[NTW AAR] Liberation, A British AAR.

[myrmedon]

no pressure Lewis, no pressure

[Biggles]

no pressure Lewis, no pressure

LIIIAAAAAAAAR!

[deeptrance83]

Lewis, I love this AAR, in fact it's inspired me to try it out myself, in about 1807 and nappy has rolled up everything up to the russian border! Quick question though, did you just continue through the end of set campaign time? (i.e. December 1812) or did you use a mod to get past the end of campaign date?

['Gunny]

Lewis, I love this AAR, in fact it's inspired me to try it out myself, in about 1807 and nappy has rolled up everything up to the russian border! Quick question though, did you just continue through the end of set campaign time? (i.e. December 1812) or did you use a mod to get past the end of campaign date?

ED is december 1813

[Hans III]

I love the "teaser" with General looking on to his bodyguards... just epic Lewis just epic.

[KDK]

I love the "teaser" with General looking on to his bodyguards... just epic Lewis just epic.

Yeah

[LuckyLewis]

@deeptrance83 – Thanks , I have simply carried on after technically being defeated and losing the game.

Thanks everyone, here is the first update.
___________________

In reference to: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=337275

New Update

LIBERATION

Europe at the end of April 1813


May 1813 - Part 86 – The Brandenburg Sacrifice


May 1st 1813, a day that promises to be known for centuries to come, a crushing defeat or an unbelievable victory will quickly spread from the common folk of Berlin to the corners of the known world. It shall be a tale that will not be easily forgotten, nor cast aside as a mere footnote in history for it shall define the future of Europe and the few who still inhabit these lands.

As the sun slowly appeared above the marshy terrain from the camp of the besieging army, a vast force could be seen miles ahead towards the west, men returning from Hasse-Kassel were marching into Berlin in what looked like an endless stream of Napoleonists, eager to bolster the garrison of Berlin as Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel and Giuseppe Matarazzo discussed their battle plan against the overwhelming force while the men were bombarded by the city’s garrison.



- The Battle of Berlin 1813

It was not long until their French foes looked like they were preparing to sally out and defeat the combined army of Matarazzo and Gabriel, forcing the two generals to mobilise into position.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A horde of cavalry, similar to the notorious Mongol Horde, could be seen massing just to the north of the Liberation army. They were aware that Giuseppe Matarazzo’s force was positioned in woodland on the left flank. Matarazzo’s army was already weak after taking far more casualties than Gabriel’s army on the road to Berlin at Potsdam and on the Havel River. To make matters worse, his force was composed primarily of newly recruited inexperienced men from the German states to make up for the loss of life in previous battles. However, his army still held veterans from the conflict in Italy and the march through the Alps.

On the other hand, Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel and his much larger force of British, Austrian, Hungarian and Slavic soldiers were positioned in a much stronger role, defending the centre and right flank of the combined armies. Gabriel also commanded the artillery regiments which had already started to fire upon the large group of enemy cavalry to the north.

It was not long until some two thousand horsemen commanded by Emmanuel Ninon started to advance towards the woodland in which Matarazzo’s men were holding position, the ground rumbled and struggled as the hooves trampled down on the vegetation leaving a path of destruction and Matarazzo’s men started to panic.

Ninon’s cavalry rush down towards the German and Italian force within the woods.


Gabriel frantically ordered half of his artillery crews to rapidly divert their fire towards the French cavalry charge, hoping to soften the charge and force some of them away from Matarazzo’s position. Some of the French cavalry were brutally slaughtered as those of the cannon shots which were accurate managed to effectively rip through the bodies of several horsemen.

Despite the success of the artillery it had little effective on the French morale or numbers. When one man was lost, he was replaced by another from the overwhelming and endless supply of manpower. Matarazzo’s men braced themselves for the cavalry attack, forming a square formation under the order of Neuling Siegfried, Matarazzo’s second in command and officer of the King’s German Legion.

The men of the King’s German Legion were at the front of Matarazzo’s line and expected to be the first to face the strongest of the Emmanuel Ninon’s cavalry. Horsemen appeared from smoke created by the artillery, sabres raised with their mouths wide open, as they let out a tremendous roar for le Empereur. The Germans quickly fired a volley into the mass of cavalry; horses were hit, falling to the ground, causing those behind to dramatically collapse over them. However, after that single volley, the cavalry reached the German line, Siegfried at the front of King’s German Legion’s square was smashed into the air by a French Dragoon, he was dead.

Neuling Siegfried, Matarazzo’s officer is killed in the initial charge.


Elsewhere on the battlefield, Gabriel was also dealing with troublesome cavalry charges. A smaller force of several hundred horsemen, little in comparison to the charge on the left flank, appeared from the outer narrow streets of Berlin, rushing towards the front line, only to be slaughtered by Gabriel’s veterans of many battles before they could even reach the line.

The French Cavalry have little success on Gabriel’s central ranks.


As Matarazzo’s men were desperately attempting to hold their position in the woodland from hundreds of Hussars, Dragoons and Cuirassiers, a regiment of Guard Chasseurs à Cheval supported by Hussars were moving further left around Matarazzo’s exposed infantry. Two of Gabriel’s cavalry regiments were quickly ordered to intercept the enemy cavalry to ensure Matarazzo’s men remain safe from an attack from the far left.

The Guard Chasseurs à Cheval noticed the moving British cavalry, and musket fire provided by the Chasseurs slaughtered a noticeable amount of the Dragoons, leaving Gabriel’s cavalry severely weakened. Men were pushed from their steeds as further musket fire was delivered. They eventually managed to reach the Chasseurs with their sabres, cutting several of the enemy horsemen down as they struggled to draw their own sabres.

It looked as though the British cavalry were now beating the Guard Chasseurs à Cheval after becoming locked in close combat. However, the supporting Hussars shortly appeared from the right flank and smashed into the side of the Dragoons, delivering a devastating blow. The shock and suffering provided by the French hussars caused the British horsemen to flee.

The British Cavalry are broken by the powerful French Chasseurs and Hussars



The routing of the British Cavalry on the far left allowed yet more enemy Horsemen to attack Matarazzo’s men, whom were now getting increasingly desperate with many of the recently recruited German regiments retreating. However, the 3rd Regiment of Foot, the King’s German Legion regiment that Siegfried led still remained fighting, holding their ground despite the loss of their commander.

The 3rd Regiment of Foot, King’s German Legion remains in the woodland.



As the last of the 3rd Regiment of Foot and several other courageous regiments continued to fight on, Matarazzo realised that if the 3rd Regiment was lost, Gabriel’s main force would now be exposed and surely defeated as a result. He led his personal guards into the woodland, giving Gabriel time to send some of his forces to set up a defensive position outside the woodland.

Giuseppe Matarazzo charged into the forest, aiding the 3rd Regiment of Foot against the French Cavalry. The 3rd were now down to the last twenty or so men and started to desperately break, heading east back towards Gabriel’s line, leaving Matarazzo and those who remained trapped by the French cavalry and unable to escape from the woodland. Matarazzo watched as personal guards were cut down while the enemy cavalry surrounded the Italian General. He was smashed to the ground by a veteran French cuirassier, disabled by a broken back on his fall; he lay in the tall grass, helpless and alone. The horde of horsemen started to advance east, leaving Matarazzo to be trampled upon by hundreds of blood stained hooves. Giuseppe Matarazzo, the Italian General was dead.

Matarazzo shortly before his death after his charge



With the majority of Matarazzo’s army now shattered and the rest under Gabriel’s command, the Westphalian General now fortunately had his men into a good position to repel the French cavalry appearing from the smoke ridden woodland as a result of Matarazzo sacrifice, delaying the enemy charge.

Once the cavalry appeared from woodland, the veteran regiments annihilated the charging horsemen, including General Emmanuel Ninon himself. Gabriel’s men delivered fearful musket fire from three directions after the majority of the enemy horsemen foolishly rushed into a gap within Gabriel’s line, making them exposed and easily killed.

Gabriel’s infantry manage to avenge Matarazzo and rout the charging cavalry



Ninon’s cavalry fled, yet the battle was far from over, a brief period of peace followed, the smoke lingered as corpses littered the woodland on the left flank, including a disfigured body of the Italian General, Giuseppe Matarazzo. Losses have been severe yet the defeat of the cavalry has managed to uplift the very little morale the men still have.

The Battle of Berlin remains undecided.

To be continued

[.Mitch.]

Oh baby......... What a fight. I wish I was there!!!!!

I'd pay to get that replay..

I CANNOT WAIT for the next part!

Great stuff. Really, I was expecting something huge for this update, you delivered. My favourite bit was ...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

..the Italian General cut off in the woodland, and trampled to death.

Pure awsome, really had like some kind of movie going on in my head as I was reading.

Epic stuff for sure.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Giuseppe Matarazzo

[Scottish Heretic]

Haven't been on for a while so had quite a bit of catching up to do - more than well worth coming back

And the screenshots continue to get better and better!

['Gunny]

MATARAZZO NOOOOO


Great update, keep em comming

[Protestant Knight]

Great as always Lewis I've kept up with it from the beginning and it is still just as good keep it up, BUT if Gabriel dies I will personally lead an army to avenge his death so help me God lol

[Destroyer83]

Matazzaro
3rd Regiment of foot
French Cav that killed Matazzaro
Frenchmen that are about to win the battle

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

the pic for The French Cavalry have little success on Gabriel’s central ranks is pure gold.

[deeptrance83]

Outstanding stuff Lewis, Bravo!

[myrmedon]

Just when I thought your screenshots couldn't get better - Nanny picked it right, that shot is the best! AWSOME battle AAR!

[Nairod8]

Hello, i've been following this AAR for some time and it's great! You have great pictures and you talk about everything that's going on. I also like that you talk about the battle in deatail. I can't believe that you didn't win the AAR competition, it was rigged!!

P.S. I was wondering which mods and DLC do you have/use

[LuckyLewis]

@Mitch, PvtGunny, Destroyer83 - Thanks guys, it is nice to see you cared about Matarazzo, when my other generals died earlier in the AAR, no one really cared haha. It's nice to see Matarazzo has a place in your hearts, especially considering his death was rather....unpleasant.

Oh and Destroyer...lets not be completely pessimistic already.

@Scottish Heretic - Thanks mate! Your AAR is certainly of a very high quality by the way!

@Pentecostal Knight - Yeah, I've seen you reading this since the start, I really appreciate it, often people seem to come and go, which is more than reasonable considering how much this AAR drags on! haha. But thank you for the continued support.

@DeepTrance83 - Thanks man, you are just too kind!

@ Nanny and Myrmedon - Thanks guys, that was favourite shot too, Josst's nice grass mod works well with it.

@Nairod8 - Thank you! AAR competition? The first time I entered I came 6th or 7th I believe, which I expected as it was rather early in the AAR and fairly poor I believe. The second time I entered I won it but I did not enter the most recent one as the rules state you cannot enter if you won the previous contest. I've already put my entry into the July AAR competition though.

As for mods, I don't use any major overhauls as I started the AAR when most of them were only in the early stages of development. I use several unit mods though, noticeable the Additional Units Mod the most alongside the mods by EmperorBatman and Sir Digby's British Naval Crews. I also use Josst's no flag mod, no winter grass, grass mod and AI mod, which are all just great. Oh, and Whiff of Smoke is also used to improve the quality of my pictures.

['Gunny]

anyone else find it strange that Matarazzo has the same picture as Robert Ross, whose army he took over after Munich (a major German city) and now Matarazzo is dead after the battle of Berlin (another major German city)

[LuckyLewis]

anyone else find it strange that Matarazzo has the same picture as Robert Ross, whose army he took over after Munich (a major German city) and now Matarazzo is dead after the battle of Berlin (another major German city)

Lol, he shouldn't have the same picture, that is a fault on my part, I'll change that later. Thanks for pointing that out.

['Gunny]

Lol, he shouldn't have the same picture, that is a fault on my part, I'll change that later. Thanks for pointing that out.

AHA it was the same man wasnt it, Ross never died, he just made the French think he did, he jsut changed his name to his Italian mother's name and continued living THE PLOT THICKENS