This scenario was provided by Andrew D Nicoll. Credit for this belongs to another member of his gaming group, Steve Darrell.
Background
The context of the First Silesian War is too copmplicated to explain here. Suffice to say that by late spring 1741 a lot of diplomatic and politcal manouevring saw the Prussian army moving into Eastern Bohemia, having been attempting to ravage Moravia but instead nearly starving in the process.
Having signed away Lower Silesia the previous year as a condition of Prussian withdrawl from the war, the Austrians determined to make destruction of Frederick's army the point of their campaign. Taking the considerable strategic risk of stripping their Bohemian garrisons, the Austrians assembled an army under Prince Charles of Lorriane and set off after the Prussians.
Prussian reconnaissance was still poor in this period, their light troops being completely outclassed by the Austrians. Thus when the Prussian army camped in two parts near Chotusitz on the 16th of May Charles decided to attack. Frederick, at last aware that a major battle was impending, broke camp early on the 17th with his part of the army, marching to support the remainder which was under Prince Leopold.
Battle starts at 06:00 with the Austrians moving first. Last turn is 10.00 when Frederick turns up with the rest of the Prussian army. Prussian objective is to stay in business. Austrian objective is to break the Prussians/take the town of Chotusitz. We weren't very clear about this really, and in some sense it's an unsatisfactory battle to game. After all capturing Chotusitz doesn't prevent the Austrians being scattered by Frederick's counterattack.
Order of Battle
Austrian Army Army Commander: Charles of Lorraine
Left Wing Cavalry (1st line) DC Bathyany Exhaustion = 3
- Palffy/Birkenfeld Cuirassiers M5 [ ][ ]
- Hussars M5 [ ] (militia, skimisher)
- Warasdiner Croats M5 [ ] (skirmisher)
- Warasdiner Croats M5 [ ] (skirmisher)
- Warasdiner Croats M5 [ ] (skirmisher)
Left Wing Cavalry (2nd line) DC Hohen-Embs Exhaustion = 3
- Diemar/Podstazky Cuirassiers M5 [ ][ ]
- Liechenstein/Wurttemburg/Philibert Dragoons M5 [ ][ ][ ]
First Line Infantry (left) DC Gaisruck Exhaustion = 4
- IR 26 (Grunne) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- IR 13 (Moltke) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- IR 3 (Karl Lothringen) morale = 5 [ ][ ]
First Line Infantry (right) DC Daun Exhaustion = 4
- IR 1 (Franz Lothringen) M5 [ ][ ]
- IR 35 (Waldeck) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- IR 59 (Leopold Daun) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- Field Arty Bn M5 [ ][ ]
Second Line Infantry (left) DC Mercy Exhaustion = 4
- IR 19 (Palffy) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- IR 34 (Vettes) M5 [ ][ ]
- IR 57 (Thungen) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
Second Line Infantry (right) DC Konigsegg Exhaustion = 4
- IR 47 (Harsch) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- IR 16 (Konigsegg) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- IR 18 (Marschall) M5 [ ][ ][ ]
Right Wing Cavalry DC Liechtenstein Exhaustion = 3
- Hohen-Embs/Lubomirsky Cuirassiers M5 [ ][ ][ ]
- Althann/D'Ollone Dragoons M5 [ ][ ]
Notes:
All infantry has battalion guns. All infantry has grenadiers present. Just to make completely clear: the Croats are infantry skirmishers.
Lots of 3 point regiments. According to SYW Assoc. Journal these were each fielding 3 battalions. The infantry "divisions" are really brigades. Quite possibly we should have amalgamated them as with Mollwitz. The resulting divisions might well turn out to be too ponderous though - there doesn't seem to have been an Austrian tactical command problem in this battle.
Prussian Army Army comamnder: Prince Leopold
Right Wing Cav DC Buddenbrock Exhaustion = 3
- 1/9 Cuirassiers M6 [ ][ ]
- 4/8 Cuirassiers M5 [ ][ ]
- 3/5 Dragoons M5 [ ][ ]
First Line Infantry DC Jeetze Exhaustion = 7
- IR27 M6 [ ][ ]
- IR17 M6 [ ][ ]
- IR24 M6 [ ][ ]
- IR11 M6 [ ][ ]
- IR29 M6 [ ][ ]
Left Wing Cavalry DC von Waldow Exhaustion = 3
- 7/12 Cuirassiers M5 [ ][ ]
- 2 Cuirassiers/5 Dragoons M5 [ ][ ] (Med weight, Hvy speed)
- 7 Dragoons/2 Hussars M4 [ ][ ] (Lt. weight)
Notes:
Left Wing mixed cavalry brigades count as the weight of their lighter component. All infantry has battalion guns. No infantry has Grenadiers present. Yes there really are 5 sqns of the Bayreuth Dragoons on each flank!
Had quite a problem with this since it seems that Jeetze had 9 battalions (IR11 fielded only 1 battalion). Yet by the time the fighting gets hot around Chotusitz town, Duffy clearly states that Leopold was struggling to rally his 12 battalions. However he also implies that the King's infantry had not yet fed any reserves forward. Aaargh!
In the end we concluded that the Prussians need 5 regiment stands, even if we can't quite identify them. The Prussians had 4 heavy guns. We disregarded these completely, or made them into an infantry battalion, depending on how you look at it. I freely admit to this being a kludge!
If you want to include the Prussian guns, then a 1SP battery units seems right. It starts between the infantry and right wing cavalry, too far from either for any support, and probably dies remarkably quickly.
The Map
The big squares are 1' along a side.
All streams are marshy-banked. Chotusitz is a town comprising two town bases, the brown shading represents a countour (high side to the SW). Trails between settlements are shown, but have no military value for this game. Note that while the streams are marshy-banked, the ground between them is passable to mounted troops. Since it's probably a water meadow, we classed it as half speed but not disordering terrain for mounted.
Historical deployments are shown by the thin red lines.
A-B is Buddenbrock's cavalry. Correctly this should be two lines, the 4 Cuirassier regiments forwards, followed by the two Dragoon regiments.
C-D is Jeetze's infantry. This may start stationary. Historically they began with the left flank regiment (IR27) refused facing the town, but they seem to have occupied it pretty quickly.
E-F is the Prussian left wing cavalry. Duffy shows these as advancing along the trail and then both through the town and along the stream bank, to deploy south of the town. Therefore these units can start in road column if desired.
G is the Austrian Hussar unit of Bathyany's Division. H-I is the rest of his Division. J-K is Hohen-Embs' Division.
L-M is Gaisich's Infantry Division, N-O Daun's. P-Q and R-S are Mercy's and Konigsegg's respectively.
T-U is Liechtenstein's Cavalry Division.
Sources:
- Seven Years War Association Journal, Vol VI no 1 (Sept 1992)
- Duffy, Frederick the Great a Military Life
- Duffy, The Army of Frederick the Great, 2nd Ed