BBB Gravelotte - St.Privat in 10mm

[Leman]

Mike and I have now arrived at the really big one. I laid the table the previous day.



After the initial set up it soon became clear that the Prussians intended to use their artillery en masse. Below are the first Prussians on the battlefield, followed by French 6th Corps dispositions between St.Privat and Roncourt.





The battle began with the advanced French unit in the Bois de Genivaux being wiped out. The Prussians then began to advance on St.Hubert, but this, Moscow farm and the quarry were quickly occupied by the French from 3rd Corps and 2nd Corps. At this point Steinmetz launched his uhlans across the Mance ravine, with inevitable results, but it did cause at least one French unit to be pulled further south than it needed to be. As more Prussian troops began to arrive, notably the Hessians in the centre, French 3rd Corps began to come under heavy bombardment. Despite protection from earthworks, troops began to be lost and artillery began to be knocked out. Then the Prussian Guard and Saxons appeared with even more artillery. There was a frantic struggle for Ste.Marie aux Chene, which went over three turns before the small French unit was driven out. At this point the Prussians felt ready to storm the St.Privat position.

It was now turn 6, no objectives had yet been taken by the Prussians and the Imperial Guard was set in motion, or not as the following photo shows. The Guard cavalry rode off to glory towards St.Privat, while all the other units failed to move, Three batteries each throwing 4 and 1 on the dice, one after the other 



Having been successfully weakened by massed Prussian artillery, St.Privat/Roncourt now suffered the attentions of the infantry, while a unit of Prussian dragoons rode effortlessly into Malancourt, the French reserves having been stopped in their tracks as they attempted to occupy it.



The following photos show the massed Prussian batteries running from south to north.









As the struggle for St.Privat continued, a gap opened up and Mike saw the opportunity for another von Bredow Death ride. This was countered by a smaller unit of French cuirassiers, and this struggle can be seen in the right middle distance of the nest photo.The Prussian cavalry were eventually driven off by the arrival of those French Guard cavalry.



By the end of turn 8 the French had been driven out of Roncourt and St.Privat with fearful losses, 4th Corps had lost control of Amanvillers, Prussian dragoons still held Malancourt, and 2nd Corps had been outflanked, losing control of Rozerieulles. The Imperial Guard was still barely moving, whilst the completely fresh Prussian II Corps was deploying onto the field. The game was up and the French withdrew into Metz.

[Ben Waterhouse]

Tres Jolie!

[Shedman]

Nice one - i'm building up to do this battle

[fsn]

That's a very impressive game.

Why is this battery facing the wrong way?

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report

[Leman]

Nobby - battery facing the wrong way because the activating dice roll only gave it a half move, so it was unable to unlimber. Next go it did unlimber and joined in the pounding of the troops above Rozerieulles.

[fsn]

Ahhhh!

Thank you.

[Chris Pringle]

Smashing pics, thanks, Andy. Congratulations to the Germans on their win - I've seen them suffer more than one bloody repulse at Gravelotte-St.-Privat. Sounds as though the guards can take the credit (the French ones, that is, not the Prussian!).

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great looking game, envious, must get mine back on the table!

[Westmarcher]

Agreed. Good looking game and well presented report, Andy 

~

p.s. @Chris Pringle - I see you recently played a SYW Honours of War game, Chris (see his BBB blogspot, folks) - knew we could turn you round to our way of thinking eventually! (Spittelwitz is fictitious, btw - what happened to your surprise flank attack?)  

[paulr]

 

[Chris Pringle]

p.s. @Chris Pringle - I see you recently played a SYW Honours of War game, Chris (see his BBB blogspot, folks) - knew we could turn you round to our way of thinking eventually! (Spittelwitz is fictitious, btw - what happened to your surprise flank attack?)  

Yes I did, but purely because of my interest in Austrian operational doctrine of the 1790s and exploring its roots in the SYW ... OK, I admit it, sometimes I just like to play whatever game is going.  :-)
I wasn't running our flank attack but it got fairly well checked, not least I suppose because of my tardiness on my own flank.

Chris

[Techno]

T'rrific looking game !! 

Cheers - Phil

[fred.]

Great looking game, really  looks sweeping

[Leman]

It really was a huge battle and testament to the rules that it still only took about 3 1/2 hours of actual play to reach an agreed conclusion. In reality it boiled down to three separate conflicts. From the French point of view the southern flank above Rozerieulles became a first battleground, which led to French troops being anchored in Moscou farm and the quarries, but ultimately to the left being outflanked and the loss of Rozerieulles. To save it the French would have had to abandon one of the other major objectives.

The centre developed into a slogging match of a very typical FPW nature, ie the Prussians built up their massed batteries then either destroyed or silenced the French guns, then turning their attention to the French infantry. Once they were weakened the Hessians and others assaulted the centre. Yes, they took casualties, but the French lost the objective of Amanvillers.

In the north a similar situation occurred, but here the French were even more stubborn, holding Ste.Marie aux Chene and initially repulsing the Prussian Guard, but once the Saxons deployed numbers began to tell. The Guard and Saxon artillery turned their attention on the defences of St.Privat and Roncourt, and once Amanvillers was being attacked, the Hessian artillery manoeuvred and added its weight to the bombardment of St.Privat. Again, once the French guns were silenced the infantry assaulted and overwhelmed the remaining defenders. This time however it was the Saxons who were the sacrificial lambs rather than the Guard.

The French Guard were incredibly tardy, as were the reserve artillery, and in the end the only contribution came from the Guard cavalry.