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The Battle of Albuera, 16Th May 1811 Introduction

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The Battle of Albuera, 16Th May 1811 Introduction “The day was mine, but they did not know it and would not run”: The Battle of Albuera, 16th May 1811 Introduction During 1811 the main objective for the British was to take the frontier fortresses of Almeida, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. These towns controlled the major routes from Portugal to Spain and needed to be neutralised before Wellington could cross the border and take the fight to the French. Almeida and Badajoz were attacked at the same time, with the main army besieging Almeida, and a smaller British force cooperating with Blake’s 4th Spanish army to contain Badajoz. The French attempted to raise both sieges, and these attempts gave rise to two battles fought within a week of each other. At Fuentes de Onoro, Wellington again bested Massena. But perhaps the more famous encounter was that fought south of Badajoz by the combined British and Spanish armies under Beresford against the “Duke of Damnation”, Marshal Soult. Advancing from Seville with 25,000 men, Soult met the hastily assembled allies across the River Albuhera. It would be the most bitterly contested battle in the entire Peninsular war. To Seville French Deployment Zone N Feria Brook River Albuhera Albuera Arroya Brook To Badajoz Allied Deployment Zone 0 8” 16” To Valverde Game Setup The game setup is quite simple. Both sides may deploy anywhere in their respective deployment zones, on any type of blind, on any orders. The exception to this is Cole’s division, which arrived during the night and must be positioned to the north of the Valverde road. The high ground gives defenders Terrain Advantage but does not influence movement. The village of Albuera is a standard Built Up Area, defence factor +2, holding one battalion. The rivers and brooks may be forded without penalty (defenders if attacked across them with have Terrain Advantage), with the exception of the section of river North of Albuera village, which cannot be crossed by artillery. The game should ideally be played on a 5’ square table, but 5’ (North-South) by 4’ could be used if necessary. Special Rules To reflect Soult’s contrasting abilities for Grand Tactical planning as opposed to battle management, he is rated Bold/Solid until the first close combat is fought. From then on he is downgraded to Solid. It is recommended that the optional rule 25.9 is applied to allow Bold generals like Cole and Lumley to replicate history and take the initiative without orders. Victory Conditions French Major Victory: Drive the allies from the high ground and inflict at least 40% casualties on the British infantry French Minor Victory: Inflict more casualties on the allies than are received, and inflict at least 40% casualties on the British infantry Allies Minor Victory: Hold the high ground, inflict more casualties on the French than are received and limit casualties among British infantry to 33% or less. Allied Major Victory: Hold the high ground and limit casualties among British infantry to 20% or less. Further Reading There are several excellent books on Albuera, my favourite is that by Mike Oliver and Richard Partridge: The Battle of Albuera- 1811. Glorious Field of Grief. The orders of battle presented here are based on those found in the appendices to that excellent work. There are some good web resources available: - for an overview of the battle see Andrew Jackson’s piece at http://www.peninsularwar.org/albuera.htm and here (if you ignore the tasteful advert for wrinkle cream!) http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_albuera.html - for a treasure trove of first hand material, go to the Napoleon Series website. Guy Dempsey (the author of another good book on Albuera) has deposited a lot of his research material online: http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/1811/Albuera/Archives/c_albueraarchivesintro.html - for those struggling with Spanish uniforms for this period, there is a fantastic collection of material on Steven Balagan’s blog: http://balagan.org.uk/war/peninsular-war/order-of-battle/albuera_spanish.htm Allied Order of Battle, 16th May 1811 Commander in Chief: Beresford (Poor) 2nd Division Stewart (Poor) 5/60th ½ btn B class SK3, Rifles, Skirmishers Colborne’s Brigade 1/3rd Foot B class SK1 2/31st Foot C class SK1 2/66th Foot C class SK1 Houghton’s Brigade 29th Foot B class Stoic SK1 1/48th Foot B class Stoic SK1 1/57th Foot B class Stoic SK1 2/28th Foot C class SK1 4th Division Cole (Bold/Able) Myer’s Brigade 1/7th Foot B class Stoic SK1 2/7th Foot B class Stoic SK1 1/23rd Foot B class Stoic SK1 Harvey’s Brigade 11th Portugese Line 2 btns C class SK1 Loyal Lusitanian Legion C class SK2, TLI Kings German Legion Alten (Detached; Solid) Light Battalion (14 figures) B class SK3, Rifles, TLI Cavalry Lumley (Detached; Bold/Able) 3rd Dragoon Guards B class Elan Heavy Cavalry 13th Light Dragooons B class Elan Light Cavalry Artillery* Hartmann (Detached; Solid) Royal Foot Artillery 4x9lb guns B class KGL Artillery 6x6lb guns B class Royal Horse Artillery 4x6lb guns B class Horse Artillery Portugese Forces Hamilton (Solid) 1st Brigade 4th Portugese 2 btns C class SK1 10th Portugese 2 btns C class SK1 2nd Brigade 2nd Portugese 2 btns C class SK1 14th Portugese 2 btns D class SK0 Artillery Foot Artillery 6x9lb guns C class Cavalry 1st Dragoons D class Light Cavalry 7th Dragoons D class Light Cavalry 4th Spanish Army Blake (Poor) Vanguard Lardizabal (Solid) 1st Brigade 1st Regt. Murcia D class SK0 2nd Regt. Murcia D class SK0 2nd Brigade 2nd Regt. Leon D class SK0 Regt. Ligero de Campo Mayor C class SK1 3rd Division Ballasteros (Poor) 2nd Cazadores de Barbastro D class SK1 Regt. Pravia D class SK0 1st Catalanes D class Brittle SK0 Regt. Infiesto D class Brittle SK0 4th Division Zayas (Bold/Able) 2nd Real Guardia de Espana B class SK1 4th Real Guardia de Espana B class SK1 2/Regt. Irlanda C class SK1 3/Regt. Irlanda C class SK1 Regt. Veteranos de la Patria C class SK1 Cavalry Casimiro Loy (Poor/Cautious) Provisional de Santiago D class, Brittle Light Cavalry Hussares de Castilla D class, Brittle Light Cavalry Regt. de Bourbon D class, Brittle Line Cavalry * The British artillery may be kept together, or distributed to the British divisions before the start of the game. French Order of Battle, 16th May 1811 Commander in Chief: Soult (Bold/Solid->Solid; see briefing) 1st Division Girard (Bold/Solid) 34th Ligne 2 btns B class SK1 88th Ligne 2 btns C class SK1 2nd Division Gazan (Solid) 21st Legere 2 btns B class SK2 103rd Ligne 3 btns C class SK1 Independent Brigade Godinot (Detached; Solid) 16th Legere 2 btns C class SK2 51st Ligne 3 btns C class SK1 Independent Brigade Werlé (Detached; Solid) 12th Legere 3 btns B class SK2 55th Ligne 3 btns C class SK1 Combined Grenadiers 1 btn B class, Elan SK1 Cavalry Latour-Maubourg (Bold/Solid) 1st Brigade (Bailly) 4th Dragoons C class Line Cavalry 20th Dragoons C class Line Cavalry 26th Dragoons C class Line Cavalry 2nd Brigade (Briché) 1st Lanciers de la Vistule B class, Elan Lancers 2nd Hussars B class, Elan Light Cavalry 27th Chasseurs a Cheval C class Light Cavalry Artillery* Ruty (Detached; Solid) Horse Artillery 6xmedium guns B class Horse Artillery Horse Artillery 6xmedium guns B class Horse Artillery Horse Artillery 6xmedium guns B class Horse Artillery Foot Artillery 6xmedium guns B class Foot Artillery 6xmedium guns B class * The French artillery may be kept together, or distributed to the French divisions before the start of the game. .
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