CELEBRATING THE 259th ANNIVERSARY OF LEUTHEN

Like every year, also this one, the anniversary of the Battle of Leuthen is coming.

As every year, I am late with the cutting of my papersoldiers, preparing them, finishing the wargame rules and all that stuff that makes so great some other blog in the net (like for example the fantastic Der Alte Fritz Journal).
I really would like to recreate this battle with all its circumstances, but still there is a lot of work to do and moreover a lot of papersoldiers to be cut.
Other problem is also the fact that I wander through other projects, like the Battle of Austerlitz 1805, the Battle of Turin 1706 or the Battle of Halmstad 1676.
I was wondering what could I do to celebrate this year the battle (postponing a huge diorama for next year for the 260th anniversary)
Obviously I could just recreate the attack on the Catholic Church.... well too used (see picture below)

Or simply the attack on the village of Leuthen in general as pictures above.

But I wanted something different. 

Actually the idea would be the defense of the bridge at Lissa, north of Leuthen the evening of the Battle with some Austrian Regiments. Let's see if I am able at least to do that, otherwise, I will make just a huge parade of papersoldiers.

BATTLE OF LEUTHEN 1757 - THE VILLAGE (a glance)

I had a little of time. Well actually not. But I wanted to try to array a little bit of the farms of the Village of Leuthen, together with the Catholic and Protestant Churches, the little palace, just to have an idea how it could be.

 At the first stage I didn't want to exagerate with the number of figures. So I placed the Catholic church with the Roth Wurzburg Battalion complete (included the Grenadiers).

 Bottom: here some better view. I Would like to point how the huge range of possibilities that papersoldiers give to the wargamers. In this picture it is possible to see and entire Austrian battalion, split in companies. This gives the idea how a company could actually occupy a quite huge space inside a village.

The possibility of splitting the battalion in companies allows also to place with no problem the single units inside the village, without any compromise.

 Bottom: then I tried to increase the numbers: I added 2 Prussian Battalions on the attack. I also added some new Austrian units to increase the visual effect.

 

Bottom: here I want to show you how it is easy to array an entire battalion at 1:1 ratio in the courtyard of this church.

 Top and bottom: the visual effect increases.

BATTLE OF LEUTHEN - THE DEFEATED AUSTRIAN GENERAL COMMAND

It's evening; in the suburbs of the Village of Leuthen the last stand is almost over for the Austrian. They lost the battle, their will for fighting and above all Slesia for ever.

 Finally I was also able to recreate the roofs of the buildings in straw as it was very common at the epoch.

 I know: I forgot to add some paper to make the reverse of the roof! the white part is awful to me

From the top: the roofs are really good. The Commanders are in white and a little desperate. Some Eszterhazi hussars are escorting them.

 Here a view from the front: they really look great!

Here is visible also 1 standard-bearer of the Harrach Regiment.

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH OF THE VILLAGE OF LEUTHEN

When  it is about the Battle of Leuthen all the attention - or almost - is paid on the attack of the Prussian Guard on the Catholic church of the village of Leuthen.
It is sometimes sad to consider that some parts of a famous and huge a battle of the past are forgotten because no one is passing the chronicles from the first sources till now.
The attack on the Protestant Church of Leuthen is nowhere told; one of the (new) aims of this blog is also to reconstruct that parts of battles that are forgotten, but that is possible with a historical perspective to suppose.
The village of Leuthen, nowadays Slesia in Poland and called Lutynia, had and has two Churches is a balanced respect for its communities, the Catholic and the (in the past) Protestant.
The two churches are still visible today; they are located one in front of the other on a west/east line runnig through the village of Leuthen. 

The Protestant church is more on the west part of the village and suffered a less impressive attack by the Prussian, but indubitably it was also a center of hard fighting.
I recreate - in paper, as usual, this Church in accordance with the current pictures of it.
I imagined also it was surrounded by a low wall, with a sort of white color., as in the pictures here.

 In these pictures the Protestant Church is defended by 1 battallion of the Hungarian Regiment Haller; the Hungarias wore very colurfull uniforms, usually with very tight trousers and low shoes.

 Thanks to the papersoldiers it is possible to host inside the little yard of the church (about A4 size): this is something quite unique.

Here a wider vision of the Village; The Protestant Church, the center of the Village with the little mayor.

A LITTLE GIFT: THE "NAPOLI" REGIMENT AT THE BATTLE OF TURIN 1706

Hi guys,

I have to confess I keep in my bureau about 20.000  papersoldiers. 

They are really in every single spot of it and so also in my meeting room; so, by chance a client of mine pop in last Friday and saw them; she liked them very much and requested me to have a "little gift" i.e. some papersoldiers.

Considering she is - as origin - from Napoli, I had to find something really appropriate.

So here I came out with the idea to gift this little formation, together with the Ordonnance colours of the Spanish Regiment "Napoli" that fought at the Battle of Turin on 7th September 1706.

Obviously, considering they are going to leave me, I had to sign and attach to this unit also the "lettre" to give the command of this troops to my Client.

As it was customary at that epoch the "lettre" is in French and states:

"A.D. 2016, mois Octobre, jour 10; 

Avec la présente lettre nous donnons à Madame pour tout le temps à venir cette formation d'honneur attachée à la bannière d'ordonnance du Régiment "Napoli" de sa glorieuse Majesté Philippe V pour grâce de Dieu Roy d'Espagne"

Translation... well guys.. French is a language to know... :-)

LEUTHEN 1757: THE TWILIGHT OF THE BATTLE

The battle of Leuthen is over... the Darkness of the alte winter afternoon is covering the cries of the wounded soldiers, laying on the field, and the tiredness of the poor men is grasping their souls. 

The Austrians are gathering around theirs colours (in this case the Harrach Regiment) while in front of them there is a Captain of the Zieten Hussars and on the background some Cuirassiers of the Sedlytz Regiment.

On the back of the house a coloumn of Zieten hussars is going to the bridge of Lissa where Friedrich II is waiting for.

The Captain of the Prussian Zieten Hussars (please note his red trousers) is facing some Hussars of the Austrian Eszterhazy Regiment; this scene is quite visible here (bottom). The sadness on the face of the Austrian Hussars is quite evident.

This scene is quite visible here (top). The sadness on the face of the Austrian Hussars is quite evident.

On the background of the Captain of the Zieten Hussars (actually he has blue trousers)

 Here we see a very sad moment (well actually I support the Austrians, due to "familiy reasons"): the Standard Bearer of the Harrach Regiment, with the Leibfahne, is going to deliver the Colours of the Regiment to the Officers of the Zieten Regiment.

Top: the escort of the Captain; note also the other colours of the other Austrian Regiment that are going to be delivered to the Prussians.

AUSTRIAN REGIMENT "HARRACH" 1757 - Part 2

Finally, I was able to array 1 complete battalion at 1:1 ratio of the Harrach Regiment at the Battle of Leuthen. It has 6 Infantry companies 95 men each (considering the loss of that regiment) + 1 Grenadier Company with about 80 men
This gives all together a force of about 650 men. 
There are 2 colours with NCO's and officers.

Note the difference with the usual figures of wargaming: the colours of this battalion are like lost in the middle of the number of soldiers; the picture here bottom gives the idea also of what really meant in that epoch to maneuvre a so huge number of soldiers

Every soldier has been glued to a stand with prefixed distances; every stand has 5/4 figures (the most 5 figures actually). Then each stand has underneath a magnet that holds that stand fixed to the bigger stand (1 company) where I put and glued 4 barrels of metal and then covered with a paper layer representing the ground.
This allows to move single stand of about 100 papersoldiers in one move and at the same time to pick up little units or to remove them in the tide of the battle as in reality.

 Top: here it is well evident the Grenadier Company at the very side of the Battalion. I have to admit that is really wide: about 80 cm

At the battle of Leuthen this Regiment fought with 2 battalions (I am cutting the second one... so long) and it was arrayed in the front line in the defense of the village and sustained the hardest attack depleted that day by the Prussian Army