Having
conferred during the night Lord Raglan and French commander General Pelissier
agreed that the French should have a go at assaulting the Mamelon. Accordingly
all supplies and action points would be allocated to this attack.
At 9am four
French regiments rise out of the forward trenches and advanced towards the
Russian position.
Immediately the light
infantry on the left come under fire from the 32 pdrs up on the Mamelon. They
waver under the hail of shot and pull back to the safety of the trenches.
However, the Zouaves, Algerians and a French line regiment continue on, but soon another French unit is forced back.
The Zouaves
reach the wall and begin to break in causing some Russian casualties. Then the Russians counter attack. The Zouaves
are all but wiped out and in the next turn all of the French pull back towards
the safety of their own lines.
The French are severely bruised, but they have
destroyed one Russian regiment and damaged another.
The French
artillery begins to bombard the Mamelon, this time aiming for the Russian
infantry, causing more casualties. A second French assault is also unsuccessful and two of the French units are destroyed.
French
reserves move, including a Guard Regiment and reorganise themselves for another
assault.
The French
guard and a line regiment reach the defences and storm into the Mamelon, sending a Russian regiment
to destruction:
however the other French units are not so successful and are
forced back. The Guards are now on their
own inside the Mamelon.
The
Russians immediately counter attack and the French Guard are overwhelmed and
destroyed. The Mamelon is now back in
Russian hands.
The two
remaining French regiments, which includes the battered Algerians, rally and once more charge up against the defences.
They are met with a hail of musket balls and canister from the guns up on the
Malakoff. The French attack fails and the remnants of six battalions limp back
to the French lines:
As night falls
the allied commanders confer and decide to try again in the morning. Once again
the allies throw a strong 9 for resupply. During darkness they will bring up
fresh troops for the morning assault and have sufficient to replenish the guns.
The Russians again are not so lucky, throwing just two. They decide to use all
their points to resupply the guns on the Mamelon and Malakoff defences.
I never really thought about it before, but these sorts of actions really foreshadowed the Western Front of 60+ years later. In any case, an interesting segment of the ongoing game.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
The Crimea was similar to the American Civil War, fighting napoleonic style with modern weapons and you are right, it took a long time for armies to adapt.
DeleteRaglan had more nouse that we give him credit for, clearly. Fight to the last Frenchman!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! I think the French outnumbered the British by about three to one and despite Raglan being in overall command the French vote was very powerful. Of interest it was about this time that the telegraph was completed to London and Paris and so political interference became a factor in the campaign.
ReplyDeleteSo the rumour is true - the British will fight to the death of the last Frenchman - I went to a Cheshire grammar school in the later 1960's and when being taught about the Crimean War we weren't told the French were there, never mind being the largest force. Congrats on a good looking interesting game, I eagerly await the next part.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, there were many actions involving French and Turkish troops that do not appear in our school history books. It will be the French in action again next round!
DeleteA glorious action...
ReplyDeleteThe Zouaves and the Turcos looked magnificent...
All the best. Aly
Thanks - they are 20mm Douglas Miniatures figures.
DeleteAbsolutely magnificent squire. Right that's it. Time to dust off the Crimean collection.
ReplyDeleteNot at the expense of your superb Peninsular actions I hope! I look forward to seeing your Crimean troops though. If I recall you wrote an interesting piece on Inkerman some time ago? I am researching McKenzie's farm for a fuure 'what if' scenario.
DeleteGreat stuff! (and good encouragement to me to stop faffing about with fiddly rule bits and get back to the sweep of the thing with dramatic action)
ReplyDeleteI have never fought an action like this before, with troops assaulting well defended prepared positions. I am also enjoying the logistic challenges too.
Delete