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The Marshall Tallard, captured during the battle and liberated in 1711: his performance at Blenheim was under his previous standards.
The main body was commanded by the Lt. Gen. Marquis de Montpeyroux: the left cavalry division, under the Duc d’Humieres was formed by the brigade Merode/Silly (left), represented by the two Spanish regiments Acosta and Gaetano and the brigade La Valliere (regt. Orleans and Bourgogne); the right wing cavalry, under Lt. Gen. Comte de Zurlauben: it comprises the Vertilly brigade (Gendarmerie) on the left and the brigade Broglie/Grinan (regt. Du Roi and La Baume) on the right.
This is a bust of Béat-Jacques de La Tour-Châtillon, Comte de Zurlauben, a veteran and competet Swiss officier that was killed at the battle.
The left wing infantry, that in the battle was on the third line between Blenheim and Oberglau, was commanded by the Marquis de Saint-Pierre. It was composed mainly by fresh recruits which, however, performed heroically being cut to pieces by the Allied cavalry. From left to right: brigade Trecesson (regt. Albaret), brigade Breuil (regt. Auxerrois), brigade Belleisle (regt. Nice) and a light battery. D’Albaret was raised in 1702 and destroyed at Blenheim, his colonel killed and hence disbanded in 1704; Nice was instead a Piedmontese regiment.
The right wing infantry was the main Tallard infantry reserve which was swallowed uselessly into Blenheim by Cleràmbault: it was at the orders of Lt. Gen. Marquis de Marinvaux. In the first lime the brigade D’Enonville (regts. Royal and Boulonnais); in the second line brigade Montroux (regt. Montroux) and Monfort (regt. Blasois) plus two light and an heavy artillery batteries. The red-coated Montroux was a Italian regiment.
The Blindheim garrison under Maestre-de-Camp de Blansac: from the left (behind entrenchments) brigade Hautefeille of dismounted dragoons (regt. Rohan-Chabot), in the town the brigades de Maulevrier (regt. Navarre) and Greder (regt. Greder Allemand). Blenheim is represented by a double-based town and hence can be occupied by four brigades.
From left to right, as usual, brigade Balincourt (regt. Artois), brigade D’Argelos (regt. Santerre and regt. Languedoc), brigade Saint-Segonde (regt. Zurlauben) supported by a light and a field batteries. Zurlauben was a Wallon regiment, annihilated at Blenheim and never reformed, its Colonel Comte de Zurlauben being killed at the battle.
4 comments:
The same notes apply here.
The French cavalry are not firearm and instead use the standard French tactics of the era, see other notes. The Spanish brigade of Merode is a bit of a problem. It is supposed to have 3 'Spanish' regiments and be commanded by the Count Merode. Unfortunately there is only evidence of 1 regiment being present and none that Merode was actually there! On balance I think the regiments were there but I am not sure about Merode. Also these 'Spanish' regiments were actually Walloon units from what is now Belgium. Actual Spanish units used French style galloping tactics but it is not known what the Walloon units did. It could be they used German firing tactics but probably they used French style.
On the infantry the group under Saint-Pierre were not full of recruits. Most of the French and Bavarian units at Blenheim had not received any replacements and so where even more understrength than was usual. These units had received replacements and so were a core of veterans withsome recruits to make them into relatively strong units. This is why it wasn't really a surprise they performed so well.
OK on artillery. The combined army had 90 guns. At least 24 of these were siege guns and the other 66 were field guns.
There were - six 24 pdrs, six 16pdrs, twelve 12 pdrs, twenty four 8 pdrs, forty two 4 pdrs.
Of these eight 8pdrs were around Blenheim and four 24 pdrs around the Munster-Hochstadt road on this side of the battle. Of the rest we have no real idea where they were. They were probably deployed in the standard way of the time with the standard field guns, the 4 pdrs, scattered along the line and the heavier guns in loose groups.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to write these very interesting comments and corrections. I really appreciate their completeness and the detail. I shall study them to change the OoB and the period rules accordingly. May I quote you as the source of these modifications? Thanks again.
No problem and I hope it helps. Yes of course you can mention me.
I just ran across your blog and you Blenheim project. It looks great. I'm actually planning to do the battle at Guns of August, a wargaming convention in Newport News, VA on August 22nd. I'm using an eighteenth century variant of the Perry's Valour and Fortitude rules for their speed and simplicity - I only have a 4 hour window for my game at the convention. My rules are not as detailed as yours, however, there's a few things that I think I'll incorporate. I'm using Wofun's 18mm flats illustrated by Peter Dennis by the way. I have a busy life so I think using his 2D miniatures is a great way of getting nice looking units on the table quickly. I'm planning a practice play through in a couple weeks to make sure the rules shake out ok. I'll keep following your blog. Good luck to you.
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