This was the fictional battle fought on 19th August 1813, not the historical one on 14th October 1806 It was the final climatic battle of our latest 1813 PBEM campaign.
The campaign opened with three French corps crossing the river Saale, determined to push east and take Gera. The Russian army counter attacked and on the first day fought, and won, three major battles. By nightfall all three French corps were streaming back towards the river.
Next day one of the three French corps were cut off from the river and forced to surrender.
The river Saale is a strong defensive position, and offered Napoleon his only chance of recovering from this setback. He reduced his three remaining corps to two divisions each, and formed a new corps also of two divisions. His reduced army was just able to hold the full line of the river.
Wittgenstein, the Russian CinC, hesitated to order a frontal attack on a defended river line. He also had to regroup and resupply his own divisions. This allowed Napoleon sufficient time to complete his reorganisation.
When the Russian attack finally came they crossed the river in the north and centre. The odds were three to two in their favour. They routed the French in the north, but had to struggle in the centre to take Jena. The town was held by Napoleon with four divisions, including the Imperial Garde. The Russians took two days of heavy fighting to take the town. By the end of the second day three of the four French divisions were broken and in rout. The retreat was covered by the Old Guard.
Both armies started the campaign with 52,000 men.
The French lost 18,600
The Russians lost 9,500
Despite the above the French had fought a clever campaign, and had kept the Russians guessing right to the end.
The biggest mistake was to fight three battles on day one when the whole army attempted to cross the river Saale at the same time. They lost all three battles, and one of the three corps was forced to surrender in attempting to cross back to the west bank.
The French never really recovered from this setback.
Despite the run of French defeats each battle provided us with an interesting wargame, and often a very close fought one.
At five months the campaign was slightly longer than I would have wished. There were long periods of inactivity between battles, caused by reorganising and resupply, which some players may have found boring? But I would rate it as the most enjoyable PBEM so far.
The full battle report for Jena Day Two will appear on the campaign diary blog in the next day or two.
A summary of the whole campaign, with maps showing daily locations, will follow shortly
You can find the campaign diary blog here
1813geracampaign.blogspot.com
The next phase of the 1813 campaign will be set in North West Spain and will be the Anglo-Spanish attempt to take that city.
