Battle of Raszyn (1809) – Grand Manner Rules

Okay so Grand Manner isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but Rob’s table was too good an opportunity to miss so we hosted this minor engagement from Galicia featuring Poles from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw captained by Piotr allied with a Saxon Division commanded by John and Phil arriving from the West with a French infantry division and Pontoon train.

Arrayed against this were three small corps of Austrians and a heavy cavalry division commanded by Craig, Brian and Rob, whose task was to attack across a swollen river and take Raszyn on their way to capturing Warsaw and the magazine therein.

Poor intelligence hampered the Austrian attack as the river was too deep to cross in many places but a ford, marsh area and a rickety bridge offered potential opportunities for a breakthrough.

The Allies lined the far bank and the large Austrian battalions advanced.

Polish and Saxon defence was stout and the first Austrian forays proved unfruitful as Craig’s corps discovered the river in front of them was too deep to cross.

Rob’s cavalry poured across the bridge which then collapsed under the weight of the cavalry racing across.

This left Brian with the task of approaching the Ford in the centre.

The Austrian corps on either wing would now support this main attack.

Taking casualties as you attack is par for the course in any battle but incredibly strong dice throwing from Piotr and John was inflicting terrible losses on the Austrians.

Nevertheless the Austrians did manage to drive off the Polish artillery covering the Ford and force some poor quality Saxons to retreat.

Piotr repositioned his infantry to cover the Ford as the Austrians then tried to breakthrough across the Ford , first with light cavalry and then with cuirassiers.

Again, exceptionally fine shooting on the part of the Poles drove off the Austrian cavalry and with French reinforcements arriving the Austrians withdrew whilst they still had an army.

A victory for the fledgling Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

Many thanks to Rob for allowing me to bring my figures and to all the players. If I was to tweak the scenario – I would perhaps make the river fordable in more than one section and give the Austrians more operational control of their arrival instead of prescribing their arrival in the first few turns. A tricky battle for them to win although I have seen it done at a club in Birmingham.