Aspern-Essling 1809

 

Back to basics today with this napoleonic refight. After a string of victories over the austrians in the Danube, the Emperor advances confidently eastwards and takes Vienna. Thinking that he has already defeated the enemy, Bonaparte crosses the river with only a handful of troops, only to be faced with 100.000 kaiserlicks eager for payback. Objectives were pretty simple: one victory point for every unit you kill (artillery half), plus another for holding a village in the last turn.

The french start the battle turning their cannon towards the approaches to Aspern and Essling, behind them, the cuirassiers form in column and ride towards the flank

Alas, the austrians have outsmarted them and take the guns in the flank

Thanks to Napoleon's command buff, the guns retreat orderly backards

But the enemy riders just chase after them 

Meanwhile the kaiserlicks have marched on Aspern and Essling covered by the artillery

And  launch a resolute assult to take both villages

The ulhans are mauled by enemy fire, but plow onwards regardless and skewer the gunners

Lichtenstein is wounded in this glorious charge

That wipes out the imperial guns

The hussars wheel about to pin a grenadier square in place as the ulhans try to recover

 The whitecoats attack the villages, but are repulsed with tremendous losses

Lannes fells in this bloody hand to hand

And even the Emperor is killed!

The austrians also get hurt when their CiC, archduke Charles, is slaughtered by the defenders of Aspern

A final assault of the mauled kaiserlicks finally expels the frogs from Essling

In Aspern however, the grenadiers have failed and retreat from the field

With his right destroyed, the french player concentrates all his men around the danuvian hamlet

The lone grenadier square in the center stays stubbornly still, and will be annihilated eventually by musket and cannon shots

The garrison of Aspern is blown up by the austrian artillery. A column of whitecoats enters the bombed out ruins shortly afterwards, seizing the village

The curassiers are charged in the rear by austrian hussars, but manage to push them back after a short struggle due to their superior quality

With both settlements occupied and the french army in tatters, the battle comes to an end in a wondrous austrian victory, the first defeat for Napoleon since the siege of Acre in 1799! Keep in touch with us for the final showdown at Wagram.