blucher, but suggest a certain amount of confusion and no indication that they had any real impact on the outcome apart from the initial clashes. I had them all on the table but it was obvious that if they were all let lose the 3 regiments of chasseur son the French side would soon be beaten off and the Prussians would have field day, so in the end I more or less matched the 3 French ones, but otherwise had them sat watching. I must re-read the accounts to see if I can get a better sense of what was happening. It may be that the majority was just assigned to flank guards, and in true light cavalry fashion didn't fancy getting involved in the mess of the battle!

There was also not as much town fighting as I expected, mainly since the gap from Hassenhausen to Poppel is pretty big and gave the armies enough to deploy, and Hassenhausen was taken very early - again worth a re-read.