Russian Campaign at Michael's - Part 4

(Click here or click on the Campaign 09: Russia menu item to see all the parts with the latest at the top)

The Battle of Smolensk continues! Our little 6mm Adler Napoleonic men are fighting for their lives.


The centre and right of the Battle of Smolensk.

The attacks continue in the centre by the Polish, on the right by Ney's Corps and on the left by the Westphalians. All 3 were making slight headway. It's always a hard slog fighting Russians.


Napoleon and his staff overlook Ney's progress on the right flank.

In the centre, the Poles manage to rout a number of Russian infantry and push some of their cavalry to the rear. A large portion of the remaining enemy infantry are forced into square which in turn forces more enemy cavalry to be drawn into the fight. Eventually the French cavalry bust a hole in the line and push through it only to find a counter attack on their flank forces them to rout. But not before they managed to scare away another 2 Russian cavalry regiments.

Russian lancers manage a flank opportunity charge that routs 1 regiment and forces the other to flee.

On the right hand side of the battle, Ney is committed to a very tactical struggle for the ridgeline and the gap between it and Smolensk to link up with the Polish and push deeper into the centre of the enemy location. Earlier in the hour, the Hessians managed to punch a hole through which Ney is trying to exploit.


Ney's cavalry waits to exploit any give in the Russian line.

The struggle for the ridgeline and are between it and Smolensk on the left.

Further back, an entire Cuirassier Corps waits impatiently in their saddles. 5000+ men is a lot to try and hold back, but their time will come.

A close up of the lead brigade of the Cuirassier Corps.

Back on my side of the battle, the Emperor Napoleon has entrusted the attack on the left flank to me with 2 divisions of Westphalian Infantry and 3 brigades of cavalry. I progressed well, pushing through their Cossack skirmish screen and crashed into their front line made up of 72 guns and a number of grenadier infantry. My goal? To cause as much havoc as possible in order to draw in Russian reserves and Guard formations.


My attack so far on the left. You can see one of my divisions engaged in close combat to the left of the ridgeline while a fresh division waits behind. At the top left, my lancer brigade stares down Russian Hussars while my Cuirassier brigade falls in line behind the infantry at the bottom. Further to the bottom right is an attached French light cavalry brigade.

At the beginning of the hour, I managed to overrun a number of batteries of enemy artillery or force them to flee in horror. The enemy lines were now open to engage their infantry. This where my little Westphalians started to faulter. Going gun to gun with Grenadiers will not last long. But I had depth on my side and combined arms. I still lost a lot of good men.

My right brigade of infantry, so elated at overrunning so many enemy guns earlier in the hour, 2 of the 6 battalions were charged and broke and ran while the rest was now embroiled in a horrific firefight with russian Grenadiers.


A close up of the firefight with the right hand side brigade.

My left brigade, a portion of which had gone to line to engage the guns was now charged by a grenadier regiment and one of the battalions broke.




My front line at the end of the hour after both brigades take a beating from Russian Grenadiers.

On my extreme left, which is the extreme left of the battle, my Lancer brigade fights with a Russian Hussar brigade and both bounce back to recompose themselves. At the end of the hour, the gap is closed again and it looks at though they will come to grips with each other again, neither one willing to back down.



to be continued ...

(Click here or click on the Campaign 09: Russia menu item to see all the parts with the latest at the top)