Europe 1750: Part II

[Chris Szabla]

Sigh...

Troops formed up in Piacenza, East Lombardy

50,000 regulars, trained and ready, have formed in Piascenza and East Lombardy. 25,000 raised in Piascenza will remain in that city and await the arrival of Charles Emmanuel, who is moving there from Milan with 13,000 men under the I Corps. 25,000 in East Lombardy will join the forces of General Traun already stationed there, numbering 11,000, under the II Corps. These men will march southeast into Bologna and claim the city for Savoy.

Savoyard Troops Enter Romagna!

36,000 troops of the II Corps under the command of General Traun have entered Bologna, the capital of Romagna, from East Lombardy to the northwest. The Duke has decreed that Romagna will join "the united Savoyard Italy" at all costs. He stated that General Traun was prepared to face the ferocity of Neapolitan forces if necessary to continue on his mission. Meanwhile in the city of Bologna, influential merchants have welcomed Savoyard troops as trade is no open to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Savoy now stretches from the French Alps to the Adriatic Sea. However, it is a sad day for those who wished to see Romagna continue as an independent state, as the Mayor of Bologna handed the key to the city to the advancing forces of Traun.
[This message has been edited by Chris Szabla (edited April 20, 2000).]

[Bearcat]

Damnit JT3 I wanted to be BT's apprentice. I was simply waiting for a reply from him.

[Bearcat]

The early morning sun poured out over the beautifal Italian countryside illuminating the green hills and dimpeled valleys filled with vineyards. The Austrian Reichsheer 19,000 strong. 17,000 regulars and 2,000 militiamen. Field Marshal Johann Browne rode atop his magnificant white steed absorbing the beauty of Italy.

He looked back at his army to see the straight disciplined ranks of regulars in their light gray and red turnbacks and the more unruly ranks of milita wearing their everyday clothes. Above them fluttered the snow white Imperial banner sporting the black Hapsburg eagle. Browne turned in his saddle and started.

In front of them was the city of Mantua. And marching from the city was a gigantic force of Venetian soldiers. Browne felt his stomach turn. Surely those Venetians outnumbered the Reichsheer. He turned to one of his aides who was walking beside the horse. Browne handed the man a telescope and ordered him to scale the hillock to the right and determine the number of Venetians coming to meet them.

When the man returned he was white as a sheet. Browne inquiried into the man's findings.

"Sir by my count they number at least 20,000 soldiers" said the aide. Browne pailed than whispered.

"They outnumber us by 3,000 men. How?" he aksed. The aide replied qucikley.

"Sir half of that 20,000 is made up of simple militia. We ahve an advantage as we outnumber their regulars" said the aide. Browne nodded and began to spin a plan. First of all the Reichsheer would have to cross the samll river in front of them. And the Venetians would no doubt guard the bridge fanatically. So Browne put his plan into action.

- - - - - - - -

"Charge" yelled the Austrian commander. 1,000 Austrian soldiers charged toward the Venetians guarding the bridge. The Venetians guarding the bridge numbered 2,000 strong with all the rest of the forces spread along the northern bank. The Austrian forces hung back along the southern bank. The first part of FM Browne's plan had been set into action. The probing force of 1,000 men prepared to cross the bridge. The Venetians let loose with everything they had. However the brave Austrian troops charged across the bridge and engaged the numerically superior Venetians in hand-to-hand combat.

When the smoke cleared after an hour 1,000 Austrians and 1,000 Venetians lay dead. Now it was time to set Phase 2 into plan. Browne immediatly ordered the 18,000 Austrian soldiers to charge the meer 1,000 soldiers left guarding the bridge. Explosions from artillery threw wreckage, supplies, and corpses into the air. Dirt rained everywhere. Fires raged out of control and musket fire boomed out deafiningly.

The Austrians were cutting like a knife through the Venetian forces. Now it was the Mayor of Mantua's turn to worry. He still had roughly 19,000 soldiers left compared ot the roughly 18,000 of the Austrians. So he ordered an outflanking move. He left 15,000 to pin down the Austrians and ordered 4,000 to comprise the flanking forces. However seeings that half the Venetian army was comprised of milita this softened the Venetian blow. The already low morale of the Venetian forces was further degraded as they watched the Austrians destroying whole ranks of Venetian soldiers.

The Mayor was desperatly holding things together waiting for his flanking forces to arrive. However as they grew more and more tardy the Mayor panicked. And sensing fear in their leader the mostly milita force pinning the Austrians panicked as well. They turned and began to flee back toward Mantua. The Austrian assault was progressing rapidly. However than as the Venetians were fleeing the outflanking forces struck. The roar of gunfire on the Austrian left renewed the Mayor's will to fight. However the militia had different ideas. Most of them were fleeing the battle leaving the now greatly outnumbered regulars to deal with the Austrian onslaught.

Browne qucikly dispatched a fourth of his troops to lightly engage the flanking forces. The Mayor realized that his forces were doomed due to the milita's stupidity. Had he only had more regulars. His only choice was to call for a withdraw. The remaining pinning forces were all to happy to comply and they turned tail toward Manuta and retreated with half of the Reichsheer hot on their heels. The remaining half was engaging the Venetian flankers who had not heard the withdraw orders. Finally the flankers broke and retreated as well.

The road to Mantua and victory over Venice was open. However the toll had been a costly and bloody one.

FINAL CASUALTIES:

Austria - 3,240
Venice - 3,350

OOC - I know this may seem a bit unrealistic but I tired to be fair. The onmly reason I won was because I counted the fact that half the Venetian force was probably milita and they have legenday bad morale.
[This message has been edited by Bearcat (edited April 20, 2000).]

[General_BT]

You both can be apprentices...

[Bearcat]

Yeah!!! Thank You BT *drops to the ground and kisses BT's feet*

P.S. - BT could you check your e-mail? Thank You.
[This message has been edited by Bearcat (edited April 20, 2000).]

[JT3]

The Rhinish(pronounced Rhine-ish) commander, Heinrich Vutstein, walked to the top of the hill and raised the spyglass to his eye. He saw the Duchie army a mile and a half away, preparing their small, undertrained group for the battle that was ahead.

Vutstein collected the I Army in a rather loose formation. It was split in two parts, 35,000 to go up the middle, 35,000 to try to outflank the enemy army. It was a classic maneuver, particularly well used by Rhinish armies as their calvalry was more abundant than in other European armies, and therefore gave them more speed and a better chance of successfully flanking. First, however, Vutstein would be opening up with sheer firepower. Firepower that he intended to use to crush the enemy army before they could fire back.

At dawn, Vutstein climbed to the top of the hill again. Around him the Rhinish artillery was positioned to strike. They had been setting up all night, making the slightest adjustments to make sure their shots would count.

"Ready!"

The artillerysmen took their positions.

"Aim!"

The artillery was braced.

"FIRE!"

Fifty-two artillery pieces opened fire upon the Duchie army. Almost immediatly, chaos took hold of the enemy, and any chain of command was forgotten as men scrambled to flee from the explosions and fire surrounding them. The artillery continued to fire, destroying enemy cannon, killing horses, and blowing bodies in all directions.

The Duchie commander began to yell as loud as he could a single word:

"STOP!"

Many Duchie troops ran for cover, but one there, gave their attention to their officer. He slowly reorganized his army, even during the constant picking off of men by the Rhinish.

A little after noon, the Duchies began their final defense. They had retreated two miles and dug in, but it wasn't nearly enough. The Rhinish closed in.

Musket balls tore into the Duchie ranks, bringing down man after man. Some of the Duchies used their dead comrades for human sheilds. Others simply stood still, parylized with fear. Half continued to march forward and began to fire. The Rhinish artillery continued its merciless assault, killing the middle and back ranks of the Duchie army before they could even fire their guns.

Rhinish calvalry, accompanied by the fastest infantrymen, slowly came out of the forest. They had waited for exactly the right moment. Now it had arrived. They were directly left of the Duchie ranks, and had a perfect attack route to surround and capture nearly two-thirds of all men in all Duchie forces. Their artillery, set up in the dense tree during the night, opened fire.

The Duchie men were taken totally by surprise. Entire rows were suddenly impaled by shells coming from the left. They started to lose their organization, and some began to run. The Duchie commander continued to ride forward on his horse, firing his rifle when he could, and keeping order in the ranks he could see. But then, he too was killed by the Rhinish, the flanking army charging forward killing all they saw.

By dusk it was over. The Rhinish had won. The battle was over. Over 6000 Duchies had been killed. The Rhinish had lost only 4020 of their own men. But their lives had been given for the glory of the Empire. And their comrades were proud of their homeland, and the sacrifice their friends had given. Now they marched on, closing on the Duchie capital, bringing the greatness of the Rhineland with them, to be spread yet again.

20,000 newly recruited militia men have been sent to reinforce the Rhinish army. 30,000 more militia are being recruited now.

[Mao]

Now...would one of you fine gentlemen like to moderate my battle?

[Bearcat]

I think JT3 should mod your battle at thus point. I'm still waiting for instructions from BT.

[Chris Szabla]

Bearcat: unfortunately, you haven't won complete victory over Venice, since they still have Dalmatia and Crete.

OOC: What happened to this thread...is it me or is it langushing?

[General_BT]

I don't usually have a scheduled time... especially over the next two weeks with finals and me tr\ying to get an internship lined out...

[Bearcat]

Yeah Chris but there is nothing in those places except a bunch of rabble militia easily overcome by trained regulars. And cut from the support fo the Italian mainland they're screwed and MINE muahahahaha!!

[Spartan187]

Budget of the Kingdom of Naples
Budget of the Kingdom of Naples
Money from Cities: $150
Money from Territories: $480
Total Income: $630

Army
75,000 men-$75 per 3 months

Navy
1 Heavy Squadron-$5 per 3 months
2 Light Squadrons-$5 per 3 months
1 Transport-$1 per 3 months
Total-$11 per 3 months

Past Budget Surplus-$15
Total Military Maintenance-$86 per 3 months (13%)
Total Military Budget-$189
Money Available for Further Military Expenditure-$118

45,000 regulars being raised-$60
2 Light Squadrons


The newly created transport and V Corps have set out for the island of Malta. The transports have arrived in the waters outside the island and are preparing to land their troops. (OOC:will take the islands tomorrow)

[Mao]

..actually Bearcat, that would allow them to place troops on the islands and make it a fortress...especially since the amphibious operations of these times weren't great...

[Coug]

Map over my movements, from the start until now

[Bearcat]

Mmm yes but according to BT's original Theater of War map the Venetians only had 1 corps of regulars stationed in Venice. So that means that any force that could be mustered in the Croatian territories would be peasent armies.