To the rear of his center, General von Tschatschke's Leib Grenadiers and 4th Dragoons continued approaching their new positions
Between 5:30 and 6pm late in the afternoon of 4th August 1773, the action heated up across the battlefield. Yet a third attempt by Stollenian engineers to blow the single small bridge across the River Elbow failed. General von Tschtschke's artillery, nevertheless, managed to inflict heavy casualties on parts of the Zichenauer line which gave way. So too did the Grand Duchy's corps of Jaeger zu Fuss during a stiff exchange of skirmish fire atop a wooded hill at the eastern end of the field.
A hot firefight erupted on the thickly wooded slopes at the far eastern edge of the battlefield between the von Cziklos Croats and their enemies the Grand Duchy of Stollen's green-coated Jaeger zu Fuss during Turn Five The latter managed to inflict three casualties on the blue Croatian devils without suffering any of their own. Who said plastics can't hold their own against metal figures?.
While Zichenauer forces continued to move into position where they were able, strangely very little musket or artillery fire came from General de Latte's units. As the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II held forth in the background, to anyone who seemed remotely interested on the benefits of genuine Harris Tweed clothing in a Northern European climate, General von Tschatschke was able to note in his pocket journal, "What the devil is that bounder de Latte doing over there? Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser!"
De Latte's third squadron of the 11th Hussars took its new position to the northwest of the picturesque village Gneisenau just before 6pm. It came under immediate fire at extreme range from a platoon of enemy Jaeger zu Fuss, who managed to inflict a single casualty on those swaggering dandies atop their prancing steeds.
By the time his pocketwatch chimed six 0'clock, the situation looked bleak for General de Latte along his western flank. His independent company of the Wolmar-Bock Regiment had been reduced to below 50% of its original strength due to continued fire from the single Stollenian gun in the Lesser Redoubt. It fled the battlefield unceremoniously, becoming tangled in the process with a company of O'Malley's Irish Grenzers immediately to its rear, which had functioned as its third and fourth lines, the two units operating together as a single entity.
At the western end of his line, in the meantime, General de Latte's attack seemed to crumble by early evening.
Worse, de Latte's
brigade of cavalry began its advance with the first squadrons wading
into particularly deep areas of the River Elbow, some of which also had
rushing rapids. Those horsemen who were not swept immediately
downstream became tangled with their fellow troopers and panicked mounts,
creating a considerable bottleneck, which blocked the way of any
squadrons attempting to follow. How much longer would General de Latte continue in his attempt to cross the River Elbow and establish a toehold in the Grand Duchy of Stollen proper?
Comments
DAF