Holowczyn Project: the beginning

The first time I had notice of the Great Northern War was in the late ’70 when I read the 1971 Charles Fair book "From the Jaws of Victory"  (translated in italian as "Storia della stupidità militare", 1973). The main objective of the book were indeed U.S. Grant and its 1864 campaign and the Vietnam War. However the author started his pamphlet from Crassus and the chapter "The small lion and the big mouse" was dedicated to Peter the Great, Charles XII and their duel. Buried in the text there was a paragraph describing a rather for me unknown and obscure battle on the Moscow Road. Not surprisingly, when I later found in an italian shop a game by the Swedish Game Production called “Holowczyn: the battle of the Moscow Road”, by Peter Englund,  I bought it without further ado.

The game was simple and interesting to play at: moreover it had a full order of battle (each counter was named by Regiment and Battalion) and the historical notes were lenghty and detailed, endowed with a wry sense of humor (to explain the special rule forbidding Russian movement on the first turn, the footnote simple said "They were asleep"). It descrive the tactical situation as follow "The Russians are on the defensive in prepared positions but are surprised by a sudden Swedish attack through the marshes on the flank of the position. The Swedish units are much better than their opponents but there are few of them. The fight is therefore fairly evenly matched". After a couple of plays the game was put on the shelves and rested peacefully there for years.

When a three or four years ago I restarted to paint 20mm plastic soldiers, in a lull of the long-standing Torgau Project, the old boardgame, integrated by the Osprey title “Poltava 1709: Russian comes of age” and by the Lars-Eric Hoglund books on the Norther War uniforms, was the starting point for the Holowczyn Project.

Given the relatively small size of the battle (11.000 Swedish, 30.000 Russian, only a part fighting the actual battle), I decided to represent battalions of infantry and regiments of cavalry: each battalion of infantry was to be based with three figures on a 40mm x 30 mm base, whereas the cavalry had two horses on a 40mm square base, like the artillery (1 gun with three or four gunners). As a keen adept to the V&B religion, the order of battle was tailored for the so-called “battalion scale”,  at 1sp for 200 men/4 guns,  1 inch:50 yards and 30 minutes for each turn. However, to make the battle suitable for the small size of italian house I opted for the so-called "half-scale". With this trick 1 inch was again representing 100 yards as in the basic game, two battalions have the same size of a full-scale V&B base but I obtained a more articulated OoB, down to the single battalion. Each base of cavalry was representing a full regiment. There was a small distortion: indeed a V&B base is 3”x1.5”, which in the metric system is 76.2mm x 38.1mm, whereas the full regiment on two bases is 80mm x 40mm. Well, I shall be sent to the gallows for this, sooner or later…

This Stylish Blogger Award

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Rules Compliance:

1.  Many thanks to Carlo Antonio of Military Miniatures Blog for his nomination of me for this prestigious award !!

2.

 -I am married (not legally at all, with the demential result to have the worst from both a marriage and a divorce..) and  father of a 12 y.o. child, Alessandro.

 -My hobby is the military history from XVIth century to Napoleon.

 -I am a full-time university professor, researching in the field of smart materials.

 -I like books, music, good food, red wine, trusted friends and mathematics!.

 -My favorite quote is from Voltaire: “All the vices of all the ages and from all over the globe gathered together do not equal the sins that results in a single day of war"

 -I use Macintosh since 1987.

 -I am 53 years old, and I am getting old without being growth…

3.

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Austrian Cavalry

There were two wings of cavalry in Daun's main army, under two of the most-famed austrian generals, Buccow and O'Donnell.

The General der Kavallerie Adolph Nicolaus, Baron Buccow was reputed by Daun as "an admirabily active and versatile commander". Anyway he was disliked by Lacy. At Torgau he commanded the right-wing cavalry and directed some important counterattacks, suffering a wound which contribuited to his removal from active service.
The first line was formed by the Brigade Voghera, CR3, Erzherzog Leopold, CR 27 Benedikt Daun

and one of my favorite regiments, DR 9 Aspremont-Linden, better known as "Savoyen":

The second line was formed by Brigade Wiese, with DR 7 Batthyany and CR (ii) Buccow:

The left wing was under the command of the General der Kavallerie Carl O'Donnell of irish descent, which at Torgau distinguished himself repelling the Holstein attack. He took the control of the Army after Daun's wound.

According to Duffy "...was of an amiable disposition, he played the flute, and he enjoyed the company of a young mistress named Augusta. Daun describes him as being something of a showman".

Here is in front of CR4 Erzherzog Ferdinand from the Brigade Lobkowitz:

the other two regiments of the Brigade, DR 19 Hessen-Darmstadt (red-coated) and CR 25 Anhalt-Zerbst:

The second line was formed by Brigade Zollern, CR 14 O'Donnell and CR 26 Emanuel von Portugal:

Ried Light Corps

Ried light corps, 3686 infantry and cavalry: during the battle Ried did his best to slow Frederick advance in the woods and later counterattacked the Prussian in the flank.

Ried himself with the Deutsche Feldjager Corps:

Grenz Regiment 66, Slavonische Broder:

The husaren: I painted HR24 P.A.Hesterhazy, but at Torgau there was the HR32 Szecheny. Indeed, the first (wrong) OOB I was able to find gave HR24: moreover they have a colorful uniform:

HR 24 Paul Anton Esterhazy (from Brauer Bogen, Tafel 71):

HR 32 Szecheny (from Brauer Bogen, Tafel 71):

The Staff Dragoner and Infantry Regiments:

the blue coat of the Staff regiment allowed the outfit to evade capture in the confused final stages of the battle: they were mistook for Prussians!

Prussian second and third columns

The second column was under the command of General Lieutenant Von Hulsen, a doughty commander who fought at Lobositz, Kolin, wounded at Kunersdorf and again here at Torgau.

Later in the day he lead the final push of infantry. All his horse being shot under from him and since his age and his wound prevented him from going on foot, he set himself on a cannon and had himself dragged into the enemy fire. The scene according to Menzel:

Hulsen and IR 7 Bevern:

The Brigade Braun and Queiss:

A close-up of the Grenadier battalions from the Brigade Braun:

IR 25 Ramin, IR19 Markgraf Karl and the Fusilier Regiment 35 Prinz Heinrich from Brigade Queiss:

The last column to arrive on the field was the cavalry column under the command of the General der Kavallerie Georg Ludwig, Herzog von Holstein-Gottorp:

according to Duffy, his late arrival was causated by his "long breakfast". Anyway his cavalry nearly won the day for Frederick, before being repelled by the Austrian cavalry furious counterattacks.

The cavalry column:

The Herzog von Holstein with his infantry brigade, IR 16 Dohna and IR 22 Alt-Schenckendorff with a battery of 12 pdr heavy guns:

The cavalry, under the command of Count von Finckenstein, who fell into austrian hands in the later stages of the battle; Brigade Aschersleben (CR3 Lentulus and CR4 Schmettau):

Brigade Meinecke, C1 Schlabrendorff, CR5 Prinz Friederich and CR12 Spaen:

The Dragoon brigades: DR11 Jung Platen, DR12 Wurtemberg and the super large DR5 Bayreuth:

Zeiten's Corps

After a long pause, another batch of the Prussian Army at Torgau: the Zeiten Corps (21 battalions, 54 squadrons and 40 guns) here depicted lying motionless behind the Rohr-Graben, their Commander riding boldly in front of them:

The Avant Garde, commanded by Von Kleist: the Frei Battalion Salenmon, the HR1 (Kleist)

and the Kleist Frei-Cavalry: the Frei Husaren in red and green and the Frei Dragoner with their austrian-like fur caps.

The cavalry wing: the first line, cuirassiers under Gen. Lt Prinz Von Wurtemberg, the second line dragoons under Gen. Lt von Platen.

A close-up of CR 13 (Garde du Corps).

The infantry wing: the first line (Gen. Lt von Neu-Wied) and the second line (Gen. Lt von Forcade);

the first line was comprised of the Saldern and Zeuner brigade with the best regiments of Prussian infantry: IR 1 Zeuner (ex Winterfeldt), IR 13 Syburg (ex Itzenplitz), IR 18 Prinz of Preussen, IR 15 II and III Battalion Garde and IR6 Grenadier Garde: