If it was not for the arrival of French reinforcements then it would have been a simple mopping up operation.
The eastern Freishutze detachment was the first to react to the threat even as the recall signal was sounded by Marulaz. He had been left with Ilse as Friedrich went to join his westernmost troop as soon as he heard the French cavalry was also arriving from that direction. The Freishutze quickly moved to a convenient hedgerow where they opened fire on the advancing French.
However the French kept on coming and charged the hedgerow. Wisely the Freishutze fell back, but only so far so they could continue to cover the retreat. Meanwhile Lieutenant von Zendabrau had seen the opportunity co can the French unawares while they where still in column. Swing out from behind the woods they charged for the nearest French column, only to recoil in the face of disciplined fire.
At the same time the Freishutze came under heavy fire as they were still in musket range and seeing the French already manoeuvring to flank them they fled back towards the shelter of the woods. This just left the Freihussaren to cover the retreat and luckily the French didn’t have any cavalry on this flank, although infantry continued to return from the east.
Meanwhile now safe from the attentions of the enemy, Major Kazinski began to rally his Poles.
1 comment:
A fine little action! It looks as though the French have successfully driven off the assailants, but only at the cost of three-quarters of convoy.
Reminds me of 'The Olmutz Convoy' - a scenario I worked out and played, some 16 years back...
Cheers,
Ion
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