Ulrichstein Campaign resumes...

As the first day of March, 1739, dawned fine and clear, both sides of the conflict - Rebels and Imperialists, together with their respective allies, at once lurched into motion.  For the Rebels, camped about Zerbst - the only town in their possession - the situation was fraught with danger.  An Electoral Corps was established to the east at Seehausen on the Elbow River.  Their numbers were established as not much larger than the Rechburg Allied contingent, but it could not be ignored.  More worrying was the presence to the south of the Imperialists in much larger numbers.  Baron Glockenspiel stood at Bernburg with the army to had been victorious the previous year, and the redoubtable Archduke Piccolo, further off at Ulrichsburg, would no doubt be joining his colleague very shortly.

The dilemma that faced Marshal Antoine Noailles, the Rebel army commander, was not easy to resolve.  His numbers overall were fewer than the Imperialists', and the quality of his rebel troops was inferior into the bargain. The alliance of Rechburg regulars did not fully compensate for these disadvantages. But he did have one edge: the central position.  He could strike at the enemy separated.  Clearly it would be folly to leave one road unguarded whilst marching towards one enemy column; yet it were equally foolish to split his forces evenly.  He had to mass against the one and leave a holding force to face the other.

Cavalry clash at Dichtwald on the Bernburg-Zerbst road.  Imperialist
Dragoons and Hussars in the foreground.

Ideally, if he could strike at Glockenspiel before the Archduke joined him, he could then turn upon Plodt's corps, drive that back, and try conclusions finally against the Imperialists combined.   But it was more than likely Glockenspiel would refuse action until Piccolo joined him.  Reluctantly, Noailles shelved that scheme.  That left an immediate strike at the Electoral corps.  For this he would take his entire Rebel Army, and leave the small Rechburg contingent to delay the Imperialists for the few days required to smash Plodt's force and retrace his steps betimes.  At the Council of War in the last days of February, Marshal Noailles had thrashed out his scheme, argued down the dissenters, and found a ready ally in Count Raunchfester.

Rechburg Heavies: Klutzenputz Cavalry.  First Squadron
Schaggenstein Uhlans covers their left; 2nd Squadron lurks
behind Dichtwald to strike in flank any Inperialist horse who
make it past the Heavies.

The leading squadrons charge and countercharge.

Meanwhile, the Archduke sent to Glockenspiel to advance without waiting for him, and endeavour if he could to develop the strength and intentions of the rebels.  True, much had been learned from Catholic sympathisers in Zerbst, just as he had no doubt that the rebels knew much about his own forces from Protestant sympathisers in the south.  He had been in occasional touch with General Plodt over the last weeks, but that independent commander seemed to have his own agenda - or that of his Master the Elector. Fortunately, that inscrutable commander seemed keen to advance upon Zerbst and bring a speedy end to the rebellion.  For his own part, knowing that Glockenspiel's Horse comprised lights and mediums, Piccolo send on ahead one of his three Heavy regiments, the 21st Trautmannsdorf Cuirassiers, whilst his own corps set off after it.

On his own initiative, Glockenspiel at once marched forth.  So from the first day of March, the whole north of Ulrichstein was astir with marching armies.

Rechburg Horse get much the better
of the first clash: 8 'hits' to 1

Eight 'hits' become 6 Imperialist casualties;
Rechburg loses 1 Uhlan

The first clash occurred upon the morning of the third, as the respective cavalry contingents made contact.  Feeling he could afford the risks involved, Glockenspiel ordered his horse to drive in the enemy picquets, grand guards and squadrons right back onto the main body.  It soon became clear that he had to deal with Rechburg regulars.  The Imperialists had the numbers; the Rechburgers the weight.  In charge and countercharge the lighter Imperialist horse could make no headway, and were heavily mauled in the attempt.  Though one Rechburg squadron fled, and the Imperialists drew off in surprisingly good order, the effort had been a failure, at a cost of more than double Rechburg losses.

The Imperialist 2nd Squadrons
 counter-charge the now disordered
 Rechburg 1st Squadrons.
They score 8 hits to 6,
But this translates to 4 Rechburg
 casualties to 5 Imperialist. 

Imperialist troops fall back.
 One Uhlan squadron
 can beseen fleeing in the distance,
but the rest of the Rechburg
horse are standing fast.

Sharp though the rebuff was, Glockenspiel bore it with his usual sangfroid.  To gain something, he had risked little enough.  During the evening of the following day, the Cuirassiers despatched by Piccolo joined Glockenspiel's corps, and the advance resumed the next morning.  It was not long before the Rechburg commander revealed his hand.  As the Imperialist columns approached the small sinuous stream, Schlangewasser, they could see beyond the blue coats of Gimmeitor-Oels regiment drawn up across the road.

Fourth March:  the Imperialists find the Rechburgers
astride the road...

Meanwhile, from far to the east, came the faint rumblings of a cannonade.  It seemed that Marshal Noailles had run into the Electoral corps as well...

To be continued...

The Ulrichstein Rebellion: bloodied, but unbowed... ....

My apologies to readers who have had to endure a considerable wait for this instalment to appear.  The article was finished a week ago, but I needed some pictures...  In the meantime my thanks go out to recent additions to my list of followers, the latest four being Geordie (an exiled fog), Mini Mike, Grenzer John and Tim Gow.

THE STORY RESUMES... That the troops of Rechburg crossed in numbers rather fewer than the "Herzog's whole power', showed merely that Rumour was a jade given more to exaggeration than to lying.  Planning indeed to intervene in far greater strength, the Herzog Paulus found his schemes upset by a ticklish situation that had suddenly erupted upon the Herzogtum's border with Bergatonia.  In this, he fancied he discerned the Emperor's long reach, picking at the scab of the running sore that characterised relations between Rechburg and Bergatonia.  Choleric and suspicious, Prince Rupprecht required little goading into violent action, and less persuasion if he thought the goad was being applied by the Herzog's hand.  The gradual onset of bodily decrepitude was not affecting the mind of Emperor Violoncello, withal, nor his habitual exploitation of any and all opportunities to improve the chances of success of any of his enterprises.  The Herzog's suspicion was right on the money, for all the good it did him.

Ewige-Blumenkraft and Gimmeitor-Oels
Infantry in the service of the Herzogtum von Rechburg.

But it was the precipitate, and as he saw it, premature advance by the rebels that gave Herzog Paulus cause to fulminate so explosively upon receipt of the news that his Ministers feared an apoplexy.  At length calming down, he limited the help he was prepared to invest in the Ulrichstein affair, given that the return was likely to be less tangible than he had earlier counted upon.  The Emperor's belief that the Herzog hoped to profit territorially from the unhappiness in Ulrichstein was founded in his sure knowledge of Paulus's ambition, and that to gain much, the Herzog was prepared to invest much.  But limited likely returns drew much less enthusiasm from the cautious Duke.  No poker player, he!

Ewige-Blumenkraft Infantry displaying its new flag. The golden double-headed raptor
symbolises Herzog Paulus's soon to be announced title of Defender of the Pure Faith.

Antoine Noailles was marching too soon; Antoine Noailles would (probably) suffer a terrible defeat; Antoine Noailles would have much to answer for.  So thought the Herzog.  It seemed likely the rebellion was doomed.  Yet His Grace well knew that if he was ever going to realise much influence in Ulrichstein, he would have to make a credible gesture of some kind.  So, rather sooner than he had intended, a small column of horse, foot and guns, under command of General Count Sigurd von Raunchfester, crossed the Ulrichstein border on the very morning the rebels were stopped cold at Lobrau.

The Rechburg contingent, small enough in all conscience, comprised the following:

GOC General Count Sigurd von Raunchfester
Ewige-Blumenkraft Infantry ... 36 figs (720 foot)
Gimmeitor-Oels Infantry ... 36 figures (720 foot)
Count von Klutzenputz Cavalry ... 16 figures (320 troopers)
Schaggenstein Uhlans ... 16 figures (320 troopers)
1st Field Company, Rechburg Artillery ... 10 figures, 2 guns (200 men, 8 pieces)

Flags of the Rechburg Infantry (in my world of Europeia).
 The mid blue and madder red belong to the Ewige-Blumenkraft and
Gimmeitor-Oels Infantry respectively. Barely visible in the
 central shield is the cypher of Herzog Paulus.
These were made using the Microsoft  'Paint' software.

No great field force, it is true - just 114 figures and 2 guns (2280 men and 8 guns), yet with it, Count Raunchfester hoped to salvage something from the rebellion that seemed to him headed for disaster.  Things were not promising.  This was despite the exaggerated news  of Rechburg's intervention causing Baron Glockenspiel's Imperialists to pause, a delay prolonged by a lengthy spell of bad weather that kept the Imperial Army movebound for the time being.  Somewhere to the south behind them it was rumoured that the Archduke Piccolo was marching to join the baron's corps; with what force could only be conjectured.  Finally, messengers from the east relayed the unwelcome tidings that the Kurfurst Phoenix of Altmark-Uberheim had, in answer the Emperor's call,  marched into Seehausen and pressed into the place a sizeable garrison.  Reportedly under one of the Kurfurst's more deliberate commanders, this force was thought to comprise:

General Plodt's infantry.  From nearest camera:
49th Diericke Fusiliers. 1st Winterfeldt Infantry,
 Blankenstein Pandour Regiment.

GOC Helmut Plodt 
Winterfeldt Infantry ...36 figs (720)
Diericke Fusiliers...32 figs (640)
Blankenstein Pandour Regiment...19 figs (380)
Prittwitz Cavalry... 19 figs (380)
von Ruesch (Black) Hussars ... 19 figs (380)
Field Company Altmark Artillery  10 figs, 2 guns..(200. 8 guns)

Total Altmark-Uberheim:
87 foot figs, 38 horse, 10 artillery 2 guns - 135 figs and 2 guns
(1740 foot, 760 horse, 200 artillery - 2700 with 8 guns)

Truth be told, although Noailles, the other rebel leaders, and their sponsoring merchants welcomed the intervention and help from Rechburg, they were equally inclined to hold the Herzog's motives more than a little suspect.  They sought some kind of independence from Ulrichsburg; an end to tithes (which really amounted to a secular tax of his Protestant subjects so far as His Most Catholic Excellency the Bishop was concerned); freedom from the Excise Tax for the merchant classes (which amounted to the freedom to impose their own excise taxes); and if possible the creation of a 'Holy Republicke of Godde' in Ulrichstein.  If the whole country could not be brought into this republic, then secession of the Protestant cities would have been an acceptable 'lesser solution' to the problem.

That the Herzog aspired to to the royal status of 'Koenig' was not only an open secret throughout Europeia, but also tended to undermine the widespread respect that was due to his otherwise upright and open character.  We have already seen that his generosity was contingent upon his ambition.   What the rebel leaders did not want was to tranfer their subjugation from 'His Excellency' to 'His Grace', even if the latter was a co-religionist.  For one thing, they would have been subject to the Rechburg excise regime, and it seemed likely that their riverine mercantile importance would fall into decline compared with the maritime commerce among Rechburg's seaports.  For descendants of Gascon and Huguenot refugee merchants and exiled shipping magnates, such an outcome was not to be borne.

Altmark-Uberheim Horse travelling through thick country:
The Black Hussars, and the von Prittwitz Cavalry.
Pandours scour the woodlands against any ambush.

Such was the motive behind the apparently premature advance of Antoine Noailles's army.  Its success would have gained for its leaders a great deal.  It was the magnitude rather than the fact of its failure that threatened to bring the uprising at once to an end.

Reaching Zerbst shortly after dark, Count Raunchfester very soon heard of the Ulrichstein rebels' sorry defeat at Lobrau.  By nightfall the few well mounted of the fugitives from that battle began arriving in the town.   There the Rechburg Count quickly arranged, after due consultation with the town's governing body, for the remnants of Noailles's force to be rounded up for reabsorbtion into a reconstituted insurrectionist army.  Over the next few days the survivors of the defeat trickled in, until at last, accompanied by the I Battalion -  almost the only unit still in good order - a weary and dishevelled Antoine Noailles reported his return.

His failure brought upon his head no particular blame, but rather continued confidence and resolution among the rebel leadership.  They had known the risks.  They remained prepared to accept them.  That Count Raunchfester refrained for his part from even the mildest rebuke was not mere tact, but policy.  However limited the Herzog's contribution, he certainly wished for its success.

For the time being, it was the weather that proved the salvation of the uprising.  Within a day of the Lobrau action, the heavens opened and brought all military movement to a halt.  Late as the season was, it came as little surprise to anyone that the quick succession of storms of rain, hail, sleet and snow put a final term to the campaign of 1738.

Antoine Noailles's dilemma:  whom to attack first?

As the Imperialist commanders accepted the inevitable delays with as much philosophical patience as they could muster, they brought up recruits to replace their losses.  Archduke Piccolo kept his troops about Ulrichstein, partly to ease the supply situation, but also in hopes that the rebels would never really discover his strength.

The two Imperial corps comprised:
GOC Marshal Baron von Glockenspiel (at Bernburg)
Hildberghausen Infantry  ... 36 figs
Alt Colloredo Infantry ... 36 figs
Baden-Durlach Infantry ... 36 figs
Khevenhuller Dragoons ... 19 figs
Nadasty Hussars ... 19 figs
1st Field Company ... 10 figs, 2 guns

GOC-in-C Archduke Piccolo (at Ulrichsburg)
Line Infantry ... 36 figs
Esterhazy Infantry ... 36 figs
1st Feldjagerkorps ... 19 figs
Trautmannsdorf Cavalry ... 19 figs
Birkenfeld Cavalry ... 19 figs
Anhalt-Zerbst Cavalry ... 19 figs
2nd Field Coy ... 10 figs and 2 guns.

Total by Imperial troops (Trockenbeeren-Auslese)
199 foot figs, 95 horsed, 20 artillery - 314 figs with 4 guns
(3980 foot, 1900 horse, 600 artillery - 6280 troops with 16 guns.

Meanwhile, His Excellency had been buying up and gathering what corn he could to accompany the army and supply the shortages he knew the northern cities continued to endure.  That a large proportion were in the event eaten up by the Imperial troops was due simply to the exigencies of the situation.  At least the town and countryfolk about Ulrichsburg and Bernburg did not starve.

The Uprising had its reprieve, and made the most of it.  Such volunteers that presented themselves were welcomed into the army, most criminals took the offer of freedom in exchange for military service, and the merchants' gold brought in mercenaries from far and wide.  In a breathtaking piece of effrontery, the captain of the merchant vessel Passepartout, calling in at Seehausen carrying a large consignment of uniforms of Britannican make destined for Jotun-Erbsten, made over the entire cargo to the rebel cause.  Under the very noses of the Electoral troops occupying the place - the Elector had ordered that normal commerce be allowed as much as possible to continue - bales of uniforms were smuggled into local warehouses, and thence in small consignments over several weeks up the road to Zerbst.  The outraged howls from Britannica and Jotun-Erbsten were silenced partly by gold, but mostly be the feigned ignorance of all parties as to the fate and whereabouts of Passepartout and her cargo.  It was true, however, that a certain Scaramouche vessel, under a master with a different name, flying a different flag, and carrying a different rig, drew suspicion on account of its similarity to the infamous but lost Passepartout.  The vessel disappeared into the North Sea and no trace of her was otherwise ever found.

Now uniformly attired  - only 1st Battalion, on account of its fine performance at Lobrau were allowed to retain their brown coats - the Rebel army began to assume the likeness of a regular army.  But Marshal Noailles  and the other commanders knew that their army remained a uniformed rabble.  The mercenaries knew their trade, but as no formed body of such troops ever arrived, even the units thus raised presented far less cohesion than desired.  It had to be hoped that the Rechburg contingent would supply the solid kernel the Army badly needed.

Ulrichstein Rebel Army: GOC-in-C Marshal Antoine Noailles
1st brigade:  Marshal-General Ritter von Rancke
1st, 2nd, 8th, 11th Battalions e@ 19 figs .... Total 76 figs (1520 foot)

2nd Brigade:  Colonel Maximilien Grandmarnier
3rd, 4th, 9th Battalions e@ 19 figs .... Total 57 figs (1140 foot)

3rd Brigade:  General Arnim von Arnim
5th, 6th, 10th Battalions e@ 19 figs ...Total 57 figs (1140 foot)

Cavalry Brigade:  General Maxim Trumpeter
1st, 2nd Cavalry; 3rd Hussars e@ 15 figs .... Total 45 figs (900 horse)

Army Troops:
7th (Jager) Battalion: @ 19 figs 
1st, 2nd Field Company @ 10 figs, 2 guns ... Total 39 figs, 4 guns. (780 all ranks; 16 pieces)

Total Rebel Force;
209 foot figs, 45 horse, 20 gunners - 274 with 4 guns
(4180 foot, 900 horse, 400 artillery - 5480 with 16 guns)

Together with their Rechburg allies, the Rebels could field a respectable force of 7760 troops with 24 guns (i.e.338 figures and 6 guns).  But against them, the Imperialists could bring greater numbers, and better trained.

As January ice and snow thawed into February's glutenous mud and gelatinous mire, training went apace within the towns' plazas throughout the Bishopric.  February dried out into March, and the first bright sunny day that promised more to come.  At once the armies were on the move.  Lying at Zerbst, Antoine and his generals had discussed all winter how to respond to the superior strength arrayed against them. But how?  That was the question.

We'll supply their decision next time.

Liebster Award. An Award, forsooth!

The Liebster Award

I have been awarded an award... twice!  Far out!

My thanks to Gowan Ditchburn and to Mike the Mad Padre.

I do appreciate your comments in re this blogspot.

Now, of course, I must reciprocate in some way.  Let's see what the instructions had to say:

"- Copy and paste the award on your blog linking it to the blogger who has given it to you.

- Pass the award to your top 5 favourite blogs with less than 200 followers by leaving a comment on one of their posts to notify them that they have won the award and listing them on your own blog.- Sit back and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing that you have just made someone's day!- There is no obligation to pass this on to anyone else but it is nice if you do."

I like the sitting back and basking, bit... 

Now, I appreciate that there is an element of 'chain letter' to this exercise, but I've decided to take it at face value for what it's worth: some positive feedback from appreciative readers, and to acknowledge the enjoyment given me by the blogsters I've mentioned below.  Of course, these are just a few of many blogspots that have given me entertainment, inspiration and food for thought over the last two or three years.

Here are 5 of my favorites that I do not believe have yet received the Liebster Award:

- Kingdom of Katzenstein - especially his Imagi-Nation: Kingdom of Katzenstein;

- Gonsalvo at Blunders on the Danube - for a blog chock full of interest and useful info;

- Paul of Pauly Wauly's Wargames Blog in particular his well presented 18th Century Imaginations, but check out Pauly Wauly's Other Blogspot as well;

- Andrew of Random and Creative - an engagingly original extempore approach to wargaming;

- ...and Phil Olley for his Classic wargaming - for mine, a very nostalgic roam among the Classics of the wargame genre: Young & Lawford's Charge! and Charles Grant's The War Game.

Meanwhile, I'm still putting together the next instalment of the Ulrichstein campaign as it unfolded in  the Europeia of the Wholly Romantic Empire...  

Ulrichstein Revisited...

Imperialist Foot: Hilberghausen Infantry

Imperialist Foot

At the beginning of 2011, Barry (the Herzog von Rechburg in real life) and I began an Imagi-Nations campaign that I had set in a bishopric bordering both Rechburg and the Imperial lands.  Unfortunately, just as the thing was getting started, and the background being laid out (whilst Barry was recruiting up an army for his Dukedom), a large earthquake hit this burg, and the whole project had to be put on hold.  My end wasn't too bad, but it did make hay with a lot of my wargames stuff that had to be sorted and repaired, and things had later to be stored away to make room for house repairs.  Barry was in worse case - even had to move house - which led to his making a decision that was going to affect the future conduct of this campaign.

The thing was intended to be a 'starter campaign' only in any case, preparatory to something more ambitious later on.  Nevertheless, it required some background, which I published in this blogspot in January and February 2011 (in these links you'll have to ignore the AWI skirmishes...).

Imperialist Horse

In summary, the Bishopric of Ulrichstein, had enjoyed eighty-nine years' peace and quiet among its industrious and amiable population, despite a strong religious divide between its Catholic and Protestant inhabitants.  Nominally Catholic, its Bishop Cornelius Hendricus ter Plonck (a scion of a Dutch family that never accepted the doctrines of Luther and Calvin) was its Head of State, very much a Servant of God in a New testament way, but not especially effective as a temporal ruler.  This peace and amity was shaken badly by the severe rains and flooding of the late summer of 1738, which caused a widespread failure of the harvest.  The subsequent starvation and suffering, struck especially hard in the Northern, predominantly Protestant regions of the Bishopric.

Despite the Bishop's efforts to alleviate the shortages - Cornelius never did discover what really happened to the grain reserves that were shipped north from the Ulrichsburg granaries - inanition and want persisted well into the autumn.  Starvation led to mutterings, mutterings to unrest, unrest to an explosion of violence: riots, arson, and worse.  Rioters invaded the warehouses of merchants, but such hoarded grain they found was largely wasted, trampled underfoot or burnt as the frustrated townspeople of Zerbst and Seehausen vented their frustrated rage.

Imperialist Horse: Khevenhuller Dragoons.

Principality of Ursaminor: Artillery.

Princess Ursula inspecting her infantry.

The violence was particularly severe in Zerbst, close to the northern border.  In fear for their lives and livelihoods, the City Fathers appealed to Ulrichsburg for help in keeping order, whereat the commander of the tiny Ulrichstein Army - the Diocesan Guard - at once marched north, leaving behind a mere company of foot and a section of artillery in the Capital to carry out its usual ceremonial functions.  Somehow in the week it took Colonel von Smallhausen to bring his small force north, word spread in Zerbst and beyond, that the Bishop had resolved to profit from the situation and bring the schismatic northerners back to their Catholic allegiance..  The City Fathers forgot that it was their own request that was bringing the Diocesan Guard north; the lesser orders reacted to the scare by assaulting known Catholics.  The call went out to create a militia to defend the town against the Bishop's army, under the command of a one-time mercenary, Ritter von Rancke, who immediate assumed the title Marshal-General of Zerbst.

Princess Ursula watches her cavalry gallop past.

The revolt had begun, almost by accident.  Order might yet have been restored, but the Diocesan Guard was refused entry into Zerbst.  In Freiherr von Smallhausen, the exiguous Army of Ulrichstein had a master of ceremonial and proper address, but beneath the dazzling uniform of the Colonel of the Guard, beat as martial a heart as any who sought and won glory upon the field of battle.  Refused entry, he gleefully forced his way into the town, stormed across the townsmen's makeshift barricades and burst into the central Plaza.  The ferocity of Smallhausen's attack dismayed the defenders, and as the Grenadiers smashed through the barrier guarding the Plaza, the remaining townsmen fled.

Grand Duchy of M'yasma: Horse

M'yasma Foot

Order restored, an uneasy armistice fell across the Bishopric.  Ritter von Rancke's defence of Zerbst elevated him into heroic status, but it soon emerged that the real spirit of rebellion was being sustained by a merchant adventurer of Huguenot extraction, one Francois Noailles.  Actively but quietly recruiting more troops for the rebellion, he soon assembled an army of all arms - some eight foot battalions, though at one regiment and two sections, the rebels were short of horse and guns.  Many of the burghers of the northern town placed their hopes and wishes upon their  fellow Protestant, the ambitious and not over-scrupulous Herzog Paulus of Rechburg.

The Storming of Zerbst by the Diocesan Guard

As the autumn of 1738 deepened, Noailles revealed his hand.  The company von Smallhausen had left in Zerbst hastily withdrew, followed the stones of the townsmen and women, then by the ill-trained near-rabble of Noaille's army.  One again the gallant Colonel took the field, but it was already apparent that his tiny command, however better trained, was unlikely to overcome odds of six to one.

Meanwhile, the eyes of several interested parties from outside the State were fixed upon the events unfolding in Ulrichstein.  The Herzog Paulus (Duke Paul) of Rechburg found in the increasing chaos there a number of opportunities that could redound to the benefit of his realm, up to and including annexation of much of the Bishopric into his own territories.  Strident appeals from Ulrichstein reached the desks of his Foreign Ministry, citing atrocities (largely fictitious) committed by Catholics against Protestants, and painting the Bishop Cornelius himself in colours so (unjustly) black that it seemed that Bishop Hatto* had once more been visited upon the world.  It was clear he would have to intervene, and soon, but for that, the Herzog would be extracting a price.

Imperialist Foot: Alt-Colloredo Infantry

Imperialist Foot: Hildberghausen Infantry

Far off in Schnitzel, the Imperial capital, the octogenarian Emperor Violoncello had been keeping if anything a closer eye on events.  Foreseeing the harvest failure, he had sent some corn across the border.  Observing the unrest, he had his Marshal Baron Glockenspiel conduct 'exercises' three days' march from the border, whilst the Emperor's nephew, Archduke Piccolo, also began gathering troops together much closer to the capital.  The moment a letter requesting help arrived at Schnitzel, borne by the hand of Bishop ter Plonck's own Envoy, the order went out to march, Glockenspiel to Ulrichstein, Piccolo to follow.   In the meantime, the Emperor had also requested contingents to be assembled from the other Imperial realms.   Suspecting the Herzog Paulus to be behind the revolt - supporting it at least - Violoncello had his agents busy sowing what rumours they could in other courts, and along the Bergovia-Rechburg border.

Battle of Lobrau:  Imperialist Foot advance into battle.

Diocesan Guard at Lobrau

Hastened by an urgent message from Col. v. Smallhausen, Baron Glockenspiel cut short the ceremonial greetings offered by Bishop ter Plonck, and marched to the aid of his Ally.  At nightfall he made contact with the latter close by the village of Lobrau, nestling beneath a line of ridges to the north.  Upon the heights, the two commanders could see stretching along their length several campfires.  Clearly Antoine Noailles's plan was to hold the heights and hope that the Diocesan and Imperial troops would dash themselves to pieces in attempting an attack.  Why he had advanced without waiting for the Herzog's help was unclear, though he allowed afterwards that he hoped that a victory would effectively have placed the rebellious north in a position to secede from the Bishopric and form a State independent not only of Ulrichsburg, but also of any substantial obligation to Rechburg.

Colonel von Smallhausen's sketch plan of Lobrau,
 with Baron Glockenspiel's attack plan  pencilled over.

The follow day's battle began shortly after daybreak and the rebel army was reeling, shattered and breaking over the hills shortly after midday.  The Imperialist foot, attacking frontally in the centre smashed down the opposition between the tavern and the village, whilst Smallhausen's tiny force held the left flank.  So thorough did the victory seem that Glockenspiel and von Smallhausen thought the revolt was over, then and there.

Baron Glockenspiel's army advancing.
Upon the ridges, the Ulrichstein rebels wait 

But that evening word came back from the cavalry leading the pursuit.  It said that that very morning the Herzog of Rechburg had crossed the border into Ulrichstein with all his power...

To be continued...

Note: some of the pics accompanying this posting are relevent only insofar as they depict troops belonging to several States within the Wholly Romantic Empire.

*Bishop Hatto?  Google it! :-)

Intermezzo: Encounter at Chilyabunnsk - concluded.

Continuing from my last posting, I had decided my main effort was to to be on my right, the Tank Company being accompanied by two rifle platoons and the mortar company.   The intention was to seize the ridge beyond the stream, eventually to line the crest with the mortars to support the further advance on that axis by the tanks and infantry.  A German light tank, edging around the woods fronting the stream discovered the error of its ways and was swiftly knocked out on the road.

But the Germans rather got the ridge first - or at least had reached a point at which too hasty an advance by my cheloveks was going to be extremely hazardous.

For all that, a section of Nr2 Platoon did occupy the edge of the dense thicket lining the headwaters of the creek, and there awaited an attack by the whole of the German 2nd Platoon.

Sure enough, that was where the two forces first collided, the Germans coming on in strength.  The first fires of the Russian infantry felled a few Germans but it was quickly obvious that the line of the stream east of the road would not long be held.  In a brisk exchange of fire, the Russian section gave its all, all ten men dying where they stood, each but one taking an enemy with him.   Quickly the remainder of Nr2 Platoon lined the near edge of the wood to await the German advance therein.

Meanwhile, the StuG Platoon that tried to penetrate the defile between the woods immediately to the north of the town got a swift reminder that the Russian tank company commander was on the qui vive.  The moment the first StuG poked its nose around the corner, it took a fatal hit.  The remaining two sat back for a bit of a think.

As the Russians hesitated on their right flank, the Germans were making use of the time to build up for a massive strike.  Possibly in order to distract the Soviets, or maybe to test their mettle, a PzIV attempted to ease around the east end of the wood.  It also fell victim to accurate effective tank gunnery.

The anticipated surge was not long in coming, but the Russians were waiting for them.  Over the crest came the long line of German tanks, to engage Nr2 Tank Platoon at point blank range.  Outnumbered more than two to one, the latter could, however, count up the support of Nr1 platoon within effective range, and the anti-tank rifles of 1st Rifle Platoon.   

Accurate so far across the whole front, the Russian gunnery failed them somewhat under the close pressure.  True, one panzer blew up and caught fire; another suffered heavy damage but was able to continue the fight, whilst the PzIVF2, coming in for special treatment by the right hand T34, escaped with minor damage.  Despite being on the move,  The Germans did better.  Two T34s bit the dust, one immediately bursting into flames, and the survivor made off.  

This was not at all good news for the Soviets, in view of the build up of German strength in the centre.  Oberstleutnant von Ormandy had long since made the decision to commit his reserve panzerjaeger to the centre in support of his armoured left hook, and now he brought up his anti-tank guns as well.  The latter move - the classic German cooperation between tank and anti-tank, was to prove decisive, and in spectacular fashion.

But what was happening on the rest of the front?  With ample armoured resources available, the German commander had made it his policy to apply heavy pressure along the whole front.  His attempted second probe in his right centre suffered a worse fate than the first: a second StuG shuddering smoking to a halt, whereat the survivor fell back a short distance for another rethink.   

On the extreme eastern flank, a brisk firefight had developed between 1st StuG Platoon and the anti-tank guns and rifles lining the wall of the cornfield.  As they approached, they caught the LMG platoon running for the woods, cutting down 4 of their number before they reached cover.  Sweeping around it they were met by heavy and effective anti-tank that put the long-barrelled AFV at once out of action.  But then the inherent vulnerability of anti-tank guns, even in ambush, asserted itself, and they, and #2 Section's ATR were quickly silenced. 

At this point I have to apologize to the reader for the lack of AT guns in these pictures.  I simply forgot to pack the correct box on the day.  So had to substitute Panzer Lehr counters, with green D6s showing crew strength.  I would not have included them in the pictures at all, but they did perform tolerably well on the day, destroying two StuGs, and heavily damaging two others.

Having achieved an early and perhaps lucky success, the German panzers resumed their sweep, the Russian 1st rifle Platoon losing its AT rifle team to tank MG fire and being edged off its river line position.  The mortar company, unable to achieve anything useful in the circumstances, hastily began to fade into the tall timber to their rear, and the Russian 1st Tank Platoon made ready to take on the remaining panzers.

But now the odds were much more heavily against them,  Although they managed to inflict further damage - another panzer knocked out - there was a lot more incoming than outgoing.  For all that, most of the German fire was ineffective, doing hardly any worthwhile damage.  But the gunners of the PaK38 platoon were deadeye veterans of many a battle, each gun taking on a different T34.  Wham!  Wham! two shots, two hits.  Boomph!  Woomph!  Two hits; two knockouts.  His AT guns needing 5s to hit, Tony rolled something like 6 and 7 on his D10;  and  on his D6s for effect: 2 sixes!  You couldn't argue with that!

That was the battle, pretty much. Although the remnants of one of the German panzer platoons fell back over the ridge, the surviving T34 of 1st Platoon also decided against sticking around, and made off to the north.  In this decision he was helped by his Tank commander being brewed up in his vehicle under fire from the StuGs on the distant flank.   

Opposition to the German advance on the right had by now faded away to nothing, and it was going to be a case of sauve qui peut for the Russians remaining.

Yet the Germans knew they had been in a fight to crack the Russian resistance.  Though they had killed or wounded some 35 Soviet infantry and gunners, and destroyed 5 of 7 enemy tanks; though they had successfully secure Chilyabunnsk against Soviet attack for months to come, the price had not come cheap.

Although just 9 infantry were lost, as many as 7 German AFVs were now wrecks, and a further 5 would have to see the inside of a workshop very shortly (had taken a Heavy Damage hit, or, in the case of the PzIVf2, 3 light damage hits - any more damage would have seen that vehicle smoking merrily on the field).

A German victory: undeniably.  But it was one of those occasions in which Col Ivan Andreivitch Dowmanovitchski could sip philosophically his vodka with a splash of vodka and derive a certain satisfaction from the day's events.