Wyre Forest Gamers - The Battle of Froeshwiller (Wörth) August 1870

The Battle of Froeshwiller (Wörth) August 1870

This game was played in early August 2024 at Tom's house and coincided with weekend of Tom's birthday celebrations. I am grateful that he was sober enough to compile the report below.

Background: -

5th August.

General Abel Douay’s Division (part of Marshal MacMahon’s 1st Corps) was defeated at Wissembourg on the border and fell back to join the rest of the Corps on the ridgeline between Froeschwiller and Morsbrohn. The poorly handled German cavalry lost contact with the retiring French so were initially unaware of the French positioned on the ridge to the west of their line of march. The German army were under orders to move south to attack Strasbourg. It was only at noon that their cavalry finally discovered the French positions on the other side of the river. On the evening of the 5th there was some skirmishing when the French moved down to the river to water their horses but no major actions took place. MacMahon was still confident in his position but sent requests for support from 5th Corps at Bitche to the west and from 12th Corps at Belfort to the south.

6 August 1870.

Overnight there were some flash storms and in the morning some French troops moved to take shelter in Worth which piquets from the Prussian Vth Corps reacted too by calling up some artillery and sending a few shells into the town, forcing the French to pull out. But as the Prussian Vth Corps was under strict orders to avoid all engagements that day, their commander recalled his artillery and returned to camp to prepare to continue his march south. To the south, elements of the Prussian XI Corps had reached Gunstett, and their piquets had some exchange of fire with their counterparts on the other side of the river and artillery was brought up on both sides..

The Bavarian II Corps were bivouacked to the north with orders to continue their march south if artillery was heard, so on hearing gunfire (magnified by the surrounding hills) they moved toward the sound of the outpost battery near Wörth. When the leading troops were on the crest of the ridge between the Sauer and the Sulzbach, the over enthusiastic Bavarian divisional commander, eager to prove his loyalty to his new Prussian allies, ordered his troops to attack, using the spire of Frœschwiller as the point of direction. The Prussian Vth Corps knew nothing of the orders the Bavarians had received and were surprised by this outbreak, but at about 10:30am when the Bavarians were seen retiring in some disorder, the Vth Corps commander decided that an effort must be made to relieve the Bavarians. His chief of staff ordered up the divisional and corps artillery and communicated his intention to the XIth Corps and asked for all available assistance. A report was also dispatched to the crown prince at Sulz, eight kilometres away.

The game will begin as the Bavarian II Corps appears and begins its over enthusiastic attack. To represent the situation the German Vth Corp commander will have to achieve a sufficient level of initiative to decide to break his orders and to move in support of his Bavarian colleagues. He will then have to send messages to his fellow Corps commanders to ask for assistance, Initially, each Corps will only have elements of their command in the area and the others will move up on the roads marked.

On the French side, the ridge line will initially be held by the French 1st Corps with the 5th and 12th Corps formations independently rolling for initiative to generate sufficient movement to arrive in support of their friends, When they arrive they will roll a die to ascertain their arrival point. Adjustments may be made to this schedule as the game develops to prevent things becoming too unbalanced. The French 4th Corps will be held in reserve (they were not part of the army of Chalon) to be brought in if required and the Prussians can be recycled as the VIth Corps as these were part of the 3rd army but did not take part in the actual battle.

The Battle, 6th August 1870

The Bavarian 2nd Corps moves quickly along the road from the north and storm into the valley, cross the river at Lanngensultcbach and then deploy at Neehwiller to the north of Froeschwiller. The Bavarian corps move south attacking the French 4th Division (1st Corps) deployed to the north of Froeshwiller. Over many moves the Bavarians (doing much better than their historical counterparts) and supported by massed batteries (Corps & Divisional artillery) which inflicts large casualties on the French as the infantry move into attack. An initial charge by the Bavarian Cuirassier Brigade is shot to pieces and the unit is forced to retire but this does allow their infantry to move forward. Over the day's play the French 4th Division is forced back and by the end of the game the Division is broken.

Meanwhile the Prussian 5th Corps leader, confused by the unexpected attack by his Bavarian allies, spends time reacting to this attack and deciding whether to support the allies or follow their official orders to move to Strasbourg. Eventually, he decides to join the battle and orders are despatched to his Divisional commanders and a request for support sent to the 11th Corps to the south. The 1st Division 5th Corps forms up to the east of Worth and moves down to occupy the river crossing at Worth where they are joined later by the Corps commander and Corps artillery, bringing the French 3rd Division (1st Corps) on the ridge above them under fire. The French are slowly worn down, forcing the Divisional artillery and several regiments to retire behind the crest. Meanwhile, the 2nd Division arrives and deploys to the south of its comrades and line the river line.

To their south the 11th piquets (detached Divisional Hussar regiments and horse artillery) are deployed south of Gunstell. These send messages back to their corps commander when they come under long range fire from the artillery of the French 1st and 2nd Divisions (1st Corps). Eventually, the 11th Corps commander re-organises plans and moves both Divisions onto the battle, deploying either side of Gunstell, moving slowly forward to the river line with their artillery involved in a long range artillery duel with the French. On the other side of the battlefield the 1st Corps is deployed on the ridge to the west of the river with the 1st Division south of Morsbronn and the 2nd Division to the north of Morsbronn. The Third Division is positioned to the west of Worth and the 4th Division to the north of Froeschwiller.

During the day, the 1st and 2nd Divisions watch the Prussian 11th Corps move up to the river, engaging in an artillery duel with the infantry moving into the broken ground to gain cover from the Prussian shells. In the centre, the 3rd Division is brought under fire from the Prussian 5th Corps artillery. For the first gaming day it is the French 4th Corps that comes under the most pressure being slowly forced back and eventually broken by the Bavarians. The 4th Division manages to hold long enough to allow the 4th Corps to start moving onto the battlefield with one Division arriving at the point of the Bavarian attack and others arriving to the south of the woods and moving round to counterattack the Bavarians who had occupied Froeschwiller, sending their cavalry to the north-west to delay any German reserves attacking the flank. The Bavarians manage to push back one division of the 4th Corps but by this time the Corps has been severally weakened and the units depleted and extremely fragile.

To the south, the French 5th Corps arrive and move north. Because the Prussians had delayed their advance over the river, the 5th Corps has plenty of time to advance up the valley behind the defended ridgeline and to deploy in the gap between 2nd and 3rd Divisions (1st Corps) behind the crest of the hill and on the edge of the woods. When the Prussian Corps finally cross the river and start their advance the French are positioned to bring then under heavy rifle fire from six divisions, causing the attack to stall.

The game was designed in such a way that the quicker the Germans went into the attack and began to suffer casualties then the earlier they could bring in their reserves. So the initial success of the Bavarians and the slowness of the Prussian attack meant that they were not engaged heavily and they were not allowed to call their reserves (1st Bavarian Corps, plus the Wurttemberg and Baden Divisions and, if they got into real trouble, the 6th Prussian Corps) until it was too late for them to take part in the battle. Their conservative movements also gave the French reserves time to arrive and deploy and for some time there was a massive gap in the middle of the French line (between the 2nd Division and weakened 3rd Division) which was directly in front of the Prussian 2nd Division (5th corps) and at that time the French only had a Division of cavalry in a position to fill the gap.

In the end a great weekend for all players (or so they tell me) and great evening's celebration.