04. Battle of Valladolid - 2nd July 1808

Any room for one more? when does it start ? downloading everything right now , road to wag. , KSnap mod is all i need?

Almost always room though people who come last may only get a battery!

Yes, you only need RoadToWagramAndPeninsulaMod, KSNapMod v1700 (Large version if your vertical screen res is over 1024, Small version if its 1024 or less). That's all.

You can run GCM/Jolly's Terrain Mod with this but no other mods and no other toolbars.

Also, beware cavalry, they bite. Hard.

ok, got the large mod. battery is cool, just want to get a feel for it all anyway. what time does it start? and where do we meet up?

20:00 BST (British Summer Time) in the KS TS server:

http://forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk/t269-hits-couriers-teamspeak-server-information

Please also read this:

http://forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk/t1196-04-battle-of-valladolid-some-specific-important-gameplay-notes

Thanks.

I'm really sorry about me crashing out (again) from tonight's game. I need to take a good look at my rig and software updates.

It was really hotting up and turning into a great battle.

Hopefully, Cuesta's premature demise did not effect the outcome to any great extent.

Have his brave Generals and couragous men done him proud and saved him from french prison cuisine, or indeed the tight noose of the Junta's gallows?

I look forward to seeing the replay, if anyone has the save? And please post any vids.

Really nicely done, Diggers. Thanks for getting the campaign running again.

Mike

"Hopefully, Cuesta's premature demise did not effect the outcome to any great extent."

After he fell from his horse unconscious from too much Maderia, his troops rolled his enormous bulk into the main street of the city and blocked the French from getting through while they scuttled off to Leon.

It was a very messy battle and the Spanish retreated after about 90 minutes with heavy losses, however the French too suffered heavy losses, Rigaud's cavalry brigade being down to 1 squadron at the end and d'Isembourg's brigade continuing its run of bad luck from the previous days action on the ridge; this time making an unco-ordinated attack on a Spanish battalion fortified inside a stone barn at Puente Zamora. Unconfirmed reports say that about 4 French battalions lost 800 men in this attack in a matter of minutes.

It would appear that only about half the Spanish got away, straggling up the Leon road while the victorious French put the army storehouses in the city to the torch after consuming whatever they could and carrying off the rest.

Surprisingly in terms of straight casualties the French lost more men but many more of these will be recovered over the next night and day while the retreating Spanish will take far longer to recover any stragglers.

Valladolid Replay File
GCM'ized Valladolid Replay

Good thing we were at the edge of the map or else we'd have been surrounded. Filthy snail-eaters will pay for their insolence.   

Valladolid is liberated!

Frightened inhabitants are only now emerging from their hiding places to tell of the reign of terror they have endured under the evil Cuesta, and his vile henchman, Pignatelli.  

How different now!  The church bells in are ringing.  Happy children play in the piazzas, where they are handed treats by friendly French voltigeurs.  Respectable women can safely walk the streets without fear of molestation.

A service of celebration will be held tomorrow at Valladolid Cathedral, where the captured rebel flags and standards are to be consecrated.  It is rumoured that Marechal Murat and His Christian Majesty King Joseph will attend.  

Burlington H Grumble, Fashion Correspondent, Paris Monitor

Nice replay Palmer. Is it possible to tell that replay to use the stock Culps map?

A full casualty return is now possible - killed, wounded and missing; Moncey 2400, Cuesta 1900. The assault on the Puente Zamora barn cost the French 400 casualties, not 800 as previously estimated. The defending Spanish unit was the newly-raised "Voluntarios Escolares de León", a battalion of scholars and professors from Leon university. The unit was routed from the field eventually with heavy losses.

Digby wrote:Is it possible to tell that replay to use the stock Culps map?

Not that I'm aware of. The mini-map (or lack thereof) appears to be embedded with the replay file. To show a full map in the replay, it would (I believe) need to be one recognized in Garnier's system e.g., one of the stock maps, a stock map converted to GCM use, any of the GCM Random maps, etc.

The replay feature is very nice, Ron.  Is it possible to distinguish between infantry and cavalry?

Martin (J)

PS I thought the Spanish actually did pretty well against a much bigger & better French force.  As the Spanish troops improve, one of these days, we French are going to get a nasty shock.

Martin (J) wrote:Is it possible to distinguish between infantry and cavalry?

Not by unit symbol per se, but it is possible to follow cavalry by unit color, when matched to cavalry commanders' names.

Thanks Ron.  Kevin has talked about producing a bespoke version of this for us, and that could include such a feature.  But he has many calls upon his time at the moment........

Martin (J)

Ron wrote:The mini-map (or lack thereof) appears to be embedded with the replay file. To show a full map in the replay, it would (I believe) need to be one recognized in Garnier's system e.g., one of the stock maps, a stock map converted to GCM use, any of the GCM Random maps, etc.

Open the NetServ replay file in a text editor.  The map name is the 3rd line.  Just remove the "RM" from the map name and it will show the normal Culps Hill map, assuming Garnier created one.

Beautiful. Much Better! Thanks Kevin!
Valladolid Replay (with Map)

So that's where that twerp DuFour took his brigade. No wonder I couldn't find him. Idiot.

Looks like he pulled a proper Grouchy.

Thanks for the replays Ron and Kevin. Excellent.

Its interesting to see that Cuesta, once under AI control, managed to leave the battlefield with his Glorious Spartans on the road to Leon, carefully avoiding the Valladolid town square gallows on his way out  

Is this...? Can it be...? Surely not...?



You know I'm sure that's the beer garden of "Taverna del Mujer de Vida Alegre"

The camp just north of Puente Benaro couldn’t have been more pleasant or needed.  The local farm provided baskets of fresh carrots and potatoes and several freshly slaughtered cows.  The smell of simmering pots of beef stew filled the air.   Men lounged about and drank wine and plunged fresh bread into hot bowls.
 
General de Brigade d'Isembourg leaned back against his saddle, up against a large, well-groomed Encina, tall and full and green.  The small knoll became a perfect perch from which the old general could survey the camp.  He was proud of his troops.  They had fought hard but run into bad luck a few days before at the Rio Duero.  And now they were spoiling for revenge.  He knew there would be opportunity the next day for his brigade to redeem its reputation.  He dreamed of vindication.

The morning came cool and foggy, thick as the soup.  Orders were to move west and support 2nd Division’s assault on the bridges of Toro and Zamora.  By the time the men were formed up ready for march, the fog began to lift.  The morning warmed and spirits lifted.

A young staff officer, one Col. Martin Eden (half-French, half-English), rode hard to d'Isembourg’s side and offered him a hot bowl of stew and said, “General, you haven’t eaten since yesterday and I fear today will be a long one.  Please. . . eat.”

The general took the bowl and laughed and replied, “Martin, what would I do without you?  I haven’t even thought of food today.”  He spooned large a portion into his mouth.  Suddenly, he began to choke, a large carrot piece lodged in his windpipe.  In a matter of a minute, he turned blue and fell to his death.  Martin Eden hesitated in shock for a few seconds and then jumped from his mount to the side of the dead general, screaming. . .  “Those damn Spaniards purposely cut those carrots too big.”   His rage surged and he vowed to lead the brigade to glory.

Martin Eden drove the brigade with courage and quickness, spotting the path to the bridge and deftly ordering his men push past a Spanish strongpoint and help trap the bulk of the swine.  But young Martin Eden’s presence inspired men, propelled them to take incredible risks.  Instead of staying to the road and moving past the strongpoint, regiment after regiment, caught up in the moment, charged the redoubt.

‘Elan alone cannot carry a fortified position.  And on this day Martin Eden learned a valuable lesson.  In short order, over half the regiments of the brigade broke and ran under the onslaught of Spanish pitchforks and shovels.  Martin managed to rally the boys and eventually destroy the brave Spaniards left in sacrifice.  He even spurred the hapless men down the road to run the last of defeated Spanish out of the town.

He spent the rest of the day rallying his men and rounding up the missing and slightly wounded.  He drank a whole bottle of wine, and then another, before going to bed.  He lay awake for over an hour asking himself over and over. . . “Will they follow me again?”

"Is this...? Can it be...? Surely not...?"

It is hard in this age of oil and canvass to avoid such slanderous images being circulated for gratuitous public consumption but I fear this 'paparazzi' lacked an appropriately strong field glass.

I do however, in my brief period of illness, remember being looked down on by my horse supporting a very disapproving expression

And you asked him... let me guess... "Why the long face?"

Wild and unsubstantiated rumours have been spilling out of Leon-Castile for several days. Travellers, politicians, farmers, men of the cloth, traders, soldiers. Everyone has a different story on their lips. No-one seems to be able to find out what actually took place in the city on 2nd July. However the army returns of the two opposing corps have been finalised and the picture these bare figures paint is a surprising one.

It seems that General Cuesta, some say foolhardy to oppose the French with a rag-tag army has been smiled upon by the Grace of Our Lady and in his time of need the Holy Spirit has surely come down upon his warriors to protect them.

It is clear from a gathering of bloody and wounded men at Leon that Marechal Moncey commands the field. The thick pall of smoke rising over the city marks the site of Cuesta's grain, cloth, salted meat and gunpowder stores. It is true that the supply depot of the Army of Castilla is destroyed, but that, perhaps, is all! Yes, lumbering carts stacked high with groaning wounded arrive daily in Leon's main square and General Pignatelli's division is all but smashed, yet the men of General Penmuir's corps are cheerful and huzzah the passing general with brave shouts.

It would seem that Penmuir may be a tactical genius in hiding. His extraction of his brigade and guns from the Puente Zamora area west of the city is being talked of as a stroke of masterly tactics. His men suffered casualties and no less than three of his battalions fled the bloody field but he got his guns away and the remnants of his infantry seem light of heart and cheery of step. They say the man is blessed by the Mother of God for extracting them from the very jaws of the Devil last week.

General Daioz' cavalry performed well, but is much cut up with many empty saddles, however the news is that the French cavalry under Rigaud lost as heavily, if not more than Daioz.

The French infantry were vigorous in their attack and ruthless with the bayonet - perhaps they were too headstrong and rushed in too much, for it is clear their casualties are very heavy, considerably more than Spanish infantry losses, despite the French having the field in the evening and very certainly better regimental surgeons.

The final totals amount to:

Spanish losses - 1,200 infantry (800 of these from Pignatelli's command, 400 from Penmuir), 300 cavalry and 2 guns.

French losses - 2,900 infantry (1,450 from Musnier's 1st Div, 280 from Gobert's 2nd and 1,170 from Morlot's 3rd), 400 cavalry.

Genl Daoiz' cavalry took a standard of Hussars and a standard of Cuirassiers.

The French captured three standards: 1st Btn Cantábria regt, Cazadores de Cuenca (very badly cut up and almost destroyed - less than 300 men left the field from a total of 670; and a most prized trophy, the gold fringed white silk standard of 1st Sqn Guardias de Corps, taken by some of Rigaud's cuirassiers.

The disproportionate losses in French infantry may be due to several apparently unco-ordinated or headstrong attacks and it is thought the Spanish cavalry again was able to sweep in and cut up some battalions.

Nevertheless the French have won. Penmuir's division is able to function but Pignatelli's Spaniards will be unable to campaign for several weeks as they gather in stragglers and try to find fresh mounts. The bigger problem is the lost supply warehouses. The Army of Castile will be unable to undertake any offensive operations until it is rebuilt and restocked. That could take several months.

Even so, in all Leon General Cuesta is being hailed a hero and laurels and decorations are being heaped upon him at every fashionable soiree. He has been awarded the title "Duque del Valladolid."

"Duque del Valladolid."? The man was drunk and fell senseless from his horse. The only contribution he made was to block the main road with his rotundness.