Slugfest at Wendt's Crossing

Its been a busy time for me so I just haven't gotten around to the posting lately.  This battle report is going to be somewhat skeletal, though there isn't much to say.  (Its been awhile and I've lost some of my notes, so I mostly remember the Prussian units involved).

On July 28th we got together for a bit of lead therapy.  Somewhere in Northern France in 1815 approximately 11,500 French stumbled upon 16,500 Prussians near a farm house and road intersection that was barely a speck on a few maps called Wendt's Crossing.

The French arrived to find the Prussians in position and resolved to take the crossroads.  The action began at 1:30, the French opted for a frontal attack.  Three brigade attack columns formed up and charged the Prussian lines along with the 2nd and 3rd Cuirassier on the right. 

The French take the field

Prussian Lines.  In the foreground is the 12th Line and farther back the 25th Line formerly Lutzow's Legion.

French Center

 

Prussian Right.

French Cuirassiers on the French Right

The columns charge.  Skirmish fire scores some lucky hits, cannon fire disorders some of the battalions.

The 12th line on the left and 25th on the right receive the French attack.

Cavalry melee... the French Cuirassier break through but at great cost.

More of the attack

Two of the three battalions in the center attack column are driven off by the 25th.  The third battalion breaks through.  Further to the Prussian left, the front attack column has routed after successively meleeing and breaking through two battalions of the 12th line.  The final attack column follows up and penetrates the breach. The cavalry duels on the far left has forced one regiment of French Cuirassier back with almost 50% casualties.  The 1st Silesian Hussars hold the field in good order, but likewise having lost 50% of their regiment.

French breakthrough on either side of the central heights... but the Prussian artillery is still in good order.

The Prussian artillery did not get to shoot any defensive fire during the attack.  Luckily the Prussians now had the initiative.  Fifteen minutes have passed since the French took the field. The Prussian artillery swing around...... and start spraying canister into the flanks and rear of the penetrating columns.

The Artillery's turn....

Ouch!

The aftermath of the artillery round: 2 French battalions Panicked and unrecoverable, 3 battalions routed, 1 forced to stop in a general mob and 2 disordered and stubborn battalions holding on to the ground they gained.  On the far left, the French cavalry commander has brought up his horse artillery to blast away the remaining resistance. 

The Prussians consolidate their positions and the French fall back--30 minutes after the French arrived.  In those 30 minutes the French took 13% casualties (1,500) and the Prussians 6.5% (1,080).