Anniversary - the Battle of White Mountain

I just realised that today is the 392nd anniversary of the Battle of White Mountain (Bila Hora in Czech). Now this is obviously not something celebrated by the Czechs considering they got trashed by the Imperial and Catholic League army in short measure (I think the time span of the battle amounted to liitle more than your average game of football). Only the Moravian regiments on the right wing in front of the walls of the Star Palace summer residence put up much of a fight, and a last stand at that as it turned out for them.

Bila Hora today is now a suburb of Prague, at the end of the number 22 tram line. Most of the area is built up, though the centre of the battlefield at the crest of the hill remains untouched, as does the Star Palace (Hvezda) and the park around it.

Every year in early September there is a big reenactment of the battle by the Hvezda which is good fun, even if the noise of traffic, the sight of overhead power cables, and overflying airplanes on their way to land at the airport are a distraction... Above you can see a photo of myself and a few friends (Butler's Dragoon Regiment) participating in the reenactment of the battle, just by the wall of the Star palace . All good fun...

Badajoz

A continuation of my battlefield travels in Spain over the last year, I next visited the fortified frontier town of Badajoz while en-route to Ciudad Rodrigo. To a large extent the walls and fortress are intact on the East and south side of the town, where the main attacks took place, though in parts the tops of the battlements are a bit run down, and this part of town inside the walls is deserted and a bit derelict.

   Above you can see how the area looks today, below a period map of the attack.

At the point of the main attack between the Trinidad and Santa Maria Bastions and the site of the main breach in the Trinidad Bastion, there is a park which runs from here right around to the river, giving access to the full length of the walls. 

Above you can see the ground across which the British attacked, and failed to take the main breach. Even today it is largely open ground.

 Above the Trinidad Bastion today, the site of the main assault.

Even today, the height of the walls is quite impressive (even though the ditches in front of them have long been filled-in). At the point of the main breach there is inlaid the date 1812 high up on the walls. The outer defences and isolated ravelins have been built over, though there was a collection of aerial photographs in the town museum from the 1940’s which showed them almost in their original state.

This was probably one of the bloodiest storming of a city in the entire Peninsular War. Though ultimately successful due to Picton’s troops scaling the walls to the Citadel (pictured above) almost unopposed, the main attack of the Light Division was repulsed by the French with huge loss of life (about 5000 dead and missing in one night on the British side alone). 

 Legend has it that this is one of the few times that Wellington was moved to tears on seeing the human wreckage at the site of the main breach the morning after the attack.

The sacking and killings in the town afterwards by the enraged and soon drunk troops of Wellington’s army are well known. 

 As a footnote to the bloody history of the town, a second massacre took place after the fall of Badajoz in 1936 to General Franco’s insurgents, when Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe and a Mixture of Spanish Foreign Legion and Moroccan troops took the city by storm. 

All prisoners, many town officials, and other selected civilians suspected of supporting the Republic (that is the lawful government of the time) were herded into the main Bull ring and the next day mass executions began. Estimates of those killed in the “Massacre of Badajoz” number between 1000 and 4000, though it is hard to verify as many of the bodies were later burned. This was part of Franco’s “White terror,” which remains such a contentious issue in Spain even today.

Long absence

So, my apologies to anyone who started following this blog during the last year. The perfect storm of a new born daughter (Sophia) at the start of February, and a new project at work has meant many sleepless nights and that my blogging has come to a standstill. Time pressure has eased off a bit now so, I will resume my posts and make up for lost time with a back log of battle sites I visited in the last year, an update of this year’s wargame show near Krakow in Poland, as well as updated venue and other information about the Prague Wargames Club.

We’ve also started a blog for Prague Wargamers blog here: http://praguewargamers.blogspot.cz/

Here you can see a picture of our newly refurbished club in the Vysehrad district of Prague, under the walls of the old fortress (Address: Dum Deti a Mladeze, Vratislavova 15, Prague 2). The club meets the 2^nd and 4^th Sunday of every month between 14.00 and 18.00. All of course are welcome.

More posts to follow soon.

Krakow – Niepolomice Wargames show

 A few weeks ago the club (Prague Historical Wargames Club) made it’s annual trip up to Krakow (well Niepolomice actually, which is about 10km further down the Vistula). We usually stage a large Napoleonic refight in 15mm. this year the Battle of Albuera was the scene. This one is a natural favourite in Poland, given the key role of the Vistula lancers in nearly destroying the British line.

We followed the original tactical dispositions, though this time the French succeeded in turning the British flank, breaking the two Spanish brigades which fell back in confusion, preventing the British from re-forming line in time before being hit first by the French cavalry, and then the massed French columns of attack.

 

 

By 5pm the British had conceded defeat. I estimate that we have about 2,500 figures on the table, and probably covered about 60% of the original OOB (we excluded the majority of the Portuguese brigades, which historically had almost no participation in the battle being stationed away on the Allied left flank). We used the Deluxe Edition of General de Brigade rules, which actually worked very smoothly considering the size of the battle.

All the terrain was made by the club in Prague, and to my mind, surprisingly accurate compared to what I saw when I visited Albuera in August (see my earlier Albuera post for pictures of the terrain). 

 The rest of the show was excellent, and is becoming probably the biggest wargaming and historical re-enactment event in Poland. I didn't manage to get any pictures of the re-enactments in the castle grounds, but if you follow this link you will get an idea about the size of the event, cavalry, tanks and armoured cars and all: http://community.webshots.com/user/xnifar/tags/niepolomice/photos?start=28

The list of traders is growing as well. To top it all, the event is held in a beautiful Renaissance castle (the original royal hunting castle of the Polish kings), which also contains and excellent hotel. The town is easily reached from Krakow, being about a 15 minute drive. A taxi from the airport to the event would take you about 30 minutes. The next show will be held in mid-September 2012.

Albuera

From Elvas to Albuera, (La Albuera), through Badajoz, it is mostly flat or low rolling countryside.
 The village of Albuera itself is a small affair, with a solitary square and renaissance church, and a single road leading down to the original bridge. A new highway and ring road has just opened which bypasses the centre. Thankfully this new road hasn’t altered the battlefield, but it is quite close…

The village appears much as it probably did in 1811 (minus the asphalt and eletric wires of course)

The church in the main square, unchanged since 1811

The main square looking down towards the old bridge. This is where the KGL Light battalions defended the village

Memorial to General Blake

The main bridge at Albuera, as it was in 1811

To get to the battlefield you have to follow the main road (N435) south out of Albuera (making sure not to cross the river), in the direction of Almendral. After about a kilometr, you see a small house on the left and then a small unpaved track leading away from the road to the right. Turning on to this I was able to drive up to the middle of the main battle, about a kilometre in from the main road on a low ridge.

Looking back down eastwards towards modern main road from ridge

Now after about 200 years of farming, it’s hard to tell how much erosion there has been, but to my eye it seemd that the battlefield was largely intact, and I could easily make out the main features compared to contemporary maps.

Looking towards the allied front facing the French attack

 What immediately strikes one is the small area upon which so much of the bloody fighting took place. Indeed, from the front of the allied army’s position on one low rise on top of the main ridge, to the starting point of the French attack atop the second hillock, is only about 300 metres. Again the fronts of the two forces could been at most about 500 metres wide. Considering the thousands of men involved, the ground must have been packed.

The short ground between the start of the French attack and the Allied army line (in the distance)

 The second thing that struck me was the amount of dead ground stretching away from the original right flank of the allies before they turned at the last minute to meet the French onslaught. Even from the top of the ridge where Coles brigade stood, you can only see the top of the hill over which Werle’s brigade appeared. Behind that, the ground over which the French approach is hidden from view. Easy to see the logic of the French, and also to understand the immense task of the allies to turn, face and defend against them after the initial surprise.

Looking along the line of Beresford’s original deployment, the logic seems clear; expecting an attack, he deployed his troops on the reverse slope of a low ridge to avoid unnecessary casualties. I suspect this reduced further the armies’ ability to perceive and react to the flank attack.

Looking north along the Allied armies' first position on the reverse slope of the main ridge. Albuera village in the background.

 The problem of dead ground and blocked sight continued all the way to the line of Colbourne’s approach to the right, affording the Vistula Lancers their chance to get into a position unseen to launch their devastating flank attack; the sudden rainstorm only compounding the blocked line of sight.

Looking east along the Allied armies' liine as it received the French attack from the right (coming down from higher ground, into a dip, before hitting the line)

The line of advance of the French. Taken from the cusp of the small hill facing the Allied army, the land drops away concealing all activity

View of the main French attack from the allied flank. This is where Colbourne's Division was destroyed, and retaken by Myers' and Harvey's brigades

Once Cole’s division and Harvey’s Portuguese brigade came on, the battle played out from these final positions. The land is still sparse, and the soil quite red.

The position of the "Die Hards"

Elvas

Recently, on my way to a family holiday in Portugal, I had a few days free before meeting up with relatives. Looking at the map I realised several of the key Peninsular War battlefields could be covered in the short time available. Starting in Lisbon I made straight for the Spanish border and the battlefield of Albuera, stopping the night in Elvas.

Elvas is a short distance from Badajoz,and as such represents one of the two key routes between Spain and Portugal,the other being the Ciudad Rodrigo-Almeida axis in the north of the country. It’s not hard to understand how a majority of the battles and campaigning took place around these sites, as control of both routes could either ensure successful defence of Portugal for the British, prior to any invasion of Spain, or visa versa for the French.

The fortress at Elvas was constructed shortly after Portugal regained her independence from Spain in the 1640’s, and subsequently added to in the following decades. It resembles a classic Vauban fortress, similar in size to it’s the northern fortress of Almeida. This was Wellingtons base for many of the southern campaigns and was never taken by the French. The walls are impressive, and command most of the surrounding countryside. Two hills outside the town walls were also fortified to ensure the towns’ security (both of which still belong to the Portuguese army).

Within the town you can find the British cemetery, containing many graves of soldiers from Wellington’s army, especially a large number of dead from the Battle of Albuera, and a commemoration memorial.

Seringapatam

Seringapatam (or Srisangapatna as it is now called), was the setting for the final phase of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore war in 1799. Of note is the fact that a younger Arthur Wellesley, the fourth son of an old  Anglo-Irish Family, commanded the rear of the assault on the fortress and later (allegedly) identified the body of the fallen Tipu Sultan (the "Tiger of Mysore"), the ruler of Mysore.

Now work had taken me to India, and I seized the opportunity during a free weekend to drive over from Bangalore to see the old royal city of Mysore. Along the way my driver decided to show me an ancient temple in the midst of an old ruined fortress. It was only when we got to the memorial to Tipu Sultan did I realize we were at the site of the Battle of Seringapatam.

Now the temple itself (Ranganathaswamy Temple) is spectacular, and in good condition considering it's over 1000 years old (I believe it was built in the 9th Century). My driver Shiva was a fairly devout Hindu, so we went in and while he prayed I managed to take a few shots of the beautiful carved figures.

The fortress though is largely a ruin, with only some of the original walls remaining. The pictures below show where the main body of British troops under Major General David Baird stormed the walls after a breach had been opened up by a battery of artillery placed to the south. The ditch and glacis beyond the walls are impressive, and give an indication of the difficulties faced by the assaulting British columns.

Main walls facing south

Main gate facing south towards British Battery position

 Apart from the ancient temple and the fortress ruins, there are the remains of the porticos of a few original buildings from the period as well as the Mosque of Tipu Sultan, who was an Islamic ruler in an Hindu land. The area of the battle itself is undeveloped, and apart from the walls which are mostly in ruin, the battlefield seems to be largely as it was in 1799.

Tipu Sultan's mosque