Prestento Perrini - Late morning action...

The Austrian rush which came at the French occupied most of the early morning. As previous posts have alluded to these rushes were to have serious consequences later in the day for both sides. For now they have been contained & the initial crisis point has passed, so I can breathe a palpable sigh of relief.

The morning was spent in further maneuver as both side built up positions to launch attacks or hold ground. Al though we saw some lively engagements the "storm had yet to break".   

This post outlines what happened over the morning after the Austrian rush had subsided & before the thunder clap events around noon in the next post. The record of events unfolding are captioned  below the photos as usual.

  

Perrini; The pressure builds - something has to give...

The Austrian Avant Garde was in possession of Perrini from the early hours. Their light infantry with cavalry support had raced ahead in a "dash of derring-do", their boldness paying off as the Austrians have a strong position to defend around the objective. The French & their allies can only set up an assault as more Austrian infantry move up to support the position.   

The French Division tasked with taking Perrini comprised two brigades each with five battalions, skirmish screen & a foot battery. These two batteries sat astride the Perrini Road and began a murderous fire on the village. Nordmann, commanding the Avant Garde, sent out a battalion of Jaeger in line to disrupt any attack & to screen the village. Sadly for the Jaeger they attracted the concentrated fire of the two batteries & subsequently the attention of French Voltigeurs too. A large battalion of Grenz on the hillside weren't spared either - losses mounted rapidly.    

The pressure built up on the frightfully exposed Austrian light infantry... something had to give.
As it always does it happened suddenly & with grim severity; the Jaeger had enough & dispersed fleeing back through the crowded streets of Perrini. Seeing this the Grenzers took flight too. 

Sensing things were going terribly wrong the Prestento garrison fled alongside the bloodied Jaeger and soon the whole infantry brigade was in full retreat. The red markers above show retreaters trampling the the fields of hops in their panic. Even the battery limbered up. French Volitigeurs unable to believe their luck cautiously nosed into Perrini & took up positions, their morning's work was only just beginning.  

Nordmann tried in vain to rally his brigade but no one was listening. Poor Nordmann was swept along in the chaos & his command disintegrated - scratch one Austrian brigade from the roster! 

The French could now move up with some security, indeed they limbered a battery and crept up. Austrian supports were a little too far away or screened by their own cavalry & a hefty walled farm to immediately intervene.  

The actions around Prestento come to life

Despite the aggressive action of Austrian Uhlans & Hussars Prestento was in French hands early on. However the Austrian light cavalry had prevented the Polish Division's brigades from supporting the position. A forced march by an Austrian infantry brigade had covered a lot of ground and was now poised to begin a concerted attack on De Bruyere's position in & around Prestento. In concert with the infantry brigade a brigade of Grenadiers had come up from reserve with a 12lb battery and was lining up a frontal assault on the village itself.      

De Bruyere lost a battalion as infantry Regiment Chasteler charged the French trying to form ordre mixed.
The gap on the left shows where one battalion stood just seconds before.   

The following bayonet charge routed three battalions who fled leaving the last one clinging onto Prestento for now.
The left most Austrian battalion is Chasteller's; they have turned to form line as Gerrard's men are threatening to turn their flank. De Bruyerre is an admirable leader rallying his men immediately time & time again. 

To the right of Prestento we see that Montbrun has driven off much of the Austrian cavalry clearing the way for the Polish infantry to help out at Pretsento on the left of the frame above. One Polish brigade heads for the Austrian masses up front, the other swings around the hill to support De Bruyerre and stabilize the position at Prestento before it becomes untenable.

The French left

The northern sector of the battlefield has so far been fairly quiet, largely thanks to the prayers of the Dentino's, see the last post.

Morand's dragoons moved up towards the Austrian chevau legere but were unable to prevent a cloud of Grenzers from sniping at their horse battery which began to become intensely irritating.  

Here we see French dragoons lining up against the smaller Austrian cavalry regiments.
The skirmishers on the right take pot shots at the horse battery. Grrrr!!!  

The immediate solution was to limber up and pull back, the dragoons in column pulled back too as the Austrian gunners were proving fairly accurate. This front remained quiet otherwise. 

The centre

The centre has been strangely quiet despite being a large open space & vital to either side capturing the twin villages. Both sides had deployed reserves in the centre rear with scant resources up front. The late morning saw the some developments here not that significant.  

Here we see Gerard's brigade foolishly fanned out but as fanned out as the Austrian brigade. To the left three columns head for Prestento where they very nearly upset the Austrian attack with a flank charge which could have rolled them up. Instead long range artillery fire drove back the lead battalion in retreat - see red marker.

  The saving grace allowed by the Austrian artillery above allowed  the nearest Austrian battalion, Chasteller, to turn to face in line, on the right. Elsewhere Austrian Grenadiers can be seen crossing the fields around Prestento as a brigade of Austrian Kurass head forward from reserve, top left.

In the French centre the C-in-C orders forward the Guard infantry and Guard artillery. 

Austrian heavy cavalry move up in strength from the reserve. Perrini is top right. 

I imagine time with my gaming chums rather like this... jovial & convivial - relaxed & stress free. Add caption

My gaming chums & I when the table top battle really kicks off!

Not really but it tickled me to conjure with the idea.

There we leave it for now. The events at noon are nearly ready to post to pop back soon. We play again tonight so with luck there will be yet another update moving the game into the afternoon.

My mind is also idly playing with a caption competition featuring a real life prize & another reader driven game project too, keep an eye out for those.

Very best wishes,

Jeremy