Second Battle of Naumburg

Move 9

1600 to 1700 6 June 1813

Table

Top left - 1 French corps prepare to move out of Naumburg

Centre left – 2 French corps move forward south of Naumburg

Centre - French cavalry after melee in centre

Centre – Napoleon is with cavalry commander
Bottom left - 3 French corps advance from hill

Bottom right – half of 14 corps in rout

Top right - 3 Russian corps halt because of cavalry melee

Centre right – 1 and 2 Russian corps halt because of cavalry melee

Centre right – Kutuzov with commander 1 corps

Centre right - 4 Russian corps after enemy rout

Move Sequence

2 French form column of attack

French cavalry fight melee, guard grenadiers win and pursue, lancers lose and rout

3 French artillery fire and miss, infantry move forward

3 Russian infantry form square due to cavalry melee

Napoleon orders 1 corps “Move to farm” and 2 corps “Engage”

1 French prepare to move forward from Naumburg

1 Russian advance halted by cavalry melee

2 Russian advanced halted by cavalry melee

14 Westphalian commander join shaken infantry brigade

4 Russian artillery fire and rout shaken infantry brigade (plus commander)

Supporting French artillery on both sides lose morale and join rout

Kutuzov change 4 corps orders to “Engage”.

Note. At the start of this move the French cavalry appeared certain to break the Russian centre. The melee turned out to be inconclusive with each side losing one brigade. Meanwhile commander 14 Westphalian joined one of his infantry brigades to help them rally from Shaken. One further casualty caused the brigade to rout, taking the commander with it. There was artillery supporting on each flank, and they had to test their morale. Due to a poor dice, the absence of supports and the commander being absent due to the rout they both joined the rout. In one move the advantage had gone dramatically from the French to the Russians.

French cavalry melee

Guard grenadiers charge Russian cossacks, rout them, pursue and cause both 1 and 2 Russian corps to halt their advance and form square. French lancers melee with Russian cuirassiers, lose and rout. The nearby French dragoons have to test morale, and also rout. The Russian cuirassiers do not pursue. The cavalry charge has been indecisive, with both sides winning a melee, but the Russian cavalry are better placed to recover than the French.

Russian confusion

The aftermath of the cavalry melee from the Russian side. The beaten cossacks rout back into the advancing 1 corps (right) and 2 corps (left), pursued by the French guard grenadiers. During their subsequent move 2 corps cossacks have moved onto the flank of the Disordered French cavalry and will attempt to Opportunity Charge them during the next move.

Westphalian Rout

The infantry brigade nearest to the hill started the move Shaken. The Westphalian commander joined them to assist them in making their morale. They failed to do so, but did not rout due to his presence. In a subsequent move the Russian artillery fired on the same shaken infantry brigade, it failed its morale and routed, taking the corps commander with it. There were two units within 4” who then had to test their morale. First the artillery on the ridge. They rolled a 3, had no support, and joined the rout. The infantry brigade on the right tested their morale, rolled a 2 and also joined the rout. This caused the artillery on the right, who were outside test distance of the original rout, but within 4” of the second infantry rout, to test. They rolled a 2 and joined the rout. At the start of this move the Westphalians were well placed to smash the disordered Russian corps opposite them. At the end half of the infantry, plus their artillery plus 3 French corps artillery are all in rout and the French right wing had disintergrated.