Disaster of the Austro-Russian Alliance

[[N]LS]

I'm eagerly awaiting the battle report of the disaster that befell the Austrian/Russian alliance in Germany.

[[N]Rakker]

Dispatch to Marechal LS,

It is mostly the victors who write history. But I got the hand one report of an Austrian officer, major Heinrich Franz von Klagenfurt.
He was an aide de camp to the Austrian General who died in this terrible battle that destroyed the army of the coalition.

This is his story of that dreadfull day.

"As a new campaigning season started in March, reports were received in Vienna that a large Ottoman Army
was running rampant in the Balkans. As the Austrian mainforce was fighting in Germany and in Italy against the French, only one division was available to face this treat. Luckilly the Russian tsar send two divisions to bolster this force. The two Russian division were led by two colonels: Cyn and Isaac Brock. The Austrian contigent was led by Brigade General Rakker. The overall command was in the hands of the Austrians. These forces marched towards the Turkish force.

On the 2nd of april the army of the coalition faced the infidel Turk. They had assembled a large army, and the command was in the hands of Grand vizier and Marshall of the Ottoman empire, LS. An other Grand vizier and Marshall, Sloop, was in command of the Turkish right wing. The Ottoman left was in the hands of a young ambitious officer of the sultan called Ciprian.

While the coalition forces were send out to destroy this turkish force, the ground was really unfavourable to do so. While the Ottoman army was assembled as one, but the army of the coalition was split. The Russians and Austrians were seperated by a river. This river could only be crossed at two points by bridges. One of these bridges was dangerously close to the turkish lines.

The Austrian General decided that a battle should no be fought by seperate forces, and decided to abandon the left and to cross the river first. Then he should link up with the Russians under Isaac Brock. The Russian right under Cyn should in the meantime take up defensive positions on the hill in front of him.

And so the battle started. The Austrian marched accross the river, while the whole Ottoman army advanced along the line. The Russian right advanced, but the Russian center would become to vulnerable on a plain if the russian right had to be protected. Therefore the coalition decide to withdraw behind and on a large ridge at the back of the map. Only a small Austrian screening force backed by some Russians was left to defend the small village guarding the bridge

the Ottomans seemed very cautious. Large contigents of cavalry were spotted but there were no agressive moves from them. It seemed to me that the Turkish commanders were happy to use there more modern army this time instead of relying on obsolete cold steel. They brought large numbers of musket armed troops and a intimidating number of the heavy 18 pdr cannons. These guns were used to batter the lines of the coalition with impunity. Only one Austrian battery of 12 pounders had the range to retaliate, but was outnumbered in guns 6 to one and was forced to abandon it's position. The numereous Russian 6 pounders could do little, but their presence seemed to keep the ottomans away. All in all the coalition was ingood faith and occupoed a strong defensive position

However, the Ottoman barbarians opened fire on the village near the bridge. My commanding officer was not willing to risk the life of the Austrian civilians there and retreated his troops to save the houses and it's inhabitants.

The battle was now only a duel between gunners. Both sides could only shoot at enemy scouting parties. The coalition waited in vain on the inevitable Ottoman assault on our defensive position, but it seemed those barbarian infidels learned another modern and civilised virtue: patience.

With hours passed and only a few unlucky souls hit by massive amounts of cannonballs fired, the commanders of the coalition became impatient to show the heathen turks what fighting is. At that moment a window of opportunity arised. A small turkish force with some infantry, cavalry and artilery had crossed the bridge near the abandoned village. If the coalitioon could force the turks away from the vilage then the small force on the other bank was cut off and could be destroyed. So the Russian center under Isaac brock, and the austrians under Rakker marched onwards to the village. Happy not to spill imperial cannonballs anymore but to show the enemy real fighting and bravery.

The Russian right wing began to advance too, so that the Russian left could not interfere with the bussines near the river.

Leaded by enraged hungarian fusiliers the fight in the village began. Neiher side could et an advantage at first. The Ottoman artillery on the other bank tried to set up in a position to give envillading fire into the brae hungarian lines but this was twarted by the precise fire from the austrian twelve pounders. Hungararian grenadiers were brought into position. On the right of the village the Russians seemed to make great progress in routing the crew another ottoman battery. Seeing this succes the Hungarians fusiliers and grenadiers put on their bayonets and charged towards the bridge. A huge melee ensued. It was a meat grinder. After a few minutes the already tired fusiliers were having enough, but the Grenadiers fought and fought. The ottomans were pouring more and more poor soldiers into the melee, and were slowly gaining the upper hand. Regardless of the Austrian Uhlanen and Cuirassiers wich were thrown into the fray too.

To make matters worse, the routed ottoman gunners from the right of the village , problably in fear of their mean leaders, were forced to go back to their guns. The russians who where in a terrible shoot out duel with the ottoman musketeers, were in no position to counter this battery again. Slowly they were forced to retreat away from the deadly cannister fired from that battery.

Finnaly the hungarian grenadiers could take no more, they fougth agaisnt inconceivable odds for the Kaiser, but they were more then halved, and and enormous host of angry turks stood ready to join the fray. So they collapsed, and with them the majority of the Russo Austrian left wing. Pursued by the Turkish cavalry they had no choice then to run for their lives. The Austrian General tried bravely to rally his men and to fight once more agaisnt the hated turks and for their kaiser, but he was merciless sabred down by an ottoman mameluke.

With this disaster on the left, there was no way that the Russian right wing could turn the tide. While he was skillfully pushing the Turk on his front, there was after the disaster on the left, a steady influx of new and angry turks. These troops endangered his flanks so his advance slowly lost momentum. First on his flanks then also at his center. his position became a sort of perimeter. The Russians became slowly outnumbered but fought like true heroes.

On the left a small pocket of Russian and austrian survivors had assembled. Under the command of the Russian Colonel Isaac Brock, they tried to reach the now beleagered Russians under Colonel Cyn. However it was to late.

Colonel Cyn, was aware that his position was hopeless and he decided to gamble all or nothing. His Russian elite grenadiers and his always hardy musketeers charged agaisnt the enemy line. Against most other foes this would have succeeded. But not this time. The Turks gave no inch, and the russian brave soldiers decided that it was all pointless and runned towards mother Russia. With the last coalition force of any meaning destroyed, the only thing the victorious Ottomans had to do was sabre the last pockets of resistance down.
The brave colonel Isaac brock died while he defended such a pocket to the last man. I must say that there is no news available of the other Russian colonel.

I'm lucky i've survived this massacre. I think the reasons for the defeat were not the bravery and the skill of our troops, but the terain was not in our favour. And we were unlucky that the Russian Tsar did not give permision to take the heavy 20 pounder unicorns from the imperial arsenal to the two colonels. With more heavy guns the ottomans could have been forced to storm our strong defensive positions. And should have died trying."

This was just the report of that austrian Major von Klagenfurt. I dont know if this source is thrustworthy. Hopefully an Ottoman or Russian source can give more insight into this battle.

[[N]Fullin]

However, the Ottoman barbarians opened fire on the village near the bridge. My commanding officer was not willing to risk the life of the Austrian civilians there and retreated his troops to save the houses and it's inhabitants.

What was the map Gentlemen?


Beautiful report old school style....no gimmicks.

Thank you


It seems the Ottos are quite versatile in many departments....so they can actually shoot now.

[[N]Isaac_Brock]

Excellent report of the battle, Rakker!

As for why I didn't do a report... well, when I have 6-7 hours to actually write the report I will. The battle was three hours, meaning I'd have to spend at least that much time watching it and another 3-4 hours doing the report with pics and stuff (the last one hour battle I did took 4.5 hours)

For the sake of my sanity, I think I'm going to focus on one-hour timed battles, too because even during a dynamic battle (which despite Rakker's vivid depiction, even the victors would have to admit this battle was not) making a report with lots of pictures can be tedious at times. But a super long battle? No thanks.

[[N]LS]

However, the Ottoman barbarians opened fire on the village near the bridge. My commanding officer was not willing to risk the life of the Austrian civilians there and retreated his troops to save the houses and it's inhabitants.

What was the map Gentlemen?

Germany 5 LOC without LOC?

[[N]Fullin]

oh i see weird map....Ive corrected that map reducing their scale a little bit

[[N]LS]

but the terain was not in our favour

About as favourable as Austerlitz. That is until you did the same mistake they did against Napoleon.

[[N]Rakker]

If we did' not come off that hill, we were now still in the process of exchanging Imperial cannonballs against those of the of the Sultan.

[[N]Sloop]

General Rakker, a most enjoyable read. I must admit I was impressed with the quality of the Sultan's lowly peasant army and even more impressed with the weight in gold received for my services.