Bringing down Prometheus, an account of Prussia's largest rebellion (LME4 RC, France)

[Sirlion]

Bringing down Prometheus

It has been said that Prometheus gave men the Fire of the ancient gods of Olympus, symbol of wisdom and acceptance of one's own nature as a man of intellect and virtue. In all accounts, such act has been deemed an irredeemable crime against Zeus and his law. Punishment for this impudence ensued.

A man walked down the streets of Vienna. A man with an idea. A man with a pistol and a couple of badly arranged cartridges. They say he was the first of his kin, to ever reach the royal palace and attempt an introduction with His Royal Majesty without an invitation. Some say he succeeded. Nothing is certain though as testimony of his presence in the Palace is pure speculation. What's impossible to overlook though, is that after this supposed individual entered, rumors started spreading as fast as a plague among the middle class.

Napoleon had his hands full trying to sedate a revolt of minor importance at the Spanish border: it was in fact not a military matter, but a purely diplomatic one. As early as April 1808 he had to quell more than one angry spaniard's thirst for vengeance, as he has vehemently opposed Ferdinand VII and, despite his better judgement, he had made clear his intentions.
The two nations, France and Spain, were at a standoff. None wanted war, but none wanted to be involved in the other's affair any longer. So long as their common interests rested in Portugal and a shared disliking of the English, both agreed to mildly cooperate.
Napoleon had repeatedly tried to consult his closest marshalls over a possible invasion of Spain, but Davout had managed to convince him, after months of pleading, to reconsider, at least for the time being. None other than him, the hero of Auerstadt, could perform such a feat. Lannes was in full support of his resolve, this strengthened Napoleon's temporary dismissal of the matter.

It was on a rainy morning of early May that a young boy appeared at a guard post near Brussels to bring news to the Emperor. He spoke German and, despite his young age, he was already part of the intertwined spy network set up by the Allies to prevent any undetected move from the central powers of Europe.
The first to receive the news was Soult; his face pale, he rode like the wind back to Brussels and immediately sent a handful of couriers to Paris.

"So this is real." No further comment. As soon as Napoleon's high command took notice, everyone felt compelled to stay silent and look at the floor. The Emperor furiously looked at the message over and over. Apparently, it was no joke.

The British had landed north of Pomerania, a massive fleet well disguised as an agglomerate of trade ships; their plan had been set in motion for almost two years. As eary as 1806, the Royal Navy was in full activity. Predicting a swift victory over Prussia, Britain had planned the staging of a secondary theater of war, to be unveiled when the time had been right. Feeling the tensions between Spain and France and the general unease of the two armies, the British sent a dispatch to Prussia's high command and Frederick Willhelm was very keen on attempting this new gamble. Napoleon knew that the man could never have done something so clever, it was clear to him that his wife Louise of Mecklenburg was the real flame of this new attempt at his life.
Napoleon angrily took his frustrations over a tea service, destroying everything he touched. He had been fooled, but not for long. The disguise had been well coordinated and kept under control by a shared effort, he was sure that many Prussians were housing British soldiers and mayors as well as police services have been feeding them informations for months.
A fierce counterspy network was hastily set in place; in a few weeks, Napoleon had what he sought for. The location of the next landing, and a rough approximation of the joint British-Prussian forces operating in German held territory.
Breslau, Glogau, even Berlin, no city was truly safe. Upon further inspection by Karl Schulmeister, Napoleon's head of secret services, it appeared that a concentrated foirce of around 30.000 men was moving south of Strasbourg, ready to join a secondary force of 86.000 already present in central Germany. He learned that British and Prussian reformists were at work day and night to bring the Korps system to life, improving soldiers' conditions and training, while maintaining a discreet cover under the guise of "reorganizing the army and the artillery under French supervision". Many Frenchmen aiding their cause were either royalists or not French at all; guard posts had been raided and many uniforms had been stolen. Some key locations had their staff massacred and replaced with French speaking Germans.

Napoleon remained in Paris to avert any possible suspect and sought to find more while also concentrating his army himself: he sent Lannes and Victor over at Strasbourg, with a contingent of well concealed 6.500 men from the Guard Chasseurs, Flanqueurs and Young Guard Conscripts, and another 25.000 from the reserve. He certainly did not expect his enemies to be this clever, and for that he had to reconsider his own way of making war, but this would be a lesson for another time. All he had to do now was to take action swiftly and smoothly with the minimal loss of surprise. According to Schulmeister's informants, the Prussians had adapted a series of reforms just a few months earlier, and were in constant training, aided by British observers and suppliers, who had sought to form organized Korps that could work independently from one another. But at present, in late May 1808, only two were active and ready for immediate deployment. Napoleon had to crush both and with them, destroy Austria's hopes to regain the upper hand over Bavaria and Wurttemberg. The Austrians had been silent observers for quite a long time, as well as the Russians, however Alexander was more keen on following Napoleon's own developments rather than start anything beforehand. Had he been asked to check the Austrians or Prussians, he would simply have had to fake preparations and send a company or two near the border for brief and ineffectual skirmishes.

The Continental System imposed by Napoleon had been all but ignored by Russian smugglers and Prussian "pirates", who were operating in small bands across the borders between Galicia, Breslau, Konigsberg and Minsk. Apparently, they called them "Prometheus", an entity composed by many, devoted to defy the Continental System and bring goods as well as weapons and information to the Prussian Army.

Sold on the idea that no action from his enemies would have been taken before the end of June, Napoleon ordered a general mobilization to the north, while assigning Bernadotte to the temporary watch of Silesia and Bohemia for any undercover actoin and\or sign of movement with a force of 60.000 men.



Bernadotte followed his master's orders to the letter. He watched. Just watched....

[Sirlion]

Prelude to Battle

Hundreds of ships were sent during the span of three years. Small ships, usually full of common utensils and stockpiles of timber, but in reality, a clever disguise for weaponry, research papers, soldiers, conspirators and bandits. The dirtiest cogs of war were set in motion to destroy the Napoleonic government from the inside.
Now faced with this new kind of war, Napoleon prepared to march with his troops at the heart of the conspirators' hideout. Several were discovered during 1808, but the greatest nucleus came from a handful of unknown forces present in Pomerania, where the Emperor previously fought Prussia and reduced its power to ashes. Someone wanted to restore that greatness, and he needed to act as quickly and firmly as possible in face of immediate danger.


In late June 1808, Lannes was stationed in Strasbourg with its Corps ready to move northward, should the Emperor find a strong enough opposition, or southward, to assist Bernadotte in case of massive rebellions in Silesia and Bohemia.
Victor's Ist Corps departed from the same location to shield Napoleon's right flank, with his powerful concentration of light infantry, among which the 5th Chasseurs and 9th Voltigeurs distinguished themeselves in the years prior for being some of the most resilient on the battlefield. Their veteran status equaled that of the earliest Grenadier battalions stationed in Boulogne.
On his left flank, Napoleon could count on the timely intervention of Soult and Mortier as support with his Heavy Cavalry, of which several regiments were ready to deploy. Overall, at the end of preliminary reconnaissance and preparations, the French army could field a force of 130.000, but some regiments had to be filled with Hannoverians, Anhaltians, Wurttembergers and Bavarians. As a matter of fact, the recent exponential expansion of the French Empire started to generate some slight disproportions in the army's national composition.




The Emperor had now a clearer picture of his enemy: as the weeks passed, he was made aware of the certainty of Prussia's intention, indeed they had already fielded two Korps and one of those had been moving towards Berlin. One of the most proficient generals among the British troops, the Duke of Wellington, apparently had been alraedy disembarked and moved to an unknown location to meet up with a high official from the Prussian army, of whose identity Napoleon was not aware yet. Regardless he treated the situation with his usual emphasis on speed and action; once he was assured by multiple reports that his garrisons near Berlin were not engaged and the Austrians were sure to be silent and unmovable for some time, he waltzed into Prussia virtually unmolested, while taking care to send several patrols of light infantrymen and chasseurs à cheval alsong the way. He still deeply wanted to keep his presence as concealed as possible, therefore he sent Davout as advance guard, deeming his calmness and iron will necessary to proceed with enough caution, while keeping a stoic discipline.

As he set camp in Lower Bavaria, a messenger came in to bring more bad news: a huge uprising was taking place near Dresden and there were concrete problems keeping it contained, as apparently one of the two Korps of the Anglo-Prussian armies was stationed nearby and multiple detachments of combined arms were seen assaulting the fortresses there. Napoleon thought it a diversion; there was no way they would be so confident as to assault his garrisons in the heart of Europe, unless their superiority was clear. For this reason, he sought for more reports and sent word to Bernadotte. He should come in viewing distance of Prague and set his base of operations there, as access was temporarily granted by the Austrians, then split his army into two provisory Corps of around 30.000 men each, and start posing a visible threat to the rebellion. Had this not been possible, the Emperor ordered him to report any movement immediately, while negotiating safe passage for any Frenchman still in the cities with the Austrians.
Keeping his original plan intact, Napoleon kept going the following day. As June was closing, Victor was the first to come into contact with the enemy between Kelheim and Regensburg. Some daring skirmishers were crossing the Danube in the foggy early morning of that hot summer. Pontoons could be seen from Victor's position, his advance guard reported the presence of at least six battalions in viewing distance from their current location. Some Bavarian troops were already engaged, and they had request help as their efforts were being nullified from a much larger force quickly approaching north. General Wrede had ordered a slow witdrawal into Bavaria while awaiting for further actions by the French. Victor replied with celerity: the would do battle, and drive the Anglo-Prussians away from Regensburg.

[Alwyn]

Great AAR! I like the classical reference, the way that you tell us enough to speculate but don't tell us everything (for example, about the man with a pistol in Vienna) and the way that you show us the strategies of different nations such as Britain and France. (I enjoyed the idea of Britain disguising warships as trade ships - if I remember correctly, British trade ships once pretended to be warships at the Battle of Pulo Aura, so this seems like something which could have been done historically). Your screenshots are well-done, showing the smoke and chaos of a Napoleonic battlefield and excellent unit textures (are those added by the LME4 mod?) - and the map is excellent!

[Sirlion]

Thanks. I'm using my own submod Realism Core for LME4 coupled with my own edits on the textures, the LME team has done a good job but I still think many vanilla units can be improved. The smoke is also part of my submod, BattleChaos, which I have integrated in Realism Core some time ago. I am playing with 40 units per army on a larger battlemap - the largest size possible - and I keep screenshots of the battle results, then I balance them in the story to be realistic for a Napoleonic battle in context. Since I've modified extensively how battlemaps add cities and the unit behaviour I can also describe better battles. The one on Regensburg was truly epic to a scale that I myself didnt believe possible. I am thrilled to describe it. And yes I love the classical textbook description of battles and tactics as well.

[theSilentKiller]

Great start to your AAR! The warfare you describe in your text-book styled writing seems very true to the warfare of the period; large armies, a lot of movement, and deception. I can't wait to see the epic battle at Regensburg!

[Sirlion]

Battle of Regensburg
Early July, 1808

Preparations



As dawn was soon approaching, Victor's men lined up for battle on the hill flanking the southern bank of the river, right next to the city's cemetery. The ominous shadow of the church's high tower could be seen among the orderly buildings arranged in a looped horseshoe fashon. General von Schuler, Prussian commander, had issued order to blow up the big stone bridge that would have permitted the French Army safe passage across the Danube, but to no avail; despite their best efforts, the ill-equipped German sappers and engineers could not complete the operation in time. Thus, he sent word to the rebel high command and reported the situation in the hopes that, should his army fail, his allies would help his men retreat within a safe environment, maybe he thought, even covered by artillery fire. Such request was never granted, nor taken into consideration, as the Anglo-German forces were storming in and around Dresden and had their hands full with resource and intel gathering. They had taken all French supporters either prisoner, forced into provisory regiments, or sent to the firing squad. The treacherous British, whose origins were deeply rooted in the old status quo, had even burned the University building to the ground, forcing its students to flee.
The situation made Napoleon's spirit burn with ardent fervor for war; he ordered Victor to proceed at a steady pace into Regensburg, destroy any sign of Prussian resistance, and regroup with Bernadotte's forces near Prague, position from which he could have coordinated a flanking assault towards Dresden with the main bulk of his army.






The battle



Victor crossed the bridge into Regensburg at the earliest opportunity, as soon as his army finished preparations. 11th, 15th and 2nd Ligne, with the Young Guard Conscripts at its head and the 8th Grenadier Battalion on their right, stormed the town shouting "Vive l'empereur!" as loud as they could, with the beating of the drums startling the young and impressionable German militia guarding the southern bank.
Some of them fled as soon as the eagles were in sight; their captain kept order as tight as possible and, giving a valiant example of courage, he charged the French head on. A great deal of militiamen followed him, but the French fired a single volley and, roaring like lions about to eat their prey, fixed bayonet and started a furious charge. The encounter lasted but a few minutes, as the bodycount of the naive and the young started mounting and the Prussian flag was lost among the splashes of the river, where the captain's body was thrown into as soon as he had been killed. As panic kept spreading among the defenders, it seemed as if the French could gain an easy victory, but when the eager battalions reached the other side of the river they were met with direct canister fire and fierce sniping from the rooftops, the houses around the church and the town square; quickly they knelt and responded to their assailants, however the heavy concentration of the enemy fire among the buildings proved difficult to deal with directly. Victor sought to exploit the enemy's weakness: they could be easily pinned down as much as their aggressors, precisely because being stuck inside buildings made them an unmovable target.
For this reason, he sent the 5th Chasseurs and the 9th Voltigeurs forward and ordered them to assault the church and the cemetery, an advantageous position which would have granted them a panoramic view of the whole city. From there they could shoot reliably at the heart of the rebellion.





The veteran light infantrymen used the fences around the cemetery as cover and began firing at the rallied Prussian militiamen, as well as any Prussian still barricated inside the nearby buildings. A few hours of fierce sniping between the two forces ensued, while Victor's main body of infantry slowly entered the town raiding street after street, shielded by the efforts of Anhalt's German battalion; the brave souls charged the Prussian line infantry sent by general von Schuler to contain the French advance towards the town hall, successfully turning them towards the northwestern sector of Regensburg. There, a whole battalion of 112th Ligne was waiting for them, gathered inside a large building. They came out en masse and moved into the enemy line, panic spread wildly while the young Prussians surrendered and threw their muskets before the victorious Franco-German allies.





With the southern and northwestern sectors of the city secured, a strong concentration of light infantry in and around the church and the cemetery and a favourable position near the bridge, Victor felt confident that he would capture the city in a matter of hours.
He sought to send in his own artillery to make short work of the remaining rebels, however von Schuler had other plans for him; with a dashing move, the Prussian general rallied the remaining line infantrymen around the northern sector of the city, gathering a massive concentration of artillery batteries around the ruins nearby, and again towards the richly fertile hills northward, even further beyond the farmhouses entrenching Regensburg.
Suddenly Victor's artillery got targeted with merciless precision by the Prussian howitzers, many men fell to the ensuing bloodbath and he himself had to retire beyond an already cleared building. Angered by such resolve, the French general decided to keep matters in his own hand. With the sword in his right, he came into contact with von Schuler's advance guard. Multiple reports had assured him no light infantrymen nor cavalry was saving his enemy's batteries and none was in sight in the span of several miles northward, therefore it was time to press on the attack further while securing the remaining northeastern sector.
11th, 20th and 3rd Ligne were sent in to cover Victor's advance, while the Young Guard Conscripts put on their red and white plumes and marched with fixed bayonet further into the streets.





Once again, the German Anhalt battalions proved crucial in keeping the Prussians at bay; 2nd Anhalt Chasseurs à Cheval successfully managed to conceal their presence beyond a small stretch of light forest and charged the enemy's right flank right as the French were about to commit to a powerful charge. They rode like the wind towards the already fleeing forces while only the most stubbornly loyal Prussians kept firing. 11th, 20th and 3rd Ligne were soon reached by two more battalions of Grenadiers and, covered by Anhalt's Chasseurs on their left and 9th Voltigeurs on their right, they ended the rebels' struggle on Victor's left flank. Now free to pursue further, the French general sent in some of the finest among the French cavalry, the 2nd Grenadiers à Cheval. Feeling surrounded and helpless, two Prussian battalions formed into squares and kept their cool while slowly retreating even further northward, their allies' capitulation in the northern sector of the city alraedy imminent.
2nd Grenadiers à Cheval got rid of the Prussian batteries and soon reached the squares. Feeling no fear, they advanced at the gallop quickly closing in; the sheer sound of the imposing dark horses' steps on the raw terrain, the enemies' tall bearskins and fearless faces... it was enough for the Prussians to finally break. The cavalrymen cut through some of them, while the bulk of the squares struggled to keep a cohesive union.








Satisfied with the result of the battle, Victor sent word to the Emperor of his relatively short engagement. Of the 12.336 men sent into battle, only 2.120 were casualties. On the other hand, the enemy fielded 18.922 men and suffered 4.100 casualties, while another 2.500 were captured. The Prussians left in a hurry, leaving behind 32 wagons full of supplies and equipment, and part of their British allies' documentation, as well as experimental rifles.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

That's a great account of the battle, and some fantastic screenshots.

I take it the experimental rifles will be put to good use?

[Alwyn]

I agree with Caillagh - an exciting battle and amazing images!

[Sirlion]

Late July, 1809

The long march into Saxony

After Victor's decisive victory and steadfast advance northward, things were proceeding smoothly for the French. Truth be told however, Victor had sent several messengers to inform the Emperor of his recent battle, but none had reached their target yet. This was due to multiple factors; for one, the weather had suddenly worsened and heavy rains started pouring on central Europe, plunging the already badly crafted roads of the countryside into muddy masses of yellowish grass, boulders and fallen trees. In such atmosphere, small bands of Prussian partisans had started to pick up any Frenchman in sight with even the slightest semblance of soldierly on their person, wether it be just a blue jacket or a bicorne that looked like it could belong to the old Grenadiers. No small patch of woodland was safe from these bandits, whose unscrupulous advance had engulfed progressively new territories. Napoleon's very own rearguard had suffered from their actions; as they approached Frankfurt, still concealed by a tight network of subterfuge, Davout himsellf risked a ruinous fall from his horse after one of these men tried to shoot him from a safe distance, just outside of a grassy field densely packed with tall bushes.
Although he had missed the mark, the man managed to run back in the woodland and hide from his pursuers, helped by the morning mist. Deeply irritated by this behaviour, Napoleon ordered his vanguard to scout deeper northeast, expecting a German contingent from Wurzburg soon. Berlin was still his top priority, although having now considered how the Prussians were playing their game, he fully intended to reach Konigsberg and make king Frederick Willhelm pay in full for his bravado.





Still unaware of Victor's accomplishment, the Emperor changed course and, instead of moving directly towards Berlin as previously planned, he stepped into Bamberg deploying his troops, previously in marching order, into six columns shielded on their flanks by eight cavalry squadrons and two voltigeur battalions. At the heart of this massive force his beloved artillery, among which the Old Guard artillery batteries were exercising their inspiring presence, was well guarded from all sides and ready to deploy at any moment, his men as eager to do battle as they have ever been. Overall morale was very high. For this very reason, the days that followed were marked by a sudden change of pace for kings and emperors alike: Saxony was in a deep state of turmoil, due to the sudden Anglo-Prussian invasion. Due to London and Konigsberg's jointed pressure, Saxon standing abruptly shifted towards Britain, wether it be aided by positive intentions or threats it's still open for debate. What is certain however, is that the Saxon troops stationed at the border begun a slow, steady retreat inland while the few Saxon infantry contingents already present in the French army, as soon as they caught wind of this, started arguing among themselves with increasing fervor. Nobody was completely surprised as the heart of the rebellion had expanded southward and both Leipzig and Dresden had been overrun by British and Prussian troops, but it was still unheard of that such a force alone could pose a formidable threat of this proportion. Aware of such movements, Napoleon sought to find more by issuing immediate orders to his forces still stationed in Saxony, of whose healthy condition he was assured of by multiple sources dating back more than a week before. Each garrison should resist occupation and provide support to one another by linking their respective lines of communication. This task would have provided Napoleon with a fully organized screen of skirmishers in and around Dresden, for he had previously raised new regiments of voltigeurs and chasseurs from his garrisons thanks to a very strong cadre of veterans from Boulogne, still standing among the finest in the French army. Fresh and inexperienced, but eager to demonstrate their valour, these young souls would very soon take arms and embrace their personal baptism of fire.
Luckily for the Emperor, two such forces had risen from Saaz and Breslau, and both were still unmolested. Bessieres hastly sought to send his messengers to both garrisons while the complex machine of Chappe telegraphs aided in the task; five more days later, Napoleon had a clearer picture of the situation at hand, but he didnt want to wait any longer. With Lannes' Corps of veteran troops approaching Frankfurt as well and Mortier's entering Hannover, the Emperor decided to launch a powerful attack on the hilly saxon plains, marching towards Leipzig. From there, after a swift victory, he had planned to march directly into Prussia and push as hard as he dared to capture Berlin with Bernadotte linking up with Victor.


However...


Victor was still waiting further orders, stuck in the muddy fields of Lower Bavaria. He had tried to pursue general von Schuler for a good while, but the incessant rain prevented him from capturing the remnants of the Prussian Korps. Still very satisfied with the results of his battle and the abundant loot taken in its aftermath, all he could do now was sending the captured troops home in honorable defeat and confiscate all the material available.


On a completely different turn of events, Bernadotte was comfortably watching a long stream of Prussian and British troops flooding the northern sector of Prague, partly concealed by unprincipled Austrian shopkeepers and local garrisons. He had sought an opportunity to contact an Austrian ambassador of his, a Karl whose name had been kept secret for several months, who had contacts within the British government and was apparently eager to exploit his bitter rivalry towards Napoleon as much as he allowed himself to.
Nobody knows with certainty which enticing promises he whispered to his soul, but the offer seemed great enough as to warrant his temporary loyalty. As such, the whole of his 60.000 men had been moving in circles for well over two weeks by then, under the pouring rain and ever growing supply problems. Issuing a sudden countermarch, Bernadotte's men were sent back towards Linz, from there they would reach Salzburg and backtrack to Ulm.
Now Napoleon's right flank was completely open to Prussian harassment and, with Victor's lateness, Lannes' rearguard could have been taken by surprise at any moment. Seeking such an exploit was the skilled Prussian general Moltke, whose organized resistance, mostly comprised of militia, lancers and a great deal of reserve troops from the years 1807-1808, had proven as fierce as that of a regular Korps. With the winds in his favour and aided by a heavy storm approaching southward, his men marched towards Frankfurt to intercept Lannes and cut him off from the rest of the French army. Little did they know that among his troops the Old Guard itself was ready to deploy.