"Opportunity charge" Topic

Some quick crowd sourcing, if you will.

I'm looking for some simple examples from 18th or 19th century warfare where a formation attempting line replacement in the face of the enemy was hit by an opportunity charge which routed it.

or even when a badly shot up unit was being 'replaced' in the line and this manoever triggered an op charge by the enemy to great effect.

i know they are out there, but the closest I can place just now is Albruera where firepower stopped the french changing formation into line, which is not quite the same thing.

Chickamauga?
But that was purely accidental. And lucky.

At Liegnitz, 15 August, 1760, Duffy describes on page 254 of By Force of Arms, "in an attempt to save his grenadiers from complete destruction Loudon sought to bring his two lines of fusiliers into position on the right (northern) flank of the "corps de reserve"…. About half past four in the morning, the Prussians were extending and thickening their line and erupting in a series of violent counterattacks. …the Anhalt-Bernberg (3) regiment was burning to make up for their disgrace at the siege of Dresden (Frederick took away their hat lace), while the Prussian cavalry managed to ride down the files of infantry (probably the Austrian second line) which were marching up through the trees, and mistook the approaching squadron for friends.

It seems to me that 2nd Torgau had many more such examples – a truly confusing and bloody battle!

GdeP

Liegnitz is the classic example of somebody doing it deliberately. In retrospect it seems that many of these "opportunity" charges were more like "lucky coincidence" charges.

We do not like "opportunity charges" in Our wargame rules.

Russian dragoons, hussars and cossacks charging into the remains of the VII Corps as it tried to regroup and then withdraw at Eylau may be a good example. The two divisions were trying to toss forward what few troops they had while pulling their front waves back and the Russian cavalry all charged into the mess, the brigades became intermingled and then Napoleon sent Murat's cavalry in what turned out as a pretty piece-meal charge. Murat's cavalry ended up stuck behind the Russian infantry which reformed, then Nappy sent the Guard Cavalry in to get them out. All the time the VII Corps troops streaming backwards towards the French main line. It becomes hard to break it down on a per unit level without just retyping Arnold's book on Eylau but he details it very well and it is perhaps an example of what you're talking about.

Cheers,

The Bandit

Good description, Bandit!
(Better than I was trying to write, by far!)

OK, then one could add :
Just about anytime the French would try to change formation during the retreat, the shadowing Cossacks and native irregular cavalry swarmed in. If the French got up a formed column, square or faced them in a deployed line firing, the Cossacks et al would disperse. Only to jump back in again, and again, and again.

It was their SOP, to use the modern expression.

thanks guys