Rossbach - Background

OK. So this is one of the major Frederician battles I have never gamed in any form. It is one of a pair of his most famous victories (both within a month of each other), so why haven't I gamed it before?

Well, it is simply difficult to stage. Not because of the size - the numbers were relatively modest. What makes it difficult is the scenario. If played from the beginning of the day, with a 2 to 1 advantage, even with a quality difference, it looks daunting if you're the Prussian. And it wouldn't really be Rossbach if it was straight fight. If you play the game from the time of the Prussian attack, then already the game is pretty much over as a contest. In naval terms, the Prussians crossed the Franco-Imperialist 'T'. Caught them end on. Enfiladed. So you wouldn't want to be the Franco-Imperialist side. It's one of those battles where, you wouldn't do what they did if you knew what happened. You'd have to have some very cleverly contrived victory conditions to encourage something close to historical behaviour. Maybe add some victory points for the possession of the Janus Hill (see below). Obviously it helps playing solo, as then you win when you lose 😉.

Rossbach was the first of a pair of battles in 1757 in which Frederick II of Prussia pulled his chestnuts well and truly from the fire. After the Spring invasion of Bohemia, which culminated in the Battle of Prague, the Prussians were defeated at Kolin by the Austrians, and then forced back over the border into Saxony. As well as coming under attack in the Bohemian-Saxony theatre, the Prussians were under threat of further Austrian pressure in Silesia, and now the Russian horde was on the march in East Prussia. To cap it all, the Imperial Diet had declared Frederick's invasions of Saxony and Bohemia to be illegal and a call went out to raise a Reichsexekutionsarmee. In addition, the French had sent an expeditionary force into Germany threatening Frederick's western flank (and the British king's Hanoverian possessions).

The larger part of the French army confronted the Duke of Cumberland in north-western Germany. A smaller French force set-out to join up with an Imperial army in central Germany to threaten the Prussian position in Saxony. Through the late Summer Frederick played a cat and mouse game with the French in the western Saxon region. As soon as the King showed his face, the French would withdraw. When his back was turned (to counter the against the Austrians in the Silesian theatre) the French stuck their noses out again. In conjunction with the Imperial or  Reichsarmee.

The Reichsarmee was a conglomeration of all the states of the Holy Roman Empire. About 2,000 of them. Well some of them. It excluded Brandenburg (Prussia), Austria and Bohemia (though Austria leant some cavalry units and light troops), Hanover and some other Protestant states allied to Britain and Prussia. Saxony was knocked out of the reckoning by the Prussians in 1756. What remained were mainly small states  - some contributing company or battalion sized units - some good, some indifferent and some downright poor. What really hampered the Reichsarmee was the fact it was drawn from so many small states - some regiments were made up of contributions from many statelets who had not served together for a generation or more. The infantry regiment of Baden-Baden was made up of 42 contingents, and the Hohenzollern cuirassier regiment was made up of 61! Another extreme example: the Abbess of Guckenzell was responsible for raising three and a third infantrymen and one-third of a cavalryman. There was no collective peacetime training, only drills and displays in the individual states. Equipment was often dragged from stores in a mouldy, rotten or rusty condition. Quite simply they were, as a whole, not ready for war.

By late October, Frederick had rushed back to Saxony to deal with the French and the Reichsarmee once and for all. And by then, the combined French and Imperial command had grown in confidence. After all, they outnumbered the Prussians 2:1. After a bit more boxing and coxing, the rival hosts ended up camping close to each other on 4th November 1757, near the town of Freyburg. The following morning after a conference, the Allied leaders decided to march their army to the south, closing the route to their line of communication through Freyburg. Seeing the Prussians remaining fixed in their camp, the Franco-Imperialists turned to the east at the village of Zeuchfeld, and continued their march on a route that would bring them due south of the Prussians' position, threatening their flank. Around here the allied columns became mixed up, with the foot and artillery in five bunched columns on platoon frontages, and the cavalry out in front. The Prince of Sachsen-Hildburgausen, in command of the Imperialists and notionally the  senior of the two allied commanders, saw an opportunity to get across the Prussians line of communications and urged his French allies to press on. After initial resistance, Soubise in command of the French agreed.

Table size superimposed on map from Duffy's Prussia's Glory: Rossbach and Leuthen 1757. I'll maybe kick off from when the allies have begun their march. The scale is wrong on this map, by the way. The scale should show 2 miles (or km) not 4. I checked against other maps and the current satellite map of the area.

At this point the Prussian king finally accepted the entreaties of his senior officers to respond. Orders were issued and the Prussian tents were quickly packed away and the whole army began an eastward march in parallel to the enemy. Observing that the Prussians were countering his intentions, Hildburghausen urged a faster pace and the cavalry spurred on a ahead. The Prussian horse, also in the van, riding quicker than the Allies, rounded the Janus Hill, and formed up at the crest. From there they charged the slightly disorganised Imperialists, and after a hard fight routed them and then followed up and dished out the same treatment to the French cavalry.

Meanwhile the Prussian infantry wheeled southwards in one extended line. With heavy guns firing overhead, they swung, in Duffy's words, 'like a closing door' onto the on-coming columns of French and Imperialist infantry. By now, the Prussian cavalry had reformed on the southern flank of the hapless foe, and delivered the charge that finally broke the enemy infantry. The carnage was immense. To the Prussian 500 dead and wounded, the allies could count 5,000 dead and wounded and 5,000 prisoners. The allied army was effectively out of the campaign for many months, and Fritz was free to march the core of his army back to Silesia for a showdown with the Austrians.

Next post, a bit more on the planned game. Orders of battle and some thoughts on the scenario victory conditions.