La Rothiere, A fight in the snow

 The battle was fought in early February partly to commemorate the 210th anniversary but also to play test some snow house rules. The initial set of modifications worked OK, but did need tweaking as the game progressed. Once again the rules I use are "In the name of Glory".

The battle start was plagued by well churned up roads which slowed movement for the artillery and left the infantry to trudge across equally muddy fields and all hampered by heavy ground snow.

Forces Involved.

Initially, the town of La Rothiere was defended by Nansouty's Division consisting Line infantry under Duhesme and Forestier and the Old Guard cavalry led by Ney. The village of Dienville being defended by Gerard's division made up of infantry under Dufour and a regiment of cavalry under Piquet. 

The allied forces were mainly Russian infantry led by Sacken but regiments split between Shcherbatov and Olusfiev, with the cavalry under the control of Vasilchikov, all as part of Blucher's Corps. An Austrian Division was tasked with taking Dienville with Gyulay in command. 

Both armies held a reserve force; the French with Napoleon and elements of the Young Guard and the Allies sat with Blucher in command of four regiments of Grenadiers.

Battle Begins.

The action began at 2:00pm with a, mostly ineffectual, bombardment by both sides and the Russian general Sacken sending his spare artillery trains to the rear to bring up more guns. By 2:30pm, the Russian Jagers advanced under cover of the artillery, breaking through the French skirmish line to capture a 12pdr battery, additionally by this point the large French skirmish screen began taking serious casualties.

Meanwhile the Austrians under Gyulay were split on both sides of the river Aube and slowly advanced to the only bridge for miles hoping to fight their way into Dienville. Making it to the bridge they engaged with fierce opposition from the 18th line defenders.

Thirty minutes later, a French cavalry charge by Marshall Ney with the Lancers and 25th dragoons against their Russian counterparts quickly got bogged down only to see the French withdraw to their own lines. The final moments of the French skirmishes led them back into La Rothiere and lose more guns to a Russian charge.

Around 4:00pm, heavy snow once again started to fall with visibility well reduced. and firing non existent. In fact firing of muskets was really reduced due to the damp conditions of the day. Stoic Russian troops, in spite of the weather finally make contact with the outskirts of La Rothiere. But Duhesme's troops valiantly pushed back and prevented further entry into the town.

Two hours later as it was getting dark, the intense clashes at both towns finally forced the French out of La Rothiere, but only a short distance as was the plan. A little further off and the French troops could make out the familiar form of the Emperor arriving to review the battle.

Night Falls.

In full darkness between 6:30 and 7:00 pm, the Russian infantry storm La Rothiere as the weather clears pushing four battalions into the town. Now was the final chance by Marshall Ney to prove his worth by charging the Russian dragoons once more. But again it resulted in a stalemate, a melee which looked like it would go on for some time. Simultaneously, the Fresnel's Austrians maintain contact at Dienville and are engaged fully in the battle for the bridge.

More French units pulled out of La Rothiere to the north and Napoleon decides to send a messenger back to the Young Guard with a change of orders to advance. This action maybe somewhat too late since heavy snow started to fall and visibility dropped once more.

In a desperate attempt to re-take La Rothiere, the remaining French stragglers set fire to several houses. This did not have the desired effect of pushing out the Russian troops but only to provide a wavering twilight around the town.

With the Young guard now on the move, albeit slowly in the ever present snow storm, the final French units withdraw from the road joining the two towns, The Austrians are defeated at the bridge of Dienville, and the most of the cavalry melee results in broken units on each side.

It is at this point, the Russian commander Sacken requests a change of order from Blucher and the Grenadier reserve, but it will take time. An hour later, the snow eases, the Austrians again assault the bridge and the French form a defensive line around 500 metres from La Rothiere.

By 10:30 pm in complete darkness, confusion takes over and units are no longer sure where the enemy is. The Austrians who were slow to capitalise on the attack at Dienville finally take the south side of the town, killing Duhesme in the process. The last remnants of the French cavalry retire with blown horses, and the French defensive line holds, but the Guard have yet to arrive.

But unbeknownst to all, the Bavarian Division starts to arrive along the road from Chaumesnil, which will spell the end for any French resistance in the locale. With this in mind under the cover of lightly falling snow, Napoleon has achieved his objective of holding up the allies and decides to fight a rear-guard action in order to save the remainder of the army.