"Napoleon's German Campaign 1813" Topic

Does anybody have any recommendations for this please. Preferably aimed at the wargamer, oobs , illustrations, maps, battles and overview.

Petre is always good as a place to start: link

George Nafziger's trilogy:
Lutzen & Bautzen
Napoleon at Dresden
Napoleon at Leipzig

They have excellent OoBs & good maps of the battles. However not written in the best style for an easy read….

Not for the casual reader, nor really wargaming-friendly but Michael Leggiere's books on the war of Liberation are the most complete and thoroughly researched that are currently available.

I'm currently reading Arnold's Napoleon 1813 – readable, informative and recommendable. Only criticisms would be the maps are a little pixelated, as are some of the other images, and not exactly cheap….
napoleonbooks.com

I'd definitely recommend Arnold's books for sourcing wargames

Lieven's book on Russia vs napoleon is also pretty good

I would second Ligniere, Arnold's book is excellent!

Maps
Thanks to Steve H Smith at Napoleon Series Forum

Plan der Schlacht von Gr[oß-]Goerschen den 2ten May 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/236
Die Schlacht von Bautzen den 21ten May 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/237
Schlacht bei Gross Beeren Den 23ten August 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/238
Die Schlacht an der Katzbach den 26ten August 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/239
Treffen bei Hagelsberg den 27ten August 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/240
Die Schlacht an der Katzbach den 26ten August 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/239
Schlacht bei Kulm am 29. und 30.August 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/242
Schlacht bei Dennewitz den 6ten September 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/243
Schlacht bei Wartenburg den 3ten October 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/244
Die Schlacht von Möckern am 16ten October 1813: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/245
Die Schlacht von Laon den 9ten März 1814: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/249
Die Schlacht bei Ligny am 16ten Juny 1815: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/250
Die Schlacht bei La Belle-Alliance am 18ten Juny 1815: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/254
Treffen bei Wavre den 18/19ten Juny 1815: tukart.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/258

[Plane der Schlachten und Treffen, welche von der preussischen Armee in den Feldzügen der Jahre 1813, 14 und 15 geliefert worden 5 parts (1821-1831):
These contain battle descriptions and keys to the plans:
1 – Enthält die Schlachten von Groß-Görschen, Groß-Beeren, Dennewitz und das Treffen von Hagelsberg (1821):
link
2 – Enthält die Schlacht an der Katzbach, den Übergang über die Elbe bei Wartenburg, und die Schlacht bei Möckern (1822):
link
3 – Enthält die Schlachten von Bautzen und von Laon (1824):
link
4 – Enthält den Feldzug in Belgien im Jahre 1815, mit den Plänen der Schlachten von Ligny und Belle-Alliance und des Treffens bei Wabern (1825):
link
5 – Anhang: Die Tage von Dresden und Kulm, in dem Feldzuge 1813 (1831):
link

link Napoleon Series Map Archives – high quality maps on various battles, campaigns, & other items of interest on the Napoleonic Wars. Maps from variety of sources and about 75% of them are in colour.
link As below, but in this case the entire public domain book and all maps have been digitized and converted into a pdf download for FREE, courtesy of archive.org!
link Nearly 120 maps of Napoleonic battles and campaigns, plus Siborne's maps of 1815.

Or just start with the osprey campaigns…

Wow! Wonderful resources! Thanks a lot for posting them!

Loads of options there, thank you.

Do they appendix in Arnold's Napoleon 1813 contain the oob for each of the battles separately please? It is a bit pricey but if it covers everything, then will be worth it.

I wasn't too impressed with the Ospreys on 1813, so I would look elsewhere. Beginning with Petre you can go from there.

Nafziger is also very valuable and Scott Bowden has a valuable volume on 1813, also with orders of battle.

The Esposito/Elting Atlas covers 1813 very well and has the maps to go with it.

Petre does look like it covers all of the facts whilst still being a good read. I have the Elting atlas and so may be covered for that aspect.

Arnold's book does have fairly comprehensive appendixes. However, he rarely lists unit strengths, I understand why that is [who knows the real numbers], but if that's what you're looking for that may not be the best source. However, I'd still recommend it highly.
If all you want is info on the OB's you might want to source the battles from the online Nafziger collection. For example, here's a link to the allies at Lutzen [no strengths, but it is free]
PDF link
Full list and access from here:
link
Petre won't have the OB's, but is still very useful:
link
Bowden is good and focuses on the French forces, showing how the army was resurrected post Russia. New copies are expensive, but you can get used copies less expensively:
link
Nafziger is a great resource, and typically focuses on the tactical aspects of the engagements in great detail, and you'll get plenty of OB's – but these are generally just redux of the free online material.

Once you get through the more general histories I recommend the recently published two volume Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany by Michael Leggiere. I have just begun volume II. Volume I covers the start of the campaign and runs through the armistice.

Admittedly Leggiere is a Prussofile and makes no bones about it…he claims the Army of Silesia is responsible for winning the 1813 campaign. Despite that, it is a detailed history and if read with his previous book, Napoleon and Berlin, provides a comprehensive narrative of the campaign.

He does make an interesting point at the end of the volume I, that while there is plenty of evidence to support Napoleon's need for the armistice to reorganize and restock his depleted army if he had pushed against the Prussians/Russians just a little longer the alliance might well have split apart, with the Prussians retreating north to cover Berlin while the Russians retired to the east towards their lines of communications. If that had happened Austria would have never declared against Napoleon, Russia would have abandoned any further involvement and the Prussians would have been hung out to dry.

Both good books and an excellent analysis on your part.

I would disagree with the author that the Army of Silesia was responsible for winning the 1813 campaign. The Prussians and Russians had been badly defeated in the spring campaign and had retired to/been driven to the Oder. Without the Austrian intervention, and the needed cannon fodder they provided, the Russians and Prussians on their own could not have won.

And it should be noted that the Army of Silesia was not completely Prussian in content and makeup-there were Russian corps assigned to that army. In fact, from 1813-1815 there was only one 'Prussian' army in the field, and that was in 1815 in Belgium, the Prussian Army of the Lower Rhine.