Saturday, April 29, 2017

Battle of Toulouse

The Battle of Toulouse (1814) is scheduled for next weekend.

We'll be using the order of battle from Wikipedia, which draws from many of the usual sources for battles during the Napoleonic Wars.

I've based the tabletop on this map, also found on Wikipedia

Source: Gregory Fremont-Barnes (main editor) - The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, page 996. Adapted from Fremont-Barnes 2002A, 83.

It is a little smaller than some battles, but is interesting because in this case the Anglo-Porto-Spanish army is on the offensive, and outnumbers the French side by 2-to-1.  The French do benefit from interior lines and several fortifications.

Here are some photos of the battlefield after deployment, but before the game has started:

Allied far left.  In the foreground are Beresford's Corps:  the 4th and 6th Divisions.  Two brigades of Hussars are behind (right in this photograph), and are also part of Beresford's Corps. 
Allied Center with Freire's Corps.  The 4th and 5th Divisions make up this corps along with two batteries of Portuguese (not Spanish) foot guns.


Wellington's Corps is on the Allied right, and includes Alten's Light Division, and.... 
... a considerable number of brigades of cavalry of generally high quality, and the 3rd Division at the top of the photograph, just to the right of the Light Division.


Rounding out the Allied side is Daddy Hill's Corps, isolated from the rest of the Allied army by the swollen Garonne.  Hill has a quality Spanish division, and a Portuguese division, and ....

... Stewart's 2nd Division.

On the French side, the younger Soult commands a cavalry division on the far south of the battlefield.  The main job of this unit is to keep the road open to Carcassonne is the Allies manage to break through the defenses. 
The Heights of Calvinet are on the eastern side of the battlefield (French right), and are covered with redoubts with batteries of French artillery.  Three French infantry divisions are also guarding this approach to Toulouse.


To the north of the battlefield lies the French center, guarded by two French infantry divisions and more redoubts.

Birds'-eye view of Toulouse (right of the river) and St Cyprien (left of the river).  A provisional division of militia hold the town.

Facing Hill's Corps is a single French division, but the approaches also include fortifications and an impassable marsh.

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