Campaign Map at start of battle
2nd Russian corps is attacking
Jena
6th division have orders to
attack across the northern ford
4th division have orders to
attack across the centre bridge
5th division have orders to
attack across the southern brigade
12t division belongs to the
Russian Reserve and has orders to support 2nd corps
4th French corps has orders
to hold Jena
1st division has orders to
hold the northern ford
13th division has orders to
hold Jena
7th division has orders to
deploy south of Jena
16th division has orders to
march to Jena
Table at start of battle
Jena is the town in the centre at the
cross roads
Road north to Weimar and south to
Saalfeld
Road east to Domburg and west to
Erfurt
Top left – 1st French
division has 100 casualties
Centre left – 13th Polish
division has 500 casualties
Left – 7th French division
has 1400 casualties
Off table left – 16th
Italian division has 600 casualties and no artillery
Top right – 6th Russian
division has 400 casualties
Centre right – 4th Russian
division has 300 casualties
Bottom right – 5th Russian
division has 300 casualties
Off table right – 12th
Russian division is full strength
4th French corps
Army commander (centre rear) is Emperor
Napoleon (Gifted)
Commander 1st French division
(right) is General Curial (Gifted)
Commander 13th Polish
division (left) is General Kaminiecki (Average)
Commander 7th French
division (left rear) is General Morand (Average)
Commander 16th Italian
division (off table left) is General Fontaneli (Poor)
2nd Russian corps
Army commander is General Wittgenstein
(Average)
Commander 5th Russian
division (nearest camera) is General Bistrom (Average)
Commander 4th Russian division
(centre) is General Potemkin (Average)
Commander 6th Russian division
(top) is General Galitzin (Poor)
Commander
12th Russian division (off table centre) is General Olsufiew
(Average
Move 1 – 0800 to 0900
The three Russian divisions are all on
Engage orders, and have crossed the river Saale.
Wittgenstein has joined 5th
division (nearest camera) and changed their orders to Hold.
1st and 13th
French divisions are both on Hold orders
7th and 16th
French divisions arrive on the left, both are on Move orders
Napoleon orders 13th and 7th
divisions to Engage.
Move 2 – 0900 to 1000
Napoleon has decided to hold the road
(left) and wait for his reinforcements to arrive
This
allows the three Russian divisions to cross the river (right) and deploy
Move 3 – 1000 to 1100
12th Russian division
arrives centre right
The Guard artillery (top left) have
caused heavy casualties to Russian heavy cavalry
Cossacks (bottom) have lost melee with
French hussars and withdrawn shaken
The French right is now in position and
the reserve deploying west of Jena
Move 4 – 1100 to 1200
The French artillery continue to
batter the Russians
Guard artillery (top) force Russian
cavalry to retreat to river bank
Two regiments (bottom) shaken by
artillery fire and then routed by cavalry charge
Russian artillery have caused very few
French casualties
12th Russian division (far
right) moving towards southern ford
Move 5 – 1200 to 1300
Napoleon has ordered the Garde (top
left) to advance
16th French (centre left)
is ordered to support them
7th French (bottom left) is
ordered to attack the battered 5th Russian
12th Russian (bottom right)
is crossing the ford to support 5th Russian
Move 6 – 1300 to 1400
As the Garde advance they come under
intense fire from the Russian artillery
1st grenadiers suffer heavy
casualties and are shaken
The Russian cuirassiers advance to
charge the Garde
They are counter charged by the
supporting French dragoons.
The cuirassiers win the melee, but the
grenadiers have time to form square
The Garde are now without cavalry
support and Napoleon calls off the entire attack.
Move 7 – 1400 to 1500
6th Russian division (top)
continue to withstand heavy artillery casualties
4th Russian division
(centre) attack Jena and drive the garrison back into the town
5th and 12th
Russian divisions (bottom) deploy left of the river
Move 8 – 1500 to 1600
Russian right wing move towards the
bridge to escape the deadly artillery fire
Russian infantry take Jena and rout the
Polish garrison
Russian left wing advance towards the
French held village
The Garde hold the left wing but the
centre is in danger of collapse
Move 9 – 1600 to 1700
With the fall of Jena the initiative
has passed to the Russian army
North of the town the Garde still
hold, but are now faced by two divisions
The Poles have lost Jena and most of
the division is in rout
The Italians still hold the southern
farm, but are also under attack by two divisions
Move 10 – 1700 to 1800
Russian cavalry charge the Italian and
Polish artillery between Jena and the village.
The gunners are cut down and the guns
abandoned.
Only one Polish infantry regiment is
left to cover the rout of the division
The Italian cavalry lose their melee
and fall back
The French situation is now desperate
and Napoleon orders a general retreat
Table at end of battle
Summary
This was Napoleon’s last attempt to
save the campaign.
He combined two battered corps, and
the Imperial Garde, to fight this vital battle
In the early stages it looked like he
would pull it off
4th corps arrived in time
to extend his right flank, and provide a reserve
The Guard artillery caused heavy
casualties amongst 6th Russian division
By lunch time the Russian’s were
established on the west bank of the river Saale
Soon after 12th division
arrived and joined the left flank
Wittgenstein was lucky to hold his
right flank, and in doing so pin the French Garde
He attacked with two strong divisions
in the left flank, and swept the Poles and Italians away
This was the hardest fought battle of
the campaign, and resulted in the heaviest battle casualties.
The French lost 3400 infantry, 1100
cavalry, 800 gunners and two thirds of their guns
The Russians lost 2100 infantry, 1100
cavalry and 200 gunners
At Jena Napoleon lost both a battle
and a campaign.
We used our own wargame rules to fight
the battle
They can be found here
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