NWOL Fall 2005 Campaign

Campaign History


The fall 2005 campaign began when war broke out between France and the alliance of Britain and Spain. Before the outbreak of hostilities, Sardinia allied with the French, and Russia agreed to send a contingent of troops to defend Spain. Holland signed a defensive pact with Britain but did not formally join the British/Spanish/Russian alliance. France, however, anticipated that the defensive pact would be followed by a formal alliance. France chose to strike Holland before the alliance could be signed, and initiated the campaign by invading Holland, and simultaneously opening a campaign on the Spanish border as well. Thus, the war was fought on a northern front, France vs. Britain (including Britain's Hannoverian possessions) and Holland, and on a southern front, France and Sardinia vs. Spain and Russia. [ Details ]

At the start of operations, the troops of the various nations were deployed as follows. In the north, France had one corps deployed around Amiens and another, slightly smaller, deployed around Reims. The British had a mixed British/German corps deployed around Dortmund and another, all British, around London. In the south, the French had one corps in the Perpignan area and a smaller force deployed between Pau and Bayonne, and the Sardinian army was mostly at Cagliari with a small force around Nice. At sea, the entire French fleet was at Toulon, 38 of the line, and a Sardinian fleet of 18 ships was at Nice. 6 more Sardinian ships were at Cagliari. The British fleet was divided, with 23 ships in the English Channel and 20 at Gibraltar. The Dutch fleet of 16 was at Amsterdam. In the south, the Spanish fleet had 21 in the Western Mediterranean; the Russians had 10 ships at Cartagena. [ Details ]

In the north, the French advanced rapidly into Holland, while the Dutch and British/German troops collected. The British and Dutch formally allied as soon as the French crossed the Dutch border, and British/German troops moved into Holland to assist the Dutch defense. But the French had moved faster. At the end of turn 2, the French had collected an army of 15 brigades at Brussels and a corps of  8 more at Namur. The Dutch had one division of regulars and one of militia in each place, while the British and Germans were still a turn's march away. On turn 3 the French army attacked and took both cities, inflicting over 10,000 casualties (many of them among the Dutch militia which were largely destroyed in the fighting) while taking only 3,000 themselves. The defeated Dutch began to reconcentrate at Antwerp. Meantime, the British army moved into Namur with 11 brigades. The French withdrew west, with German cavalry in pursuit, while the Dutch reoccupied Namur. [ Details ]

Meanwhile, in the south, two parallel movements were underway. Along the Mediterranean coast, the French army had moved south to attack the Russians near Barcelona, while along the Atlantic coast, the Spanish army was moving north to secure the passes of the Pyrenees south of Bayonne and Pau. On turn 3, the French fell on a Russian force north of Barcelona, which they outnumbered more than 2 to 1, and shattered it. The remaining Russian troops fell back on Tarragona, and on the following turn the French captured Barcelona. To the west, the Spanish army was advancing in two columns. Finding only weak opposition, they pushed forward through the mountains and entered French territory. The defending French forces abandoned Bayonne and concentrated against the Spanish column heading towards Pau. On turn 4 the Spanish entered Bayonne, but the French inflicted a sharp defeat on the column approaching Pau. Outnumbered, however, the French were forced to retreat from Pau at the end of the turn. On turn 5, the Spanish concentrated around Pau, while the French fell back towards Toulouse. The Russians raised new troops at Odessa and Sevastopol, and prepared convoys to bring them to the scene of battle. [ Details ]

At sea, the fleets in the Mediterranean concentrated. The Sardinians sent 12 ships to join the French at Toulon. The Spanish, Russians, and British sailed to the Western Mediterranean, concentrating 31 ships there, while sending squadrons ahead to Cagliari and the Central Mediterranean to scout for the enemy fleet. The Spanish found Cagliari empty; their Central Mediterrean squadron failed to detect 6 Sardinian ships and an unloaded transport group headed to Nice. The British, Russians, and Spanish fleet proceeded to Cagliari, concentrating 43 ships there, hoping to prevent the Sardinian fleet from re-entering the port. Meantime, the French and Sardinian fleet from Toulon was sailing into the Western Mediterranean, looking for the British and Spanish in those waters. Not finding them, and hearing that a Spanish squadron had been sighted at Cagliari on turn 1, the French and Sardinians themselves moved to that port on turn 3, where the British, Russian, and Spanish fleets awaited them. Several British ships had departed Cagliari on turn 3, but had been replaced by an arriving Spanish squadron, leaving 41 ships to face the 50 French and Sardinian ships. On turn 4, the fleets engaged, the French fighting from windward, and the French and Sardinians won a crushing victory, sinking 16 ships and capturing 16 prizes in exchange for the loss of 6 of their own ships. The Russian navy was entirely destroyed; the British and Spanish survivors sailed west for the safety of the Spanish coast. The victorious fleet put into Cagliari for repairs, bringing the naval war to a pause for several turns. The British and Dutch fleets in the North Sea and the English Channel immediately sent additional ships to the Mediterranean. [ Details ]

On the northern front, the French realized that their position was in danger from the British/German army approaching from their right rear. They abandoned Brussels, their force there marching south to join up with the force retreating from Namur. By the end of turn 4 the French army was concentrated in a single body around E2-T8. Meantime, the British and Germans had moved north from Namur, aiming to join forces with Dutch troops concentrating at Antwerp. Accordingly, for a turn, the two main bodies were out of contact with one another, although the cavalry of both sides kept track of the opposing armies. On turn 5, the French, now concentrated, returned to Brussels, leaving two divisions to the southwest of Brussels to guard against Dutch troops from the Ghent area. Meantime, the Dutch and British armies concentrated due east of Brussels, and a British division from England landed at Antwerp. On turn 6, the French posted their troops around Brussels. The British and Dutch approached and drove the French back, especially south of the city. At the end of turn 6, the armies were poised for battle, 23 French brigades against 23 Allied. The French, with a substantial advantage in cavalry, were able to control the opening of the battle, and attacked. Their left assaulted the British/Dutch right and drove it back with heavy casualties, while the British pushed against the French right. Although the battle was going well for the French, the French commanders decided not to risk their army in continued combat, and withdrew to the west and south. As the withdrawal continued, the French decided not to return to the area of Lille. Instead, the French army observed that there were no British/Dutch troops at Namur, and marched due east towards that city. Although some units were intercepted by Dutch and German cavalry south of Brussels during this march, most of the British army remained in Brussels or north of it on turn 8, and most of the French units reached the vicinity of Namur. On turn 9, the French took Namur and entered Liege, also undefended, while the British marched south from Brussels towards the French units that had been halted there on turn 9, and also southwest towards Lille. At the end of this turn the armies were again separated, the French to the east and the British/Dutch to the west, about 45 miles apart. [ Details ]

The British/Dutch army had to choose whether to pursue the French to the east, or move south across the largely undefended French border. The French army, in turn, had to decide whether to turn back southwest towards Reims or continue marching east. The French, not wishing to risk another major encounter, chose to move towards Nancy by way of Luxemburg. The British, anticipating that the French would not stand in eastern Holland, sent one force towards Liege to recapture that city, and the rest of their army into France, targeting Reims and Lille, and supporting this move with a landing of British troops from London at Boulogne. Both Reims and Lille fell on turn 11, placing a large British and Dutch force between the French army and Paris. The French army continued to move on Nancy, with a British/Dutch force of approximately equal size in pursuit. Boulogne fell to the Allies on turn 12, Rouen on turn 13, and Paris itself fell to a raiding German dragoon brigade on turn 14, with only a single militia brigade defending the city. Amiens fell the same turn. The British/Dutch entered Nancy on turn 14 and some fighting occurred, 11 British/German/Dutch brigades against 10 French regular brigades and several divisions of militia, before the campaign ended. [ Details ]

In the south, after the fall of Barcelona, the French left a division to garrison the city and, instead of pursuing the Russians south, moved west towards Pau on the south slope of the Pyrennees. They sent cavalry into the passes of the mountains, hoping to cut the Spanish off from their supply lines; they closed several, but the Spanish kept the pass south of Pau open. On turn 6, the French recrossed the Pyrenees and joined with the survivors of the Pau fight. The combined force moved towards Pau on turn 7; but on the same turn the Spanish withdrew back into the mountains, abandoning Bayonne, which the French recaptured on turn 7, and Pau, retaken by the advancing French on turn 8. Meantime, the Russians regrouped at Tarragona, and were reinforced by a Spanish infantry division and some heavy cavalry raised in Tarragona. This force moved back into Barcelona on turn 6. The French defenders, who were heavily outnumbered by the attacking forces, made a spirited counterattack on the leading Spanish and Russian units on turn 7 which pushed back the Russians and Spanish and kept Barcelona in French hands. Despite this, the outnumbered French withdrew the following turn. At this point the Sardinian army entered the campaign; the victory of the French and Sardinian navy enabled the Sardinians to make an amphibious landing on the Spanish coast three squares north of Barcelona. The arrival of seven Sardinian brigades shifted the balance of forces back in favor of the French and Sardinian army. [ Details ]

On turn 9 the armies concentrated, the Spanish and Russians in Barcelona and the French and Sardinians two squares north. The French and Sardinians advanced cautiously towards Barcelona, and on turn 11 surrounded the city and attacked some outlying Russian positions. On turn 12 they assaulted the city itself, capturing it and destroying much of the Spanish army in the battle. With little or no opposition left before them, the Sardinians marched to Tarragona on turn 13 and took it without opposition on turn 14, the defending Spanish militia disbanding before action. On the Atlantic coast, both sides regrouped for a time after turn 8. On turn 9, the French pushed south from Pau, catching and destroying two Spanish brigades in the mountains; a column moved south from Bayonne on turn 10 as well. The French were content to advance to the border and did not attempt to cross into Spain; the Spanish made one attempt to move north towards Pau, and also send a column towards Bayonne, but the French were able to contain the advance without serious fighting, and the campaign ended with the Spanish army just north of the border. [ Details ]

The British and Dutch fleets sailing from the north reached Gibraltar on turn 7 with 41 ships. The French/Sardinian fleet, now with a strength of 73 ships, was still in Cagliari completing repairs. The British attempted to join with the Spanish survivors of the Cagliari battle, and also send some ships north along the Spanish coast, trying to prevent amphibious landings there. On turn 9, the main British/Dutch fleet, reduced by detachments to 29 ships, sailed back to Cagliari and found the French/Sardinian fleet still there. The French/Sardinian fleet came out to give battle, and the British/Dutch fleet accepted, but fought a more cautious battle than the previous one. The French/Sardinians won a second victory, sinking two enemy ships and taking three prizes; most of the British/Dutch fleet escaped from what was clearly an uneven battle. The fleeing ships scattered; most ended up in the Central Mediterranean, while some returned to the southern Spanish coast. The pursuing French and Sardinians caught four British ships the next turn, taking two more prizes. The French/Sardinian fleet, seeking to find more remnants of the enemy, headed towards Barcelona. There they found no warships, but did encounter an unescorted Russian transport group bringing reinforcements to the Russian army, then engaged around the city of Barcelona. They trapped this transport group and sank it, along with the three Russian infantry brigades it carried. The French and Sardinians spent the last two turns cruising the Gulf of Lyon, leaving the Sardinian coast undefended. On turn 13, a second Russian transport group put a large Russian infantry division ashore near Cagliari, and on turn 14 this force captured Cagliari without opposition. The British and Dutch fleets came up to Cagliari on turn 13 to support the landing, and six British ships made an ill-advised attempt to destroy the coastal guns on T14 before the Russian infantry arrived, resulting in the loss of 4 ships and no damage to the defenses, which were then taken from the rear by the Russian infantry. [ Details ]