14 March 1813 – Central Germany – Erfurt Campaign

Europe 1813 Campaign Areas

There are five campaign areas in Europe

Three in Germany

Two in Spain

This is the 37^th campaign phase of the solo version of the 1813 campaign

Regions of Germany

This campaign phase is set in the Erfurt Region of central Germany.

 

Napoleon suffered a major defeat in the 1812 Russian campaign.

His battered army was retreated to Germany, pursued by the Russians

The Russians halted in the Dresden Region at the end of year

 

Napoleon had to create a new army to fight the 1813 campaign

He formed three armies in Germany, as shown on the above map

Marshal Davout was given command of Second French army

His task was to hold and defeat the Russian army

Second French army was formed in the Dusseldorf Region.

 

On 28 February the Russians moved into the Erfurt Region

They occupied the town of Gera.

 

On 30 March Davout also entered the Erfurt Region

He occupied the town of Fulda.

Erfurt Region

This map shows the location of the two armies at midnight on 13 March 1813.

Erfurt district is the location of this campaign

It is in the centre of the map indicated by the white star

Each square on this map is one days march and one wargame table

Erfurt District

This is the map which will be used during the campaign

It shows towns,villages, roads, rivers and major terrain features

It also shows the location of each depot

This map is used to transfer battles to the wargames table

Each square is a 2x2 foot terrain board on the wargames table

Second French Army

Marshal Davout

2^nd Young Guard corps

5^th French corps      

6^th French corps

14^th Westphalian corps

3^rd Reserve corps

 

Each corps has four infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade and corps artillery

80000 infantry, 5000 cavalry, 150 guns

Russian Army

General Wittgenstein

1^st Russian corps

2^nd Russian corps

3^rd Russian corps

4^th Russian corps

Reserve corps

 

Each corps has four infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade and corps artillery

80000 infantry, 5000 cavalry, 150 guns

         

Reference

The campaign diary contains comprehensive details of the whole campaign.   The labels on the right are an index to various parts of the campaign.

 

01 - Introduction to the1813 campaign

02 - Five campaign areas

20 - Introduction to the campaign in Central Germany

21 – 1^st French Army order of battle

22 - Prussian Army order of battle

23 - Daily diary for the campaign in Central Germany

24 - Battle reports of all battles fought in Central Germany

25 - Summary of campaign in Central Germany