Battle of Raab and a giveaway

 

 In June of 1809, about 40 miles from Vienna, while Napoleon's main force and those of Austria's Archduke Charles maneuvered for battle on the Danube, Eugene de Beauharnais commanding French and Italian troops engaged Archduke John near Raab. John had deployed his troops--mostly militia and landwehr with cavalry and artillery--in a defensive position behind the Pancza stream. Beauharnais attacked and after a back and forth battle for the farm at the bridge near the center, concentrated fire from the French guns drove back the Austrian artillery and allowed the French cavalry to ford the river and threaten John's left flank. The French then retook the farm again and John was forced to withdraw.

We replayed this battle, and finally finished it yesterday. In the photo above, taken on the next to last turn, the French are on the left and the Austrians on the right. Our battle differed in the details from the historic conflict. First, I enhanced the quality of a couple of the Austrian brigades to make things more interesting. Second, I deployed the French without much thought, just as I took them from the travel box--this was an away game in a friend's basement pantry. That placed the Severoli's Italian division on the far left and the divisions of Durutte and Seras on the right with Pacthod's division in the center with Grouchy's cavalry in reserve.

An Italian brigade began the fight with and attack across the bridge at the top of the picture; they were repulsed by the defenders, and finally destroyed by artillery fire. The other Italian brigade maneuved farther to the Austian right where they threatened to cross the swamp and stream to attack from the flank. Shortly after that, the Austrian players pulled their troops back from the stream on the French right to strengthen the center and Austrian right. That left the Austrian left wide open. Seras' division and part of Durutte's division waded the Pancza. The Austrians responded with cavalry and artillery. The French withstood both, repulsing the cavalry, and finally taking the farm at the center from the flank. The Austrians reached their break point but successfully inflicted some losses on the French, eliminating both brigades of Seras' division with their grenadiers and an enhanced brigade before ending the game.

We had a good time, but my poor positioning at the start kept me from concentrating my artillery fire, and the French cavalry never did anything more than threaten the Austrian center. It was a delight to open the purple testament of war, push painted men about the field, and roll the bones to determine their fate.

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In honor of the French victory, or for Halloween, perhaps, I've got a giveaway going. Enter to win an autographed book - a choice of either any the Rac Press anthologies featuring one of my stories, or one of the books from the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series.  

I finished going over the edits on my adventure book for boys. I'll get it back to the editor this week after I insert a dedication. Look for it in November in ebook and paperback.