Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: The Fall of Paris

  1. #1

    Default The Fall of Paris

    As Russia mustered and Austria fought France in Italy, the British hatched a plan to emasculate their regional rival once and for all. Money flowed from the British Exchequer, funding the construction of gunsmiths, farmsteads, and roads. Ports were built, then expanded, regiments of foot soldiers leaving as trade ships entered. Nobody knew the specifics of where these troops were going, but it was obvious to all that these men would either die upon the fields of France, or return victoriously.

    Arthur Wellesley, the First Duke of Wellington, had been given command of the expeditionary force. Eight Regiments of Fencibles, the Highland Foot from Edinburgh, supported by three regiments of light dragoons and a 9-pounder artillery battery. The nucleus of his force, the King's German Legion of Foot, traveled with Wellington himself.

    Calais hadn't seen much fighting, after French troops stormed Belgium and the Batavian Republic held their north. As Horatio Nelson travelled down the coast of France, Wellington's forces smashed their way into the port. Expected to merely hold a beach head for the British while they mustered better trained, better armed regiments, Wellington knew that his forces would soon be under assault from Paris, and so he elected to lead his untested troops on an attack. His forces encircled Brussels, shelling the city for three days straight before electing to storm the city. The Batavian Republic had troops stationed to the north, unseen by Wellington's scouts, and when his assault was underway, they made their move.

    As Wellington's Fencibles poured fire into the Belgians, the Dutch vanguard made their way onto the field. Only the light dragoons and the KGL had not been committed to the battle, so they were ordered to hold the line, and so they did. As hundreds of Dutch soldiers charged up the hill against them, the King's Legionnaires stood their ground and fought them to a stand still. The dragoons, led by Wellington himself, struck down one regiment after another, until the Dutch were fleeing or dead. The day was not over for the Legionnaires, as the Belgian-French Militia had rallied as news of the Dutch arrival spread, and were bearing down on the British troops. The Legionnaires ran with the dragoons initially, but were left behind. By the time they arrived, more Militia had rallied, but at the sight of the Legionnaires, they broke and fled, their hope of their allies breaking the assault dashed. As the battle drew to a close, Wellington ordered all those who aided the French, conspirators and Governors alike, to be hung. British troops oversaw the protection of the fledgling Belgian Republic and recuperated their losses. The Battle for Brussels had been costly... For the enemy. British deaths stood at under two hundred, while their shelling of the city and the assault had inflicted some six times that upon the enemy.

    The lull in the fighting was short-lived, as the Dutch had amassed a larger force, outnumbering Wellington's own with men, horse and cannon. So far, only a single Regiment of Foot had arrived in Antwerp, and had been ordered to stall the Dutch advance. If Britain's leaders had known the composition of the Dutch forces, mayhaps they would have ordered the troops remain at Antwerp. As it stands, the Dutch rolled over the Regiment and steamed towards Brussels. Threatened by French musterings to the south, and fearing the capture of Brussels would mean nothing, Wellington ordered his men into the city. The Belgian citizens had formed mobs, armed with flintlocks or scavenged French weapons, charging from their lines to bring fire and blood to their adversaries. As the Dutch descended upon the city, their erratic behaviour made it obvious that they were led by not one General, but two. Although they outnumbered the Belgians and British, their forces failed to act in unison and capitalize on the failed Belgian charge, allowing Wellington to shift his troops into position. The Light Dragoons, battered from their previous fighting, salvaged the Belgian right flank, breaking two Dutch regiments, and allowing the Belgians to retreat to British lines. Unsupported by infantry, the Dragoons were mowed down by a third Regiment, and Dutch cavalry. Only a single regiment of dragoons escaped, barely half their unit remaining. Most of the fighting was concentrated in the woods to the north of the city, where Belgians and Dutch fought with rifles, knives, sticks and stones. The trained Dutch eventually broke through the Belgian centre and right, though once again the King's Legionnaires proved their worth and stymied the advance of two Dutch regiments long enough for the fencibles to form up and lay down heavy fire, killing one of the Generals. This blow to their morale shattered the wavering Dutch forces, giving the KGL a brief respite. The Belgian left collapsed, almost enveloping the British lines who were now engaging with the Dutch. The British re-arranged their lines, and Wellington himself led a charge into the Dutch lines, breaking the left. The Dutch, however numerous, threw what they had into one last strike on the centre line led by the second General, but the KGL and the Fencibles on the right, and Wellington on the left, broke the assault before it truly got underway, killing the General in a wall of lead. The Dutch were spent, and began a retreat from the field.

    Wellington had secured a costly victory and ensured the survival of a friendly Belgian state. The British-Belgian forces had lost nearly sixteen hundred troops, the Dutch having lost only fourteen hundred. As Wellington secured Brussels, more British troops poured into Antwerp, a single Regiment holding Calais. General Stowel, with six regiments of fencibles and a single regiment of trained Foot, had been destined to support Wellington, but after the Battle of Brussels, he was ordered south to Caen, where only a nominal French force was garrisoned. His troops stormed Le Havre under cover of night, before striking Caen the next day, his losses negligible.

    As Wellington recovered at Belgium, Horatio Nelson smashed the French Fleet off the coast of Lisbon, sinking them. His forces pursued, smashing a second French force off the coast of Gibraltar. Intent on resting his fleet at Gibraltar, Horatio failed to notice the Spanish Fleet at Tangiers. A third, and final battle was fought, leading the Nelson's death and the destruction of the British Southern Fleet.

    Despite the loss of Nelson, British forces on the continent stiffened against French and Dutch raids. General Stowel held Caen, General Wellington held at Brussels, where a larger Belgian force was mustering, and General Sherbrooke, a rash and ambitious commander, struck Brittany with four regiments of Fencibles, electing to follow Wellington's lead and declaring a friendly, independent Brittany. This seemed to anger the French, who placed six regiments east of Caen. Stowel, who had been drawing up as many troops from Caen was he could, fled the city, marching to Brittany. Only a single British Regiment remained, leading armed citizens. The French troops, better trained and better armed, butchered the British forces and reclaimed Caen.

    Wellington, now replenished and reinforced with six Regiments of Foot, was faced with a Dutch force to the north, and French forces to the south and south-east. Taking a gamble, and hoping the Belgians could ward off French intervention, he marched north. Dutch forces in Rotterdam stalled the advance, but were brushed aside just as the Dutch had done to British forces previously. Stationing a single regiment to hold the port and allow for British reinforcements, he marched on Amsterdam.

    British troops, now outnumbering the beleaguered Dutch, shelled the city's outskirts, cutting off food and water supplies to the city. The Dutch marched out, to their deaths. This British army was no longer untested and under-equipped. Now British Foot Regiments and Fencibles worked in tandem to tear the Dutch advance apart, rifle and cannon fire breaking morale as easily as it broke bodies. The victory was flawless, and Wellington, in retaliation for Nelson's death, looted the city of its riches. The British Government built a statue to Nelson, and funded a Spanish Expeditionary Force to tempt Catalonia into rebellion. Prussia, anxious to ensure its hegemonic position and astounded by Wellington's success, opened trade links and an alliance with Britain.

    General Stowel and General Sherbrooke muster their forces in a forest on the border of Brittany and France. General Sherbrooke elected to remain behind, in an advisory role to the Breton Army. News spread fast, Napoleon was in Paris with an army, prepared to march on Belgium. Wellington rode south as fast as he could, leaving his artillery, fencibles and KGL to hold Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

    His forces, exhausted from the marching, struck Champagne but were driven back with the arrival of a French force under Marshal Soult. The French tore the British force to pieces, only half a regiment of Foot escaping to Belgium, Wellington himself being injured in the fighting and forced back to London to recuperate.

    General Stowel, intent on tying French forces down, besieged Caen with six regiments of fencibles and a regiment of light dragoons. Lacking artillery, he merely shadowed the French forces in Caen, before retreating south to Brittany when a second French force threatened to destroy his position. The Spanish Expeditionary Force, having landed at Pamplona, watched as their ships were engaged by French and Spanish forces off the coast and destroyed. Two regiments of fencibles and a regiment of light foot continued on towards Pamplona, though they were encircled by Spanish forces and destroyed.

    General Sherbrooke, ordering raids into French Aquitaine, learned of French defeats in northern Italy at Austrian and Russian hands. Within a month, the Kingdom of Italy fell, and Austro-Russia troops secured the peninsula with Naples in the south.

    This breakthrough was reversed weeks later when Spanish forces struck Gibraltar, evicting the British forces there. Several regiments escaped onto a ship that was being built in the port, but were caught trying to move across the Mediterranean and destroyed. Dutch nationalists had also risen up in Amsterdam and taken the city. Only the British forces at Rotterdam held out. It seemed as though Britain's successes were to be reversed, when Wellington, still wearing a bandage from the gunshot to the leg, ordered his new army to sail for Le Havre. Six Regiments of Foot, two Regiments of Light Foot and a Regiment of light dragoons, armed and ready for a campaign set sail.

    The tide went against them and slowed their progress, only arriving after the Battle of Rotterdam had been fought. The Dutch had thrown their forces against Rotterdam, outnumbering the British, but British Bulldog tenacity won through, the King's German Legion being destroyed but buying enough time for other British forces to mount a counter attack and drive the Dutch out. Seeing their opportunity, British forces, leaving their wounded and a nominal garrison in Rotterdam, marched upon Amsterdam. Despite being outnumbered, the battle hardened British engaged and destroyed the Dutch forces, taking the city and installing their own Protectorate.

    Wellington's forces landed in Rotterdam and, absorbing the British forces who took Amsterdam, marched south. As France diverted troops into the south-east to stop the Austro-Russian advance, General Stowel seen an opportunity and sneak his troops along the forest, edging closer to Paris. As Wellington's forces edged past the Belgians, who now held their territory with a military of greater size than Wellington's, he spied upon Paris. Napoleon himself held the capital, seventeen hundred French regulars entrenched within the city's walls. A rider from General Stowel informed Wellington that a second British force was within reach of Paris, greater than his own. And so it was decided, they would attack Paris simultaneously. Wellington's fourteen hundred would engage the French in northern Paris, while Stowel's seventeen hundred would engage the south. The French were entrenched, with artillery and infantry both highly trained and well armed.

    The Assault on Paris began with Wellington's advance. Stowel, his troops having to march further to reach the battle, were late. Wellington, sure that Stowel would arrive in time, ordered an immediate and aggressive strike against the French lines. His troops advanced, peppered by French fire, but held. The battle raged for hours, as British and French Commanders threw all they had into the battle. If Wellington was defeated, Stowel could be isolated and destroyed. If Wellington won, Stowel's forces could garrison the city and engage the French at Caen.

    The dead lock was broken when Armed Citizens charged the British lines, absorbing fire from both French and British muskets. One regiment broke before reaching British lines, but the rest fought a bloody melee, allowing France time to recuperate. The British, already exhausted, began to crack under this pressure, as France poured fire into their ranks whilst the British could not return fire. It was only the charge of Wellington that stalled the French long enough for Stowel's forces to arrive. Wellington, catching a bullet to the chest, fell from his saddle but ordered his men to taken him to the knoll to watch the fighting, as French forces retreated into the city.

    Wellington's own army was decimated, only two regiments capable of continuing the fight. The French were battered, but still a potent force, led by one of the greatest minds of their era. Rather than using his strength to gain a foothold and strangle the French in attrition, Stowel adopted an aggressive approach. His troops hammered the French lines, advancing through the city and engaging in gun battles in the streets. French artillery tore Stowel's lines, and brutal hand-to-hand fighting erupted over every building. The British used their numbers in piecemeal, allowing the fluid French to retreat from Stowel's positions, and striking the weak hinges of the British. Wellington, bleeding profusely, ordered to be sat upon his saddle, proclaimed "I will end this war and this battle with the last embers of my soul". His two foot regiments cheered and roared, charging through the thin French lines. Wellington's own cavalry led the charge into the heart of the city, fighting their way through French remnants, as his infantry cleared the houses and provided support. The day was ending, the sky was bleeding and the voices of the dying filled the street, when Wellington and Napoleon locked eyes. Fearing not for his safety, Wellington charged headlong into the Emperor's bodyguard, slashing left and right. His Foot engaged with the French Foot. Wellington and Bonaparte circled each other. The Emperor laughed, drew his pistol and fired off a shot into Wellington's chest. As his life left his body, Wellington drove his heels into his horse's hinds and delivered one last, fateful blow, the sword slicing the Emperor's face. Wellington collapsed, his remaining Foot surrounding his body and holding off all those who sought to disrespect it. It was a lone musketeer, a man who had fought beside Wellington from the landing at Calais to the escape from Champagne, who fired into Napoleon's heart.

    The French lost heart and fled or surrendered, as Stowel's forces secured the city. The battle had cost nearly two and a half thousand British lives, and fifteen hundred French. As the Flag of the United Kingdom flew over the French Capital, and Austro-Russian forces secured southern France, the war had ended, at least for the men of Wellington's Army. Their commander and hero was laid to rest in England.

    War continued on the continent for some time after, as the war in Spain drew in more and more British and Portuguese troops, as Prussia and Sweden fought the Austro-Russian axis, and as the Ottoman Empire south to capitalize on Russia's weakness by seizing the Crimea, but for the Celtic Tiger, the Duke of Wellington, the war was over.

  2. #2
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
    Content Director Patrician Citizen

    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    12,242

    Default Re: The Fall of Paris

    Welcome, IrishT, it's great to see a new Napoleon: Total War AAR. You have covered a lot of ground with one chapter and I enjoyed reading it. I wonder if you are planning to continue or if you wanted to tell the whole story in one post? I was initially worried, seeing that the Duke of Wellington's initial army relied on Fencibles, but you led them to victory nevertheless. If you would like to continue this story, or start another one, I wonder how you feel about including screenshots? Some AAR writers use them, others prefer not to - it's up to you, of course. If you are interested in using screenshots and would like a bit of help with getting started, I explain how I do them in the first post of my Irish AAR (there's a link in my signature.)

  3. #3
    Scottish King's Avatar Campidoctor
    Content Emeritus

    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New Jersey, USA
    Posts
    1,824

    Default Re: The Fall of Paris

    Welcome IrishT. I second everything Alwyn said. I wouldn't mind to see this become a bigger story. [emoji106]
    The White Horse: Hanover AAR (On going ETW AAR)
    Tales of Acamar: Legends WS Yearly Award Best Plot Winner (On-going CW Piece)
    The Song of Asnurn: An Epic Poem MCWC VI Winner (On-hold CW Piece)
    Tales of Acamar: Outbreak (Finished)
    To Conquer the World for Islam A Moor AAR (Finished)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •